Monique van Rheenen

She said, I'll bench you if you don't foul a girl in the first five minutes.

I'm pulling you out.

I'm not someone who would go in for, there's, sure, I've thrown a couple elbows.

Who hasn't?

You pull a shirt every once in a while.

You know, you slide a little late.

But I wasn't going in there to go take other people out.

That wasn't really how I played.

And some of the other girls were just kind of scary.

Usually I was afraid that if I hit someone, they'd hit harder.

But I got nervous because my coach was true to her word, that if I didn't hit someone and get a whistle, I saw my sub on the center line, and I thought, well shit, now I have to sit the rest of the game.

And the thing I hated most was sitting.

And so I tried really hard.

I would sit there anxious if I didn't get a chance to throw like a subtle foul in the first five minutes, and I'd see my sub start warming up, so I'd just go over and shove a girl.

because I wanted to stay in.

And my nickname went from Mo to Mellow Yellow because I got a lot of yellow cards doing that.

And it got to the point where my dad pulled me aside, and he was never my coach, but he had such a love and eye for the game, and he said, what the fuck are you doing?

I said, dad, I just want to play.

That's all I want to do.

And if I got to foul a girl, I'm staying on the field.