Play Can't Wait

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My dad didn't sound like anyone else

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because he was from New Zealand,

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but my mum didn't look like anyone else

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and being half Chinese,

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I also felt like

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I didn't look like anybody else

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I was shy

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and I had a very small group of friends

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I didn't feel like I fit in.

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I worked hard, I got good grades,

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and I got bullied sometimes for that.

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It was so uncool to be smart.

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But on the field,

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your team loves you,

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If you're good and you're fast

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and you're celebrated

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and it didn't matter what I looked like

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because I could score goals.

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It felt like home.

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I think the first time that I realized

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that I might belong in sport

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was when I watched the 99 World Cup final

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at the Rose Bowl,

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There's 90,000 people there.

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The first time in my life that I saw women

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celebrated,

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who were strong,

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who are powerful.

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and that made a huge impression on me.

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After I played two seasons professionally

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here in the US, the league folded

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and I moved to Sweden

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and that was the first time

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I played somewhere where

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I didn't speak the language and

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I didn't understand a word.

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Some of those years were definitely

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very isolating,

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but getting out to the field,

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it didn't matter

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I knew what I needed to do to help the team

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and that feeling of togetherness

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I think, transcends any language barrier.

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The first time we won as a club team in Sweden

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we're just celebrating together and

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I felt like I belonged

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even though I had been in the country

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for something like four days.

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for something like four days.

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Being on a team, especially for anyone who has suffered

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loss or is feeling lost and rootless,

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loss or is feeling lost and rootless,

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it can give you hope because

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you get a sense of community.

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It is really about having a support system

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and people who see you and provide a space

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where you can be yourself.

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Play can also be be an escape

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somewhere where you get to

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feel joy.

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the field was the first place I felt like I belonged.

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If play did that for me.

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Imagine what it can do for a child in crisis.

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Play. Can't wait.

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I was always outside playing every sport imaginable

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football, baseball. Basketball, soccer. Wanting to compete and wanting to be the best. Throwing a football and not being able to throw a spiral. You know, I would do it until I'd be able to do it. Or even climbing a tree. And maybe I didn't get to the certain point in that tree that I wanted to.

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I was like, I'm going to figure this out one way or another until I'm able to to do it and be good at it. The self-worth that I felt as a young girl, being able to play this sport was really one of the most important things of my childhood. I had loads of coaches who gave me the freedom to express myself, to be myself.

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Sometimes my 80% was better than most people's 100%, and I got invited to play with the under 21 national team. And when I went in there, the coach, he said, you've got a lot of talent, but I don't think that you are fit enough and nearly as good enough to make the roster. I was devastated, but I also did need some tough love.

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I needed somebody to honestly tell me how it was, and I either had to look myself in the mirror and figure out things that I needed to get better at, or quit the sport, and that meant working harder than anybody else. Training on holidays. Training early mornings. Training late at night. Whatever was asked of me, I had to be ready to do it.

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It feels great to be a world champion. One of my greatest memories is definitely the 2015 World Cup, scoring three goals, a hat trick. It was life changing on and off the field. It just validated everything for me that it's been worth it for me. I know every time I stepped in between those lines, it was just like you in that moment.

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The ball playing, you know, being able to play is so important. Join me in bringing the power of play to every child with Unicef

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play. Can't wait.