Teamwork Is the Secret to Alex Morgan’s Success
Photo: Simon Bruty/Getty Images
Alex Morgan was the youngest player on America’s national soccer team at 2011’s World Cup and she’s already won an Olympic gold medal. She’s only 25, by the way, and she wasn’t raised by a Pele-obsessed father. Nor did she demonstrate ball-kicking acuity at the age of two. Instead, she landed on soccer because she liked the idea of teamwork.
As a kid, Morgan played every sport imaginable. She was on the basketball and volleyball team, she ran cross country, but once soccer season rolled around, she found what she was looking for. “I loved being really rough and tackling players,” says Morgan. “I was such a big tomboy, and soccer was the one sport that allowed me to be myself. It also made me realize I wanted to be part of a team.”
In high school, she juggled AP classes while being recruited for college. “I definitely sacrificed social time with my friends, and if my dad drove me to practice I was always doing homework on the way home,” says Morgan. By junior year she committed to UC Berkeley and, at just 20 years old, the budding soccer star became the youngest player on the 2011 women’s World Cup team. “Suddenly I was playing in front of 50,000 fans and the entire world was tuning into our games,” she says. “It gave me such a big thrill and I didn’t want to let it go! Coming away as a finalist made me hungry for more.” On the field, Morgan says her mind goes blank and instinct just takes over: “That’s when the off-the-field friendships and team bonding really comes into play. That’s why we’re so successful—these girls are my sisters and I spend more time with them than my family.”
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The same year Morgan won her Olympic gold medal (in London in 2012), she was named the US Soccer Female Athlete of the Year—and she’s just getting started. “First on my list is winning a World Cup title next year,” says Morgan. “I wouldn’t be in this sport if I didn’t want to be the best in the world and that takes a lot of development.” To stay healthy, Morgan relies on a healthy diet full of greens, protein, and vitamins—“but I do let myself have dessert or a burger here and there.” She does a lot of yoga, strength training with body weights, spin class, and plays tennis with her fiancé. He plays for the Houston Dynamo and no, they don’t ever practice together: “When we have a day off together the last thing we want to do is get on the field.” They’re currently planning a winter wedding around their hectic schedules. “We decided it had to be before the World Cup or after the Olympics in three years, so we don’t want to wait.”
Morgan’s loyal to her beauty routine, stocking her gym bag with paraben-free Alba Botanica Hawaiian Sunscreen SPF 45 ($11.49), Degree MotionSense Active Clean Invisible Solid Deodorant ($4.99), facial towellettes to unclog her skin post-workout, and Chapstick Hydration Lock Day and Night ($2.99) to keep her coated with SPF during the day and ultra-moisturized at night. When competing—potentially in front of millions—she adds a little bronzer and concealer to hide blemishes, and uses Benefit BADgal Waterproof Mascara ($19) for full lashes.
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At the end of the day, Morgan thinks her success comes from pure passion. “There’s not many people that can say they wake up and do what they love every day and are really excited to go to work,” says Morgan. “When I was 10, I was looking at Mia Hamm and Christine Lilly win the World Cup and seeing how strong and courageous they were as female athletes. The whole world was looking to them, and I wanted to be in their shoes so I did everything I could to be on that team. Now I know there are many girls who want to be in my place, so I have to stay on my game.”
