Megan Rapinoe

I asked those watching to look at our team; black, white, gay girls, straight girls. I asked them to look at their own communities and consider how they might take tiny steps to improve them. “We have to love more, hate less, listen more, talk less” I said. “This is everybody’s responsibility”. I hoped that people could take what inspired them about the World Cup and apply it to their own lives. I was appealing to our country as a whole, but I also wanted to make a point about the right of each of us to fully live our own lives. There’s a fallacy in America that acting for the common good means sacrificing the individual. Well, as a person of robust ego, I am here to tell you that life doesn’t work like that. The interests of the individual aren’t at odds with the collective. You can win for the team and still celebrate your own performance. I believe this especially with regard to women, whose individual needs have long been overlooked in favor of - oh, the irony - the collective good of men. When I yelled, “I deserve this !” I was speaking for women who are told to be selfless, invisible, meek; to accept less money, less respect, fewer opportunities, less investment. Who are told to be grateful, uncomplaining. Who are discouraged from owning their victories or even seeking them out in the first place. You can share, and help, and be part of your community, and you can also stand tall and enjoy your success. No caveat, no apology. Arms out wide, claim your space.

La devise de notre équipe : LFG (Let's fucking go)

Rapinoe’s “signature pose” from the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup is synonymous to the feeling we got when finishing this book : heart full, arms wide, and ready to take up space in this world (USA Today).

ONE LIFE makes it clear that Rapinoe’s greatest accomplishments may ultimately come away from the soccer pitch. She’s a new kind of American hero (San Francisco Chronicle).