When things have ever gotten rough in my life or in my playing career, the thing that brought me joy every single day was my kid.” Not the most uncommon sentiment, but for someone like Jessica McDonald, it meant everything. Though now retired, the ex-USWNT star was once a professional soccer player—and a full-time mom. Single mom, mind you. Naturally, the road had to come with plenty of challenges, especially mental ones. But who would’ve thought that a simple, long hug from someone like Christen Press could help Jessica hit the reset button?
To understand this better, let’s fly back in time during the American Ladies’ pre-World Cup preparations for the 2019 gig. A nostalgic feeling for ardent fans as the US had won it in their fourth but the road to reach it was not an easy one for McDonald. Be it her own soccer preparedness, to traveling while also doing the most as a single mother, boy did it take a mental toll. Yet, the most difficult challenge?
“The mentally challenging part for me was just leaving my kid behind,” said Jess in a lengthy chat on The Attacking Third podcast show alongside Scottish veteran Jen Beattie and co-host Sandra Herrera. Of course, when you are working hard to represent your nation in a prestigious tournament, getting emotional over personal reasons would be the last thing you’d want.
Not to mention, Jessica was the only mom on the team. And not being able to relate or vent to anyone only created more pressure. But there unfortunately came a time when the dam finally broke. Instead of taking advantage of training at Tottenham Hotspur’s ‘dope‘ facility, one session saw the former NC Courage star see nothing was going her way, not a single pass or a touch.
On top of that, negative talk from an unnamed teammate barely helped her confidence. Hence, post-training, McDonald did her all to hold back her tears but decided to call her North Carolina mom, with whom she had left her boy. “I go straight to my phone and I call my North Carolina mom… and I’m balling crying on the phone. I’m telling her what happened and how I’m feeling. This is I guess a part of my reset and so I’m just spilling all my emotions out,” narrated the former Houston Dash star.
The ex-forward recalled how she received good feedback from the NC mom while her other teammates were having lunch—except for Christen Press, who was able to spot Jessica looking tensed on her phone call. “I look over my left shoulder I see Christen Press walking right behind me with a bag of balls. I don’t even know if she stayed behind.”
Watching the former Manchester United only made McDonald more anxious as she rather wanted to have her privacy. But later, something unique happened: “Christen Press came up to me and she just gave me this long big hug. It was just a long hug. She said nothing; she just looked at me, smiled, and walked away,” continued the 37-year-old.
“I was like, “Oh I’m good.” That was all I needed. Sometimes you just need a hug and I didn’t even know it. That was my reset and I realized I’m the new kid on the block even though I’m older on the team. I was still new,” acknowledged Jessica.
Indeed, it was quite a heartwarming gesture from Christen Press for her teammate, giving the much-needed emotional support. Sure, you may wonder why the Angel City star didn’t utter a single thing or at least ask Jessica to vent. But as the saying goes, “Some things are best said unspoken.” And clearly, Press understood that perfectly. Then again, we have a rather different thing that keeps our thinking caps on!
Jessica McDonald never thanked Christen Press for giving her the emotional shoulder!
Naturally, Christen Press did what she could to give Jessica her privacy. However, one would at least expect the former Phoenix College and University of North Carolina graduate to catch up with CP23 later and thank the USWNT veteran for giving her the much-needed reset. However, McDonald didn’t. Don’t ask why, just know that she didn’t.
“I don’t even think I thanked her for that hug [or tell her] how much that actually changed my whole mood,” admitted the Arizona native.
Then again, knowing she had her teammate’s back even when she barely asked them to was something that alone made Jess quite grateful. “It was really the team who kept me together honestly and that just lets the characters and the human beings that they truly are,” emphasized the former Portland and Seattle Reign star.
And on top of that, knowing that all it took was a simple hug to help her hit the reset button gave her the strength to move forward. These tough times made her realize she wasn’t alone and there was always a teammate by her side. Grateful is all we can say about such a heartfelt gesture from Christen Press!
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