“I’m a professional soccer player for the Chicago Fire, an MLS team. In order for me to be ready to do my job, I have to be healthy. I have to be fit. I have to have stretched. I have to have done all the right things, otherwise someone else will. It took a lot of work to get to where I am today. Every kid has that dream in their head. Looking back, I was never that kid watching tv or playing video games. I was always outside playing soccer and every other sport available. I didn’t really take myself seriously until I was 15 or 16. I was working out a lot but it was without a real purpose. Then I thought, what if I turn all of this energy and all of this training into something incredibly specific? My initial goal was to become a division 1 player. Once that happened, I thought why stop? So during college, I didn’t drink or party. I continued working hard because I wanted it to pay off. People in my life definitely made it a lot easier for me. My parents made it a lot easier. There are people out there who have accomplished the same thing who don’t have the support of their parents, friends and family. I always had that. I’m incredibly thankful for that. I would still really like to play professionally in Europe at some point. I’ve always been really honest about how I assess my abilities. Even in the last 5 years, I’ve had to reassess my goals and set new goals and one of the biggest parts of that goal is maintaining my overall health. I meditate 3 times a day. It’s usually deep breathing preparing to be in the moment because if you aren’t in the moment in situations like professional sports, you won’t last. As I’ve gotten older, my body doesn’t recover as fast. I’m forced to be smarter about it. There’s a lot of adaptation involved, especially with what I do. Being a goalkeeper is such a mental position and so if I’m not in a good place mentally, I can’t do my job. A lot of me being able to be in a good place mentally comes from my meditation and exercise.”