Picture it: Five-year-old soccer legend Abby Wambach, a talented forward, scored 27 goals in her first three youth soccer games.
Now widely known, it's a story Wambach often shares to emphasize the importance of working with teammates, or what she calls her “wolf pack.”
“After the third game, my mother asked me why I didn't pass the ball,” Wambach, 44, remembers. “I told him that the important thing was to score the greatest number of goals. She told me, 'This will make you feel alone.' None of your teammates will want to be your friend. Since then, I have prided myself on passing the ball and strengthening my teammates. It was the beginning of my life of gratitude.”
In Sunday Funday, the people of Los Angeles tell us step by step their ideal Sunday in the city. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekends.
Empowerment is a theme that runs through Wambach's activism, her speaking engagements and now, “The Wolfpack Way,” a children's picture book that hit bookstores this week. Even with her formidable soccer skills (after her debut, she was moved to the men's team), Wambach says she felt helpless as a child. “All the decisions were made for me,” he says. “So I created a picture book that I wish I had when I was a kid: full of inclusion, teamwork and diversity.”
When she's not writing books, the two-time Olympic gold medalist and former captain of the US women's soccer team hosts the weekly podcast series “We Can Do Hard Things” with her wife, best-selling author Glennon Doyle , and Doyle's sister, Amanda. Recently, the couple has been on tour with their 17-year-old daughter, singer-songwriter Tish Melton, who is performing on her first tour. When she's home, Wambach would start her ideal Sunday with surfing at Manhattan Beach, followed by a stroll along the Strand and a soccer game for Angel City FC, of which she is co-owner. Now that time flies, Wambach appreciates spending time with two of her three teenage children while they are still at home. “I have gold medals and championships,” he says, laughing, “but I'm telling you, my kids don't think I'm even remotely cool.”
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for length and clarity.
7 am: Catch a wave, or not, in El Porto
After making my morning coffee around 6am, I'll go surfing at The Porto just north of Manhattan Beach. I'm a newbie. All I do is row and fall, but it doesn't matter. It's magical when you're in the water, it's cool and cold and the dolphins go by. There's a reason they keep calling you to the ocean, even if you never catch a wave. Nothing else in life can replicate the feeling of water. You are using Mother Nature to do something that moves you. You are assuming a marine animal experience. Surfing is complicated, so when I do it, it feels like a completely human experience when I'm done. I'm always so hungry afterwards. It reminds me of when I played soccer and how I would feel walking off the field. I usually have a burrito Brother's Burritos to warm me up later.
Occasionally, our youngest daughter, Amma, has a soccer game on Sunday; In that case, you will find me on the sidelines of their game. At first, the other parents considered me an extraordinary soccer player and wanted to hear stories, but after several years, I became a normal father.
Noon: Go for a walk with Glennon and plan for the week ahead.
Our Sunday walk is when we catch up on personal and family matters and what's going on in our world. I love walking the Strand cycle path in beach cities. We use our weekend walks to form what we discuss on the podcasts. We talk a lot about ourselves and plan for the next week. Sometimes, you need to spend quality time with your partner without mobile phones in your hand. There is often a lot of silence. When you have three teenagers and you're doing big business, finding that solitude and planning your week is one of those things we really need as a couple.
2 pm: Enjoy a nap
In the afternoon I will take my Sunday nap. To be completely honest, I also nap on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. This is a regimen I brought back from my playing days. It's important. I think that's why I can get up so early: I know I'll take a nap in the afternoon.
3:00 p.m.: cold bath and sauna.
After my midday nap, I like to take a cold dip in the garage on my inflatable Edge Theory Cold Plunge. I'll take a cold bath and then take a sauna. I like to pretend that I'm an aspiring professional athlete and that I have to prepare for a big game.
4:30 pm: Attend an Angel City Football Club match
If we're in town and they're playing, we're in the Angel City Soccer Games at BMO Stadium. It's a fantastic atmosphere to have 22,000 people at each game. I am so happy (and jealous) that this is their weekly experience as professional soccer players. It's a really fun thing for us to be a part of. The children also go with us. We have seven subscriptions and sometimes we bring friends. It's an experience you don't have anywhere else. We are all used to going to football and men's basketball games. Women's soccer matches are just as intense, but also open and welcoming. You see moms and daughters, entire families, and soccer teams from all over Los Angeles. There is a support section that never sits down. It's very entertaining.
7 p.m.: Make dinner and watch “Friday Night Lights”
I'm the family cook, although Glennon has been dabbling recently. We have two kids at home (the youngest is a junior in high school) and that's when everyone comes together. We usually like to have an early dinner and watch TV shows together as a family. If I cook, everyone else washes the dishes. Once the dishes are ready, I'll make some tea for Glennon and I, and then we'll sit in the family room, hang out, and spend five minutes thinking about what we'll watch while our teenagers do their homework. We are on “Friday Night Lights” right now. It's a great show and it's fun for us because the kids haven't seen it. Spending time together on Sunday night is a great way to head into Monday and the big week ahead. We fight Sunday fears a little with our Sunday routine.
