Sara Persechino lives in Contoocook.

In 2019, twenty years after Brandi Chastain clinched the World Cup and whipped off her jersey, I had the opportunity to meet her. I told her that the Girls of Summer kickstarted my feminism.

To this day, I can remember sitting on the arm of our family sofa watching that epic 120-minute final matchup against China in blistering Pasadena heat. I was late to meet a friend at the Hillsboro Balloon Festival. I didn’t care.

My bedroom walls were plastered with every 99-ers poster and glossy magazine ad I could find. There were multiple copies of Mia Hamm’s black and white, sweaty header. The most memorable commercial of my entire lifetime was that Hamm and Michael Jordan ad for Gatorade; I too believed anything boys could do, I could do better.

Over my lifetime, we have made progress when it comes to equality on and off the field. But there are still miles to go, underscored by the fact that my nine-year-old feels she has to prove her worth on the recess soccer field, just like I did…last century.

In second grade, she came home to tell me the teachers intervened because the boys wouldn’t let girls play soccer during recess. She advocated for herself and her friends. And she was quick to recognize the boys who did stand up for the girls.

During the 2022 Men’s World Cup, one of her friends raved about Ronaldo being the first player to score in five World Cups. I quickly let him know that Brazilian star Marta did it first. It reminded me of the time a reporter asserted that tennis player Sam Querrey was the first U.S. tennis player to reach a Grand Slam semi-final in eight years. “Male player,” Andy Murray clarified, a nod to Serena Williams.

Sometimes, men can do the same things women can.

The players of the U.S. Women’s National Team (USWNT) tirelessly fought for equal pay, a decades-long effort that culminated with an agreement reached last year to compensate the men’s and women’s teams on identical terms.

This groundbreaking deal was not a first for women’s soccer, and it hopefully won’t be the last. In February, I proudly raised my “Equal Pay for CAN” sign at a She Believes Cup game in Nashville as the Canadian women were embroiled in their own fight for fair compensation.

Cheering on the USWNT is truly my favorite season. Along with the feelings of feminism, it brings with it a strong pride in our country. But there is a friction. As our women head down under in search of a threepeat, those of us at home are cheering them on as we continue this great experiment to build a country that delivers on its promise of liberty, justice, and equality for all.

When recently asked what it means to don the red, white, and blue and represent America in this time, Megan Rapinoe responded, “I also represent our ideals and the things that we say that we want to be…What I always try to do is not allow people to look away from all that is America.”

All of the U.S. players I’ve mentioned thus far have something in common other than soccer: they are all white women. The 2023 squad is the most diverse in USWNT history, “a blend of races, ethnicities, and sexual orientation that is closer to accurately reflecting the country than what is often seen on suburban soccer fields.”

My youngest daughter is mourning the pending retirement of her favorite player, “Pinoe,” however, she’s found a new woman to cheer on — Crystal Dunn, a Black mom in blue box braids whose defensive prowess will make your jaw drop. In 2021, Dunn told Forbes, “I have earned the right to be posterized,” in her push to shift the perception of women’s soccer as predominantly white.

I cannot think of another body in sport, government, or Hollywood that reflects that vision better than this team, whose secret sauce is allowing players space to be their most authentic, individual selves. It’s an example our country would do well to follow.

In elementary school and at the most elite levels of the game and life in general, our futures are linked. We are greater than the sum of our parts. We are one nation, one team.

E pluribus unum. LFG!

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