At age 31, Lori Chalupny is retiring from the U.S. Women’s National Team, ending an international career that has included more than 100 games, an Olympic gold medal in 2008, and a World Cup title in Canada this summer. During the recent 10-game Victory Tour with the women’s team, the Nerinx Hall High School grad and former Saint Louis Athletica player stopped to chat about her soccer career and what lies ahead.
When you look back on the World Cup, what stands out?
Getting into the game against Colombia. But when you look back on the whole experience, it’s the friendships—the moments behind the scenes when you’re sitting around the hotel, playing cards or goofing around with teammates.
One of the controversies with the recent World Cup was that the women’s teams had to play on synthetic turf, whereas the men’s games were on natural grass. What was your reaction?
It was a big deal early on then we realized the World Cup is going to be on turf and we have to win the World Cup on turf and we have to quit talking about it. But it’s not right. The game was meant to be played on grass. They would never put a men’s World Cup on [artificial] turf—it doesn’t bring out the best soccer in either team.
Why does the U.S. women’s team do so much better than the men’s team?
Soccer started in Europe—the men were just far behind the game. When soccer came around to the U.S., we were at the forefront of women’s soccer. We were one of the first teams to start funding programs or to put any effort into women’s soccer. That gave us a leg up on the competition from the beginning.
What prompted you to retire from the U.S. team?
It just felt right, coming off a World Cup win. I knew going into this year that I didn’t have too many years left. As soon as we won the World Cup and [I] had a chance to reflect and think about the other things I want to accomplish, I felt like it was a good time. It’s always good to end on a win.
How long does the Victory Tour last?
Sine we won the World Cup, we have a 10-game Victory Tour. We basically travel around the U.S. and have a chance to celebrate with our fans, and play games throughout the U.S. We play two games against Haiti this month. They’re filling at the last minute for Australia, which was having some contract disputes.
With the World Cup win for the women’s team, you likely are on the receiving end of a lot of compliments and encouragement. Are you optimistic about U.S. soccer?
Coming back from the World Cup in Canada, we had created a little bubble around our team. We didn’t read a lot of media stories, and we didn’t partake in any of that. We weren’t really sure when we came back to the United States what the reaction would be—if anybody cared or even watched. It was immediately apparent when we got off the airplane in L.A. There were screaming fans—it kind of took us all by surprise, just how big of an impact the tournament had. It’s been neat the last couple of weeks to experience that. Women’s soccer has come a long way in the past couple years. I have a lot of confidence that it’s going to continue to grow. You’re seeing guys come out. It’s not just young soccer girls who are coming out to our games; it’s soccer fans and even general sports fans watching our games and cheering for us. That’s a huge step in the right direction. Hopefully, we can use the World Cup as a launchpad to continue to grow the sport and gain interest.
You’re now an assistant soccer coach at Maryville University. What does retirement from international soccer mean for you?
This is my third season. I’ll never leave the game completely. I love coaching. I still have a huge passion for the game. It’s just going to be in a different capacity now. I really enjoy the coaching part of the game, so that’s where I hope to continue... One of the fun things about coaching college, even though you are a coach and you’re not a player, it’s definitely a little bit different but you still get to experience that team camaraderie and playing for a championship. All sports fans love that.
You had some difficulty with concussions. It kept you off the women’s national team, even though you played professionally for the Chicago Red Stars. How did you think that was handled?
Concussions are difficult to diagnose. Therefore, it’s a difficult problem to have. I came around at the wrong place at the wrong time. Concussions were really in the news right around the time I was getting concussion-like symptoms. I think they didn’t want to take any chances. Looking back now, I think a lot of my symptoms could be attributed to other things—sinus problems or inner ear infections, things like that. At the time we just had to play it safe.
How much time did you miss?
I missed five years with the U.S. National Team, but I was playing in pro leagues the whole time. I didn’t miss a significant amount of time from playing professionally.
Missing out on that time with the national team. Are you at all irritated by that?
I’m not. At the time it was a tough blow, but looking back, everything happens for a reason. When you play with the national team, it’s a 12-month season. There is no time off. It’s great—I love it—but not being with the national team gave me the opportunity to pursue other things. I got to get into coaching and get my coaching license. It gave me a chance to take a step away from soccer and figure out what my other passions are. I think it was a good thing. I ended back up with the national team in time to win the World Cup. You have to go with the flow.
With your experience with the concussion issue and your involvement in coaching, do you have any views on heading the ball with regard to youth soccer?
There has been talk about banning heading for a certain amount of time. It’s something we need to have a discussion about and look into further. I don’t believe there’s any reason for kids to be heading before age 12 or 13. It would help the game to encourage kids to learn skills, not just heading and kicking the ball long. It forces you to keep the ball on the ground and develop other parts of the game. I really don’t think there needs to be heading at younger ages—kids don’t need to be doing 50 head balls when they’re 10 years old.
I coach a fourth-grade soccer team that's predominately African-American and Latino. These kids don’t have access to club teams or additional training due to a lack of money and living in under-served areas for soccer. Isn’t this a problem that affects the quality of the national teams, that talented, willing young players are denied access to the system?
I wish I had answers. I don’t know what the answer is. It makes me sad for the kids, and it’s also sad we are keeping out potential athletes that could make the national team, we are cutting them out from the beginning and saying you don’t have a chance, really. The more competition we have, the better we will be as a country. The more kids have access to quality coaching and training environments, that’s only going to make us better. It’s not just the soccer program, these problems exist across our country. There are some grassroots types of programs that are trying to reach out, but it’s hard.
What advice do you have for young soccer players?
It starts with passion. If you love the sport, spend as much time as you can with a soccer ball—juggling, dribbling, whatever. There is no right or wrong way. Just spending time with the ball is all it takes.
