Team USA Captain Christie Rampone Is A ‘Supermom’
I don’t know what’s more surprising, that there’s a mother on the USA World Cup team or that there’s only one mother on the USA World Cup team.
Christie Rampone isn’t just team captain but a mother. She has five-year-old Rylie and 1-year-old Reece. And she’s playing fantastic soccer. Her last-ever World Cup game will be Sunday’s game against Japan.
She says her play has improved because of her other vocation:
”Doing two things that I love makes it easier as an athlete and it has made me stronger. After a bad day I can’t afford to dwell on it because I have the kids, they don’t care if I have won or lost, they still want Mom. That helps your mentality, it adds some perspective. I don’t sweat the small stuff. You don’t take every practice home with you. The only way to handle it is to give 100 percent on the field, and then 100 percent to my other job.”
Husband Chris stayed home with their children and she uses Skype to keep in contact.
Teammates say her dual role helps them, too, by serving as a great role model. Or as Megan Rapinoe put it:
”She is Supermom, Superwoman, whatever you want to call her. When I get home from training I want to pass out in my bed, she has to look after her kids every day. I don’t know how she juggles it.”
The Yahoo story says that pregnancy has been shown to provide a positive physical effect for athletes, boosting oxygen flow to the muscles.
If Rampone takes the team all the way to victory, she’ll be the first captain to do so since 1999. That will give her kids something pretty nice to brag about on the playground!
