Alex Morgan Says Being a Mom Has Actually Upped Her Soccer Game — Here’s Why (Exclusive)

While most women find that having a kid can impede their physical abilities, soccer star Alex Morgan, who’s about to go into her fourth World Cup, says being a parent to her daughter Charlie, 3, has only upped her game.

“[Parenthood] just makes me feel more balanced all around,” the co-captain of the United States women’s national soccer team (USWNT) and captain of the San Diego Wave tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue. “I’m able to give everything to the sport and my teams, but when I go home, I’m not dwelling on whether I had a bad training or bad game. I just have to be a mom, and tend to my child’s needs instead of overanalyzing things.”

She adds, “Plus, whether the game was bad or not when I step off the field and my daughter runs up to me, everything’s good.”

Morgan and her husband, soccer player Servando Carrasco, whom she met in college while playing for UC Berkeley, welcomed Charlie in 2020, and Morgan credits the USWNT for allowing her and her fellow moms on the national team (Julie Ertz and Crystal Dunn) to bring their families along for the ride.

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