The thing that made it so hard to get that call from Jill Ellis in 2015, letting me know I wouldn't be at the World Cup, was that I felt like I'd lost what I love most about putting on the U.S. kit: representation.
I remember when I was in college, my junior year NWSL was not a thing and my senior year, it started up and I had a place to play now. It's really great that it's been able to be stable for these last seven years and we can always continue to push for more growth.
When I put on our U.S. kit, I do it for my family and for my country. But I understand now that I also do it for every single American girl out there who wants to see someone who looks like them - someone whose story reminds them of their own - when they watch their women's national team.
I went to high school in Rockville Center on Long Island. It's this small, soccer-loving town that my parents moved to, from Queens, before my brother and I were born.
It's Megan Rapinoe, If there's no drama, there's no fun.
I remember when I was young, before we started lifting and working out, I looked like I was bench-pressing other humans. I looked different than other girls. I had to be OK with the fact that I had a strong physique, no matter if people looked at me in an accepting way or not.
It's a stereotype that black players are just really fast, but at the end of day I want to be skilled, I want to be technical, I want to have vision and that's what I've always tried to promote in my game: not relying on one thing but just being able to outwork players in so many different ways.
In the early stages, when I realized I was going to be probably the shortest player on the teams I was on, it was hard. I felt like girls were getting recruited over me strictly because of their height, and it made me self-conscious.
It's kind of interesting on a team sport because you have young players, you have older players, you have veterans. But ultimately, when you step in between those lines, you're just a player.
The World Cup is a really long tournament, so you have to prepare for whatever.
