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Most days I get in the car and go where I need to go without thinking much else. I need to go to the store, or the field or the gym. Then there are days when I get in the car and I just feel like driving. Not anywhere in particular. Just away. And it’s not necessarily because I’m unhappy, it’s just because sometimes I crave a change of scenery. I imagine many people feel this way once in a while. 

The urge for something different. 

One day in April, my brother and I got in the car and we drove. To Kansas. Just those words alone seem ridiculous to me, even now. We drove to Kansas from Connecticut. Me. Who said she would never, could never, live in the Midwest. 

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Almost three years ago to this day, I decided to go to the stadium earlier than usual for our game. I was in Portland and the stadium was then called Jeld Wen. 

I put all my stuff down in the empty locker room, grabbed a pen and my journal out of my backpack and walked out into a desolate stadium. It was so quiet and so peaceful. I sat on our bench and started to write everything I was feeling about being out there. I poured my heart out for a good 30 minutes.  

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I haven’t posted an update on my life in a long time. Therefore, I presume many of you have made assumptions about my life. And you know what happens when you assume… You make a story in your head. Some of those stories might include:

1.    Joining the circus as a traveling headband spinner (the plate guys got the boot) 
2.    Being the 8th Wonder of the World  
3.    Starting a cat farm with my mom
Or…

Training with FC Kansas City during the day, while partaking in intense improv sessions at night and all the while realizing that in life, you can have more than one calling. 

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Dear Women's Soccer Fans, 

It was a difficult decision, but after five years and 38 issues, this will be my last issue as Editor-in-Chief of Our Game Magazine. 

There are many reasons for leaving, focusing on other things, getting back to playing, trying some new things and maybe just not trying to have three jobs at the same time for once are a few that come to mind. 

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Now that I’ve had time to decompress, I have realized just how many emotions we have been experiencing. 

I have so many people to thank, but truthfully that smoke alarm was the real hero. If the smoke alarm didn’t go off, we could be dealing with a very different circumstance right now. And for that reason I will be looking at fire safety in a completely different way than I used to. I know it shouldn’t take something like this to change, but it has and this is where I am. 

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In 2006, after I graduated from Penn State, I started working individually with players who wanted to get extra training outside of their team training.

As a player/coach, I am asked quite often to work with players on improving all areas of their game (except defending, I don’t usually get that one for some reason... and goalkeeping) including technique, finishing, mental toughness, taking players on 1v1 and my personal favorite, kicking the ball further and harder like the other kids do.

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Earlier this week we had one of our classroom sessions with the GCF Academy U16, U17 and U18 players. Usually our classroom sessions are geared towards the college process, goal-setting or setting standards for the season. 

This classroom session was a little different. 

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Over the weekend, I watched the U11/U12 kids I help coach in a tournament. I saw so many things that made the weekend successful that many parents, coaches and kids might not have recognized. I wasn’t directly involved in the situation so I had the opportunity to observe.  

All the parents and kids had a BBQ once the tournament was over. It was awesome to see everyone come together when I’m sure it would have been easy to jet out and miss the New York traffic. 

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When I was younger, I played a ton of video games. I have no idea how I had the time to play video games so much and play soccer and go to school and like eat and sleep, but I did it. 

From the time my parents bought us our very first Nintendo, my siblings and I were hooked on Super Mario, Duck Hunt, that boxing game with Mike Tyson, all of them.

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From a young age, I’ve been taught to always say thank you. I probably say thank you too much. I say thank you when someone holds the door for me; I whisper thank you with a hand gesture while I’m driving if someone let’s me do something after I miss a turn or whatever (whatever I am not the greatest driver). I say thank you when someone hands me a water bottle at practice or when I get treatment from the trainers. 

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