Alex Morgan: America's Soccer Mom

By: Greta Stuckey

Alex Morgan and baby Charlie on Game Day.

Since the start of Alex Morgan’s professional soccer career in 2011, she has been viewed as an outstanding player on and off the field. After giving birth to her daughter, Charlie Carrasco, in May of 2020, Morgan stepped back on the field in 2021 and won a bronze medal at the Olympics.

Over the past decade, Morgan has become an icon in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWS) and the United States women’s national soccer team. While Morgan was crucial in the success of the U.S. team in the 2015 and 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cups, her greater contributions to sports happen off the field.

Morgan proved to the world that being a mother and a professional athlete is possible. Only months after giving birth to Charlie, Morgan was back out on the field playing for the Orlando Pride and preparing for the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo. The balancing act of motherhood and professional soccer is not easy for Morgan as revealed in her new docu-series called Ready for Anything.

“Giving birth and starting a family didn’t mean ending a career,” Morgan said. “It is quite overwhelming figuring out what I do when I bring her home. How am I going to sleep the night before important games? How am I going to breastfeed at halftime?”

While a typical player can get to bed early and focus on their personal nutrition, Morgan has to care for herself and her baby. She is speaking out about her experience of motherhood as a pro athlete to empower other girls and women to stand up for themselves and challenge the expectations set for professional female athletes.

“I want to empower other women to believe in themselves, to be athletes and moms and to encourage people to invest in women and women’s sports,” Morgan said.

Being the co-founder of TogetherXR, an online platform empowering women in sports, Morgan has made herself one of the most influential women in sports.

Morgan has shown that what seemed unfathomable to many people 20 years ago is manageable. By no means is being a mother easy. By no means is being a professional athlete easy. Morgan is revealing the highs and lows of motherhood as an athlete and the unique challenges she faces.

“My goal is to raise a daughter that is confident, that is strong and I want her to be proud of her mommy,” Morgan said. “I want to be able to create inspiration for girls and women to feel like they know me and my story and that all of our journeys, as different as they might be, are of equal importance.

It is the women in sports who break stigmas to prove that their dreams and happiness do not have to be limited to success on the field. Morgan continues to lead by example and will empower other professional athletes to become supermoms.