I don’t feel that I have a disability.  Obviously, I do, but I don’t let it affect me to a point that I am not able to do things that I want to do. I just feel like I’m another normal soccer player. That’s how I view it personally. I am always able to do stuff that I want to do, and I have never let that bother me or stop me.

I don’t have to prove anything to anyone. I don’t think teams necessarily go after me because you don’t have to use your arms too much in soccer. It’s not something like in tennis where they could always hit to my left side. No matter what, I just try and compete at the highest level just like anyone else does on my team.

I’ve never had two arms, so I’ve never had to change anything. I’ve just grown up doing the only thing I know how to do which is running the way I do. I have kind of had to learn on my own because no one in my family or my coaches have one arm.

If someone is showing me something, they can’t show me with one arm. It’s not possible, so that’s probably the biggest difference.

I knew I was going to play soccer no matter what.

I did a bunch of sports when I was younger. I did tennis, swimming, soccer and basketball. My dad played soccer in college and my mum basketball. But I just loved soccer so much and loved that I was able to meet new friends and be on a team.

Obviously, you don’t use your hands so much in soccer and that was definitely a benefit. But growing up I chose it more for the love of the game rather than any imperfections or disabilities.

 Because I knew that whatever I did, I could get through it and I was able to compete. I just don’t make excuses. I don’t want anyone to make excuses for me and that has been my motto -“treat me like a normal person and don’t feel sorry for me” because I don’t like pity.

 

Being judged

Luckily, I have never had a coach disregard me because of my disability. I’ve never been in a position where that has happened to me. Everyone that I have played with, and against, has treated me the exact same way. I’m still an opponent to the other team and a team mate to my team so I’ve never had to deal with that luckily.

Regarding being an example to other people it’s not something where I say, “I’m excited to be a role model today”. But I know that I am, so I just have to watch my actions and how I do things because I know there are people watching. People look up to me, so I know that is something I always have to keep in mind, no matter the circumstance.

Usually I get it a lot of people saying, “oh you’re an inspiration to me”. I definitely get that a lot. It’s nice that I’m an inspiration to people, but I want to make sure that I’m an inspiration to people or kids that have the same disability as me so that they know they can do anything they put their minds to. And that they don’t have to worry about any type of disability or getting treated different.

My first game as an elite footballer

Honestly, it was surreal. When I was growing up, I always wanted to play professional soccer. When I was growing up, there wasn’t a league in America so there wasn’t much to look forward to, even though it was always my dream. When the league came back, and I was drafted, and I played in my first game it was surreal to be able to say that you’re a professional soccer player.

That’s what I would always write on all my assignments where it asked what do you want to be when you grow up and I’d say a professional soccer player. It’s so cool that I can look back and say that I’ve achieved that – what my dream was when I was five years old.

The W-League

Australia has been awesome so far. My team mates are super supportive, and they’ve been helping me transition and helping me with any of my needs. The coaching staff is also very welcoming. I’ve been here for a few weeks and loved every minute of it so far.

Being able to play in the National Women's Soccer League with and against players in the United States National team is definitely an honour. And coming here, and knowing that they [the Australian players] are just as good and they’ve competed against the US, is super cool to play with.

Obviously being from the US, it’s very different as we’re kind of rivals. But being able to play with them, is great as they’re stars here.

So, it’s definitely really cool to play alongside and against the Matildas, they’re obviously quality players. It definitely has helped my game a lot. Just being around some of them like Katrina Gorry – someone that has been around a while at such a high level - is so nice to play with because everyone can help you up your game.

I feel like that at Brisbane we have a really good team this year. We have a really good chance and definitely we’re going to be able to compete for a championship. So, it’s definitely a positive.

My next dream

I want to start a foundation and create soccer camps and set them up in third world countries. I’ve had that dream recently. I actually woke up one day and saw that one of my friends was in Uganda and she was playing soccer with little kids and I just thought that was the coolest thing ever.

So, I reached out to a couple of people about starting a foundation. It’s a lot right now considering I’m in Australia so it’s on hold. But honestly it inspired me to give back to people who need it more than I need it.

As told to Con Stamocostas