Thank you, Christen.

8:17am on October 15th, 2025, the GMA banner flashed across my laptop screen and it was official. I was still in my PJs, wrapped in a blanket on my couch and the tears immediately fell. I’ve gotten emotional over athletes retiring, Alex Morgan, Diana Taurasi, even Tim, Tony, & Manu from the Spurs dynasty. But, none has ever it me quite like Christen. I owe a lot to Christen Press.

I didn’t grow up in a soccer family. I didn’t follow the USWNT religiously or watch pro-soccer for most of my life. But in the winter of 2022, everything changed. I had just transferred universities and was beginning to question everything about what I was doing with my life. I turned back to something I had always enjoyed, sports.

Scrolling through social media one day I stumbled upon a post about Angel City FC, specifically about their hometown hero, Christen Press. It wasn’t about the soccer player, it was about the human. The mental-health break she’d taken, the company she was building, the USWNT CBA negotiations. I found her honesty & vulnerability so inspiring. I had grown up watching the shallow-ness of men’s sports, idolizing the athletes, not the humans. It was like a switched flipped. Women’s sports were suddenly everything to me. But it wasn’t a switch that had materialized overnight, it was one that had been turned off years earlier when I didn’t make the 7th grade basketball team and watched my WNBA dreams disappear. I had only seen sports careers from the lens of an athlete. Hearing her talk about being more than an athlete, opened my mind to the idea of working in sports. I began to research sports careers. Suddenly, I found myself applying to internships and before I knew it, I was starting my first job in sports at the Cincinnati Reds.

But, it was June 11th, 2022, where everything really changed. While I know many Angel City fans, don’t view that game in a positive light, it will always be special for me. It was the first time I watched NWSL soccer in person. I drove from Cincinnati to Louisville, alone, with no clue where I was going or what I was really getting myself into. But walking into Lynn Family Stadium felt like walking into a community I didn’t know I had been looking for. I watched the teams take the field, heard the cheers of the crowd & knew, this is the environment I want to build a career & a community within.

Now, 3.5 years later, I am on my way to doing just that. I got to work for the Seattle Storm & Reign. I’m working at a sport & entertainment venue. I have found this amazing women’s sports community online, in BlueSky & Discord. People I wish I lived down the street from, & could grab dinner with on a random Tuesday.

I may not have that “dream” job in women’s sports yet, where I get to walk into a stadium full of fans with as much passion as me. But, I am well on my way, and I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for Christen Press.

It took me days to write this out because I was truly struggling to find the words. Words are both the easiest thing & hardest thing for me. I wrote a lot of this post in the hours after the announcement, during down-time at work, trying to process my thoughts in real time. But, I felt like I was rushing it. I wanted to sit & process and really feel through these emotions. So, I took time to finish it & I am so glad I did. Honestly, I don’t think I’ve done them justice. I am not sure I will ever be able to fully express how Christen Press has changed my life. Yet, I am endlessly grateful that she has.

So, I know she's heard it a thousand times in the last few days, but I'll sitll say it once more: Thank you, Christen. You've made the world a better place, both on the pitch & off.

Photo taken by me at my first NWSL game!