USWNT Player Alex Morgan Is Fighting for Equal Pay in Sports for Her Daughter’s Future

From Prevention

• Alex Morgan, 31, opened up to Prevention.com about being a mother for the first time.

• The USWNT player, who gave birth to Charlie in May, trained safely throughout her pregnancy to stay in game shape.

• In partnership with GoGo SqueeZ, Morgan is continuing to inspire young children to play sports and is fighting to create a more equal future for Charlie and female athletes everywhere.

Alex Morgan may have two Olympic championships and FIFA World Cup wins under her belt, but the U.S. Women's National Team star forward is making it clear that motherhood is her grandest prize of all.

"I'm absolutely loving it," Morgan says of being Charlie's mom. The soccer player, who recently signed a temporary contract with the Tottenham Hotspurs, gave birth to her daughter in May. A few weeks later, she packed her bags and headed to London, England, where she's stepping on the field for the first time in about a year.

"I've never been so excited to come home from training or from work every single day and just hangout with her," she says of Charlie. "It's been just a completely new chapter in my life, and I'm learning along the way how to be the best mom possible for her. It's been really amazing to see Charlie grow every day."

As Morgan makes her debut for the Women's Super League (WSL) in Europe, the award-winning athlete is opening up about how she stayed in game shape throughout her pregnancy, how she's gearing up for the fall season, and how she's working to reimagine the future of female sports for Charlie and female athletes to come.

1. She focused on balance during her pregnancy.

Morgan announced her pregnancy in October 2019, and at the time, the soccer player had the goal of returning for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics (you know, before it was postponed). But with Charlie on the way, Morgan made adjustments to her training so she could continue to build strength while making sure Charlie was safe.

"I was still working out and training as much as my body allowed me," she says. "I wasn't doing things that would put my body in total exhaustion like I would do before pregnancy. I was just giving myself a little bit more grace with that in knowing that I was growing a baby. I didn’t want to put any additional stress on my body, my mind, my heart, or on Charlie."

For Morgan, it was all about balance and listening to her body throughout her pregnancy. "I did a lot of spin classes," she says. "I went on a lot of runs—more like walk-runs—and then around the last month of pregnancy I increased my walking and weight lifting as well."

2. She kept a world-champion mentality throughout her pregnancy.

Although the 2020 Tokyo Olympics was rescheduled to next year, Morgan continued to train like she had a world championship to fight for. From the start, Morgan knew she would have been cutting it close with getting back into game shape for the Olympics post pregnancy, so the athlete kept a game-ready mentality while she was expecting.

"My desire to want to get back on the field as soon as possible didn't go away with Tokyo 2020 being postponed," she says. "I wasn't able to be back on the field in a team environment until two weeks ago. So I think everything became a little more delayed, but I'm just so happy to be back in a team environment because that makes me happy."

Although Morgan has yet to step on the field for the Hotspurs, she said her goal is long-term fitness and she's taking her training day by day.

3. Her pregnancy re-ignited her passion for soccer.

After being out of a team setting for months, Morgan was ready to hit the turf in England. "Soccer is such a huge part of my life and who I am, and obviously you can hear it in my voice that it excites me to even talk about it," she says. "It was taken away from me for almost a year while pregnant and the pandemic, so I was really excited to get back on the field two weeks ago."

Morgan told The Guardian that she's been finding ways to adjust her schedule so she can provide Charlie with the care she needs amid training. The athlete also said she's been taking parenting advice from Orlando Pride teammate Sydney Leroux, who also returned to the field three months after giving birth just like Morgan.

"Three months postpartum was just incredible," Morgan told the outlet. "I've taken as much advice as I can from her—even how to pump on the way to training or what to do after training in terms of going back home and having to take care of kids rather than having to really take care of your recovery."

"You have to really play like supermom," she added.

4. Having a daughter inspired her to teach kids about the importance of playing sports.

When the coronavirus pandemic swept through the U.S., Morgan says she was frustrated with not being able to get outside and play the sport that she loves. Especially with now having a daughter, the professional soccer player feels for kids who haven't been able to play sports this year.

"As a kid, I found that sports were such a great outlet for me," she says. "I was a pretty energetic kid, and I feel like if I was kept inside especially through a pandemic for a number of months, sports would have been that much more important for me."

In partnership with GoGo SqueeZ, Morgan is encouraging kids to continue playing sports and have fun while doing it, because sports allow kids to make friends and learn new skills outside of school. "The pandemic has obviously slowed down or halted playing, and even with my job, I wasn't able to play sports for a number of months," she says. "So just seeing how disappointed I was to not be able to play sports, I can only imagine how kids must be feeling. The pandemic has really brought this to light, so I think it's really important that moving forward we an highlight the importance of playing sports."

5. She's determined to fight for pay equality in sports so her daughter can enjoy a more equal future.

Charlie may be just a few months old, but Morgan hopes she'll find her love of sports just like her parents. Although Morgan says she "of course" hopes Charlie will eventually take up soccer, as it's "in her genes," the world champion athlete will encourage her daughter to pursue any dreams that make her happy.

"She's already the type of personality that is quite stubborn like her mom and dad, so I'm sure that she'll do whatever suits her best," Morgan says of Charlie. The professional soccer player hopes to instill confidence in Charlie by encouraging her to be whoever she wants to be in life.

"I never want to be someone who puts down a dream whether it's realistic or not," she says. "I had a dream when I was 7 years old of playing professional soccer, and there were absolutely no avenues to do that at the time." Morgan says when she told her mom of her dream, Pamela Morgan was completely in support of her, even though there was no path to professional women's soccer at the time. "She never told me that and encouraged me to live out my dream, so that's what I want to pass along with Charlie," she says.

Alongside her teammates on the U.S. Women's National Team, Morgan is also continuing to fight for pay equality among female athletes, with the hopes of creating a better future for Charlie and woman in sports everywhere.

"When I look at the equal pay fight that has been ongoing for quite a few years now, I don't expect myself to reap the full benefits of equal pay. We know that we're in it for the long run and that we may not see the progress that we want, but there is progress," she says. "My hope is that when Charlie grows up, there will be true equality within sports. There will be equal respect of men and women within sport."

"We're going to keep fighting," she says.

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