Julie Foudy - The Mentor

SOCCER - MIDFIELDER - USWNT - STANFORD

ARCHETYPE: THE MENTOR

Day 125/135

Athletic Accomplishments

Julie Foudy is a trailblazer in women’s soccer, sports, and sports media. You may recognize her as an ESPN analyst or reporter on soccer broadcasts. Or maybe you recognize her from her incredible career as a midfielder with the U.S. Women’s National Team from 1988 to 2004. But wherever the spotlight found her, Foudy has always been unflappable.

In high school, Foudy had already received national attention. She was named the Los Angeles Times High School Player of the 1980s and the Player of the Year in Southern California for three straight years (1987–1989). She was also a two-time First-Team All-American and started playing with the USWNT at just 16 years old.

Foudy played soccer at Stanford University, where she was the 1989 Soccer America Freshman of the Year, a four-time All-American, and named the 1991 Soccer America Player of the Year. In 1991, when Foudy graduated, there was no American professional soccer league for her to play in. Women’s professional sports were seen as unmarketable and financially untenable. So, Foudy and other women’s players had to fight and scrap for everything they got, and every step forward was an enormous leap for the players who came up behind her.

As midfielder and captain of the USWNT, Foudy went on to become a two-time World Cup champion (1991 and 1999) and two-time Olympic gold medalist (1996 and 2004).

From 2000 to 2002, Foudy was president of the Women's Sports Foundation. In 2002, Foudy was selected for the Commission on Opportunity in Athletics by Rod Paige, the U.S. Secretary of Education. The panel was responsible for reviewing the effects and implementation of 1972’s Title IX legislation. Foudy is one of two members (along with Donna de Varona) who refused to sign the report authored by the commission, believing that it downplayed and minimized the amount and persistence of gender-based discrimination in school sports, drafting their own minority report to set the record straight.

In 2006, she co-founded the Julie Foudy Sports Leadership Academy, which develops leadership skills in teenage girls, using sports as a vehicle. In 2007, Foudy was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame with her teammate, Mia Hamm, the first and only class of all-women.

Today, Foudy is an analyst, reporter, and color commentator for ABC and ESPN, where she lends her voice, insights, and personality to soccer broadcasts.

Character Archetype: The Mentor

Of course Julie Foudy played midfield and helped control the flow of the game. Because that woman is never NOT leading. She’s always at the helm, pushing the team, driving toward success. It’s who she is and why she’s earned nicknames like “Loudy Foudy” and “Super Julie.”

Foudy was first selected as co-captain of the U.S. Women’s National Team in 1991, when she was just 19 years old. She held the captain’s armband until she retired in 2004, spanning a career in which she earned 274 caps, led the team to two Olympic gold medals and two World Cup titles, and inspired millions of girls to play sports.

Off the pitch, Foudy was, is, and always will be fighting for gender equity. She has started her own sports leadership camp, served on a federal Title IX review commission, and advocated for equal pay. Foudy is a trailblazer, not just for herself. She’s a leader and a winner on and off the pitch.