Rapinoe Makes Lasting Impression

By Christy Cabrera Chirinos
HurricaneSports.com
 
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – It’s been a “whirlwind” of a summer for Megan Rapinoe.
 
Over the course of the last three months, the soccer superstar has led the United States Women’s National Team to a second straight World Cup title, earned FIFA recognition as the best women’s player in the world and has played in a five-city victory tour that’s allowed soccer fans across the country to cheer the national team on in person.
 
And Thursday afternoon, Rapinoe took a few minutes to check in with the Miami women’s soccer team hours before the Hurricanes took the field for a showdown with Notre Dame.
 
“Good luck,” she wished the players while waving to them via FaceTime before speaking to members of the Miami student body as part of the school’s “What Matters to U” student government speaker series at the Donna E. Shalala Student Center.
 
While the Hurricanes were in South Bend for their match, a handful of players recovering from various injuries attended Thursday’s event, which featured a 60-minute conversation moderated by Shirelle Jackson, Miami’s senior associate athletic director for student-athlete development, and Claudia DeLorenzo, a UM senior majoring in neuroscience.
 
During her time on stage, Rapinoe touched on a variety of topics, including her experience coming out both personally and professionally, the importance of fighting for equal pay, mental health, time management, and why, in 2016, she felt compelled to kneel during the national anthem to protest allegations of police brutality and raise awareness of other social issues.
 
Things got a little lighter when she fielded questions from students in the audience – and even turned down a marriage proposal in the process.
 
While students laughed, Rapinoe joked that her partner Sue Bird’s sneaker collection has somewhat taken over their home. She shared tips on how to handle high-pressure situations and gave insight on how to score the perfect penalty kick, something that more than likely, caught the attention of the Hurricanes soccer players who were at the event and met with Rapinoe before she spoke to students.
 
“It’s super cool for her to be here and share her story and what she believes in,” said senior Lexi Castellano, a defender for the Hurricanes. “Being able to follow her career when I was growing up and finally being able to meet her is amazing and was an incredible experience. … Some of my teammates and I are injured and we can’t travel with the team all the time, so I think it’s really awesome that she came at a time when we were able to go and that she was able to FaceTime with the rest of the team. They’re so pumped. …
 
“She’s an amazing athlete and she’s overcome so many obstacles. What she believes in, in women’s rights and in empowering women, I think that’s awesome and something we lack in the world right now.”
 
Added Hurricanes soccer coach Sarah Barnes, “So many of them have grown up watching Megan Rapinoe play and obviously, the last World Cup, she was spectacular. I think receiving the FaceTime was really exciting for them. They’re college-aged players and they were talking about how hearts were racing and they were excited to be able to talk to somebody who’s been a hero for them. It was definitely an awesome experience.”
 
With the season behind her, Rapinoe will likely be making more speaking appearances in the coming weeks and months. Next week, she and USWNT teammate Alex Morgan are scheduled to speak at UC Santa Barbara and Rapinoe said Thursday it’s her hope she can continue to inspire not only the next generation of student leaders.
 
“All of us are getting older and dying off and not going to be here. These are the kids that are going to be politicians, in business and in those social spaces. They’re the ones that need to be as engaged as we are right now,” Rapinoe said. “And I think it’s important to give hope and sort of bridge that gap and learn from them.
 
“It’s so inspiring to see [teenage environmental activist] Greta Thunberg, the kids from Parkland, all these things are affecting them just as much as they’re affecting all of us and they don’t have the ability to vote or do anything about it right now, but they’re affecting it so much. They’re pushing the agenda so much. For me to be able to get in front of them, it’s just fun, also. You get a different vibe, a lighter vibe. But hopefully, I want to learn from them and have them learn from me. I think that’s really important.”
 
She also had a message for all the young women playing sports at Miami and beyond.
 
“You deserve to dream big and to dream that you can be as big as someone on the national team or an athlete in the NBA, male or female,” Rapinoe said. “Whatever it may be, you deserve to dream that big and we’re going to work really hard to make those dreams a reality for you. And hopefully, it won’t be this hard. But don’t let anyone ever say that it’s not possible or that you’re not worth this or that you don’t deserve it. You deserve it all.”