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  Hill and Knowton Sports Joy Fawcett plays with her daughter Katie in their backyard.

By Michelle Copolella

Daily Bruin Reporter

In the land of opportunity, many people step into the work force with a positive attitude. However, more often than not, the shocking realization that finding a secure, enjoyable job is difficult leaves many with a withered version of the American Dream. Even worse, it leaves many people stuck in a job that is the furthest thing from enjoyable.

But Joy Fawcett, former head coach of the UCLA women’s soccer team, Olympic gold medalist, World Cup champion, and current team member of the Women’s United Soccer Association’s San Diego Spirit, is fortunate enough to be able to say that she is exactly where she wants to be in life: on the field, playing soccer. And she’s having the time of her life while she’s at it.

Tagged by many as the best defender in the world because of her ability to diffuse dangerous situations in the backfield, Fawcett has become one of the most influential women’s soccer players.

“She’s a mature, intelligent soccer player who brings competitiveness and experience from all the important games she’s played,” Spirit head coach Carlos Juarez said in a phone interview. “But more than anything, she has a passion for the game.”

In addition to her role as a defender, her ability to attack from every position on the field makes her one of the most versatile players in the U.S. And versatility isn’t a foreign concept to Fawcett – it really can’t be when you are both a professional soccer player and a mother of three children.

“My family is my priority and if my family wasn’t able to travel, I wouldn’t be playing soccer,” she said. “I am fortunate and can do both. Being organized and getting your schedule down are very important. If you have a good idea of your schedule, it makes things a lot easier and a lot less stressful.”

Time management is essential when having a daily schedule like Fawcett’s. A typical day for her includes waking up early to get her kids dressed and ready, spending a couple of hours at practice, making a few appearances for a couple of hours after practice, coming home to feed and get her kids ready for bed, and preparing for tomorrow. How does she do it all?

“With a lot of help,” Fawcett said. “I get a lot of help from my family and especially my husband. He’ll take the kids and travel with us and watch during practice. I’m just glad I’m able to play soccer and be a mom.”

But Fawcett isn’t the typical mom. She has been dubbed “the ultimate soccer mom” by many because of her seemingly impossible commitment to her children and the sport. In 1994, three weeks after she had her first child, she rejoined the U.S. National Team and went on to play every minute of the 1995 Women’s World Cup, the 1996 Olympics, the 1999 Women’s World Cup and the 2000 Olympics.

“I’ve learned to go for what you want – if there’s something you want, try and make it happen,” she said. “There are limits out there, but they can be pushed and the lines can be changed. We’ve seen that demonstrated by getting the sport in the Olympics and putting on the biggest women’s sporting event in the 1999 World Cup.”

In addition to the evolution of the women’s soccer movement in the past 10 years, Fawcett’s family has undergone its own evolution. Recently, she gave birth to her third child, Madilyn Ray, and is now preparing to make an aggressive comeback to the WUSAa.

“The thing that helps is that I trained throughout my pregnancy,” she said. “I continued to run and lift weights every day. As the pregnancy advanced, I naturally had to slow it down, but it still made it a lot easier to come back.”

From history, it is said that one of the most important things we can possibly do is to learn from the successes and failures of those who precede us. Through Fawcett’s successes both on and off the soccer field, female soccer players today still cling onto the hope that the American Dream hasn’t completely withered away, but instead that it will continue to blossom across the soccer fields of America.

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