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Liked by alexmorgan13, katiebolton14, orlpride and 41,847 others
tonio_niel: Orlando, here I come 😈
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username: It's 5 in the morning where are you and why are you setting off so early!
username: Yes! Go Pride!! ↳username: I'm so excited for her to join our club, we really need someone up top with Alex.
username: are you still going to be using the gym as much now you're playing professionally? ↳tonio_niel: Of course! I've spent years getting my body to where it is now, I'm not just going to stop.
username: still salty that Thorns didn't sign her. ↳username: SAME!
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I fiddle with the radio, trying to choose a station that I like as I make the 3-hour drive down to Orlando. I had to get up at 4:30 to make sure I had set off by 5 and I know that I'll be feeling it later on today.
I can't quite believe I've actually made it this far in my career, it has always been my dream to play in the NWSL and I always thought I could make it but some part of me still didn't expect it to happen.
I'm 24 years old, a part-time fitness coach and was a semi-professional soccer player. Now I'm playing with some of the best women in the world.
I have already bought a small apartment down near the grounds as I've been saving up my money since I can remember. When you've had a job since you were 13, you have to learn the best way to handle it all, what's a necessity and what's a luxury.
Growing up in a foster home was hard for me, I was always the skinny girl who had no parents in school and had no home. I remember my first day of Kindergarten and we had to wait to be picked up by our parents before we were allowed to leave. The owner of the foster home, Becky, didn't care about any of the kids there much, she just did the job for the money.
I watched all the kids getting collected by their moms or dads while I just sat there on my own. I was the last one there except for one other girl who's name was Katie.
I remember her turning to me and asking if anyone was here to pick me up and I said I thought so but wasn't sure. We ended up talking and I told her how I had no parents and lived in a home with lots of other kids, basically confessing my whole life like what any kindergarten student would do. She said that her mom worked in the school so she was waiting for her to finish.
By the time Katie was leaving, Becky was still to show up so Katie's mom offered to drop me off home. Ever since that day we always waited after school for her mom to finish and take us both home.
Even when I was tossed around different foster homes throughout my educational year's, she still drove to wherever I was staying to take me places. She basically became my mother, feeding me, buying me new clothes and shoes.
She was the one who got me into soccer, taking me to all the practices and games on a Saturday. She even surprised me with my first pair of cleats on my 10th birthday. I cried for hours after that day.
It wasn't until I turned 15 and going to Sophmore year when I have moved yet again to a new home, the people seemed nice enough but I never got close to them, I wasn't going to get attached and then be thrown away like trash again.
They seemed perfectly happy with that too because they also didn't get attached to me. It happened one night when Rick got back late drunk and came storming into my room with a bottle in his hand. He threw it straight at my head and I managed to duck in time for it to smash against the wall behind me.
It turned out he wasn't finished because he came at me with his fist next and thought my face would be good target practice for him. I tried to protect myself but I wasn't strong enough to stop him so I end up getting a lot of broken bones and quite a few bruises and cuts.
Once he stopped and walked out I just grabbed everything I had and shoved it into my suitcase, my adrenaline was pumping high because I couldn't feel any pain so I opened the window and climbed down the house.
I just ran to the only place I knew that I would be safe. Katie's house.
After that day when I turned up beaten and bruised, the Boltons officially took me in and made me their second daughter. My best friend was now my sister and I couldn't be happier about it.
It was hard today driving off from my hometown, even though there were some awful memories in that place there were some great ones too.
