Recipe For Success: Megan Rapinoe

By Francis

Image of Bill Gates — Image Of Megan Rapinoe from New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/25/books/megan-rapinoe-soccer-world-cup.html

Born: July 5th, 1985, in Redding, California

Personal Success Definition

I define Success as someone who has considerably impacted many people in a positive way, and who demonstrates admirable qualities/traits and works to improve other peoples’ quality of life.

Megan Rapinoe has made a name for herself by playing competitive soccer for the women’s national team. She is an inspirational player and teammate, and is a role model to countless youth soccer players (both girls and boys). Rapinoe has won the awards for Ballon D’or Feminin, The Best FIFA Women’s Player, Sports Illustrated Sportsperson Of The Year, Goal 50, and Shorty Award for Best In Sports, just to name a few. She constantly strives for excellence -both on and off the field.

Skills for Success

Megan Rapinoe is 1) A phenomenal soccer player for the US Women’s National Team, 2) A Lesbian woman who constantly advocated for LGBTQ+ (and human) rights, and a public speaker/influencer, and 3) has a brother, and a twin!

Rapinoe has the ability to stay focused and driven, two skills that come in handy when training for the Olympics or the World Cup, and has successfully become a major figurehead in today’s ‘world of soccer.’ Rapinoe’s skill development started on the soccer field, but soccer allows for the development of countless other attributes/skills besides footwork and shooting – such as leadership and teamwork, and Rapinoe constantly implements these skills in her day-to-day life.

Because of her fame in the sports arena, Rapinoe has been interviewed and questioned countless times, which has forced her to become comfortable publicly speaking. She is well known and admired, and she has always used her words to initiate positive change. She famously refused to go to the White House if an invitation from the president was issued, kneeled during the national anthem (following Kaepernick’s lead, but doing it to also represent LGBTQ+ rights), and works for/donates to a number of charities that “actively fight against homophobia and transphobia in sports.” – Jenny Hojnacki, Internationalchampionscup.com

Megan Rapinoe also has a twin, Rachel , and an older brother, Brian, both of whom have played a large role in her life.

How They Used These Skills

Explain how did they use these skills to achieve success?

EXAMPLE: He and Paul Allen used their abilities as programmers to build some of the first programs for hobbyist computers. This brought them business prospects which they capitalized upon. Being a poker player helped him with business negotiations. He was clever and very persuasive. Bill made a shrewd business decision that led to computer software licensing as we know it and helped him build financial success.

Rapinoe has used her skills to continually excel as an athlete, but also as a human. She has succeeded in supporting equal rights across the board, and constantly encourages everyone to do better. In an Interview With Steve Colbert on The Late Show, Rapinoe said “Use your voice in whatever way you can. I truly believe that we all have a responsibility to make the world better.[..]”

Taking her own advice, Rapinoe has done exactly that, and has used skills she gained from her soccer career to broaden the range of her influence and affect positive change. She noted in that same interview the fact that athletes are so glorified in the United states, and that because they are given such a large platform, they have immense responsibility. Recently, Rapinoe, along with a number of other of her friends/colleagues participated in something called “Share The Mic,” where they handed over their own social platforms to black women, in order to help share other voices and appreciate all that black women have done in the fight for equality.

Rapinoe goes more into depth about the subject in the said interview, which I strongly encourage everyone to check out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r22dokLryrA

Challenges Overcome

It’s not often that you find someone successful who hasn’t overcome difficulty or challenge in their lives, and Megan Rapinoe is no exception. Rapinoe was and is an amazing soccer player, but that doesn’t mean she was always #1. Even playing for the U.S. National Team, Rapinoe was repeatedly benched despite her opinion that she deserved a starting position. Additionally, Rapinoe suffered two injuries in college, but overcame both.

Additionally, the struggles of her older brother Brian deeply affected Rapinoe. Arrested at only 15 for bringing meth to school, Brian, who had long been Megan’s Idol, began to disappoint. Because Rapinoe loved him so much, watching him struggle was painful for her, and she began to lose her respect for him. Her and her family were forced to watch as his charges escalated and he lived his life out in a prison cell. Spending more than half of his life incarcerated, Brian watched his little sister’s World Cup games and loved seeing her happy and successful, but began to realize he needed to make some changes. He entered into rehabilitation classes, and as of July 7th 2020, has been clean for 18 months.

Image of Rapinoe and her brother Brian as children.
https://www.espn.com/soccer/fifa-womens-world-cup/story/3878587/why-megan-rapinoes-brother-brian-is-her-greatest-heartbreakand-hope

Significant Work

Rapinoe may have reached success and glory through playing soccer – and is a phenomenal player – but soccer is not the only thing she excels at. Rapinoe is a champion of human rights – from equal pay, to LGBTQ+ rights, to racism – and has never hesitated to voice her opinion. Directly preceding their winning of the world cup, Rapinoe and her team sued US soccer for institutionalized gender discrimination, has engaged in multiple equality initiatives (such as Share the Mic), “collaborated with her partner Sue Bird and designer Melody Ehsani to create a hoodie acknowledging the history of Pride (Anna Coumou, Seattlemet.com), and has founded a company that strives to embody equity, creativity, progress, and art. This company is known as Re:inc