Carli Lloyd

I had the passion.

I just needed to learn the necessary tools to not only get me to the top, but allow me to stay there for so long.

And yeah, it's been, it's been an incredible journey, but that was a pivotal moment in my career and my life.

No, no.

And you're not going to be handed it.

And I think the biggest lesson is, you know, I don't know that I necessarily even had the most belief in myself that I could do it.

So maybe there was a sense of fear that crept in.

You know, what if I start running?

What if I start working hard?

And then what if I don't make it?

But I committed to it from that point on.

I was, like you said, I was all in and just consistently living a lifestyle.

you know, throughout that journey of taking care of my body, getting enough sleep, eating well, training as much as I can, double, triple the amount of other, other players and just committing to that.

And you don't know what the journey is going to be like, and you don't know how it's going to play out, but just a big believer in just being consistent with everything that you do and giving it all you have and the journey will write itself.

You know, I think timing is everything in life.

I think that there is the higher powers or whatever your beliefs are that, you know, need to collide and need to kind of all come together.

But the under 21 national team for me was the four years throughout my collegiate career at Rutgers University.

And then in 2004, when I finished up, 2005 was when I first got into the national team.

I had two camps.

They were actually not as busy that year because they were going through some contractual stuff.