Hope Solo is hoping to end a double standard in the world of sports, said Peter Schrager in FoxSports.com. Having just pocketed a second Olympic gold medal, the best goalkeeper ever to play for the U.S. women’s soccer team is promoting a new memoir that’s tougher on ex-coaches and teammates than many might like. “Female athletes are supposed to be toned down. You’re always supposed to talk about the team and never stand out,” she says, hinting that male athletes are allowed more freedom. Her book instead pulls no punches, dishing on peers and even accusing former U.S. coach Greg Ryan of shoving her in a 2007 meeting when he benched her before the World Cup semifinals. “It wouldn’t be fair to my fans,” she says, “if I wasn’t absolutely honest with everything in those pages.”
Not everything in the memoir will ruffle feathers, said NPR.org. Much of it focuses on the close relationship Solo had with her late father, who led multiple lives under multiple aliases and once was even accused of murder. “He just had a rough life,” she says. “I couldn’t really hold it against him that he didn’t know how to be a parent.” Her advice to future soccer stars also focuses on the role played by parents. “I hate the cliché of ‘just have fun,’ but what I’ve seen, especially with parents, is they put so much pressure on the kids,” she says. “For me, the reason why I became successful is because I play with passion. I just played for the love of the game.”
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