In November, Abby Wambach added another accomplishment to her already impressive resume when the National Soccer Hall of Famer completed the New York City Marathon.
Wambach started running on a weekly basis three years ago to stay fit. She progressed from 5Ks to 10Ks and, eventually, she felt ready to take the next major step.
“This wasn’t something that I was like, ‘I’m going to compete truly,’” she says. “It was just kind of one of those things that had always been in my mind to be kind of cool to have had done.”
Wambach completed her debut marathon in 3 hours, 44 minutes and 25 seconds, achieving her goal of finishing in less than four hours, a pleasant and proud accomplishment for the two-time Olympic gold medalist.
Photos courtesy of Abby Wambach
“I haven’t really ever been a kind of player who was extraordinary really fast, so I was fine going kind of my own pace,” Wambach says.
“I’m happy it’s over,” she adds. “I can call myself a marathoner.”
Now, the FIFA Women’s World Cup champion returns to her day job as an inspirational speaker for women, athletes and those dealing with mental health and substance abuse issues. Wambach does about 30 to 40 such engagements in a given year. An early date on her 2022 schedule is a Feb. 10 appearance for the New Albany Community Foundation’s lecture series. In that talk, Wambach will give her perspective on health and well-being as a former professional soccer player.
“To me, health and well-being are probably the most important things that a human being can focus on.” – Abby Wambach
“It’s just telling the story of who I am, showing people that there is adversity to be had in every human’s existence,” she says. “That even through those difficult times, we as people, if we are willing to, can come out of it better on the other side.”
Though one might think professional athletes are the pinnacle of health and wellness, Wambach says those two pieces were not necessarily at the forefront of her mind during her soccer career.
“The truth is, it’s not really the focus,” she says. “You’re focused on your playing and (being healthy is) just a good, beautiful byproduct of being a professional athlete.”
After retirement, Wambach came to realize she didn’t give enough attention to her well-being during her athletic career, which led to alcohol abuse and some mental health struggles.
“To me, health and well-being are probably the most important things that a human being can focus on,” she says.
Now, Wambach has a renewed attention to both physical and mental well-being that she sees as part of a larger cultural shift.
“Coming from a sports background,” she says, “mental health was seen in some ways in a negative way. If you had any mental health issues you were soft, you were weak. Now having gone through it myself, I know I have parts of me that are, at times, soft and are, in fact, at times weak, because that’s having the full human experience. Unfortunately, as a pro athlete, I was kind of taught that I needed to be a little bit of a robot in certain ways to produce as well as I possibly can.”
An increase in research and fundraising for mental health issues, Wambach says, has helped to bring new light to the topic.
“People are being believed,” she says. “That’s one of the most important things to breaking down the barriers and stigmas to mental health.”
Wambach is the second speaker of the New Albany Lecture Series for the 2021-2022 season. Journalist Isabel Wilkerson began the season in October 2021 with a virtual talk. Wambach, along with the remaining speakers, will join the series in person at the Jeanne B. McCoy Community Center for the Arts. Her talk is scheduled for Feb. 10.
“We’re pleased to return to in-person lectures when we present World Cup champion soccer star Abby Wambach in February,” says Craig Mohre, NACF president. “She’s widely recognized as one of the greatest soccer players of all time, and we believe our audience will find Abby’s experience on the soccer field as well as her life story very compelling. We hope that students and adults will relate to Abby. And from a mental health perspective, we hope to continue to lift the stigma and engage the community in a meaningful dialogue.”
Update: Abby Wambach's Lecture Series program is now offered as a free, virtual event. Register here.
Read more about Wambach's thoughts on her transition from her soccer career and soccer in America in our CityScene January/February issue.
Brandon Klein is the senior editor. Feedback welcome at bklein@cityscenemediagroup.com.
