USWNT's secret to sustained success? A mentorship circle that keeps paying it forward

The moment was random and unplanned.

Abby Wambach, Alex Morgan and Sophia Smith found themselves in front of a photo booth and all had the same thought.

"I was like, this is actually something," Wambach says.

The three soccer superstars were at the U.S. Women’s National Team Players’ Ball last November celebrating the USWNT’s historic achievement of equal pay. It was a red-carpet event where lots of photos were snapped. But they asked for this one to be taken.

It might not seem obvious upon first look, but Wambach, Morgan and Smith are posing in a specific way. Wambach is pointing at Morgan, Morgan is pointing at Smith, and Smith is pointing back at Wambach, creating a circle-of-life kind of vibe. The photo captures the legacy of the USWNT, a bond created and fostered by mentorship that’s proudly passed down through generations.

"Those are two players that I look up to and have looked up to for so long," Smith says. "[The photo] represents passing the torch. Abby is someone that Alex learned from a lot, and I’m someone that is learning from Alex. It was a cool picture to take."

The USWNT is rooted in a simple objective: Leave the game better than you found it for posterity. This saying of sorts isn’t written anywhere publicly, but veteran players have been known to hold team meetings during camps, or go out for coffee with young players and teach them about the history of the program. That includes everything from the equal pay lawsuit, to the trophies they’ve won and what it’s like to compete for a starting position. The hope is they will pass down those lessons to the players who follow them.

As the USWNT prepares for this summer’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand with the plan of winning a record fifth title, with their first game kicking off July 21 against Vietnam (9 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app), that mindset strengthens.

"My only sadness is that Mia (Hamm) wasn’t there [in the photo] to complete the story," Wambach says.

That’s because the meaning of this photo dates back to the 99ers led by Hamm, Brandi Chastain and Julie Foudy. And in 2001, when a then-21-year-old Wambach made her debut with the national team, Hamm chose to mentor her. They both played forward, so Hamm took Wambach under her wing.

When Morgan earned her first cap in 2010, Wambach recalled what Hamm did for her and did the same for the next world-class goalscorer. Wambach and Morgan quickly and easily developed a big sister-little sister bond that contributed to an Olympic gold medal in 2012 and a World Cup title in 2015.

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"I think what Abby did for me is she helped build up my confidence," Morgan says. "She told me to take that shot, even if it’s not perfect. Do what you need to be ruthless. And she was always like, ‘I’m going to support you and never going to yell at you for doing that.’"

Now 34, it’s Morgan’s turn to be the mentor, and she has tasked herself with grooming both the 22-year-old Smith and 25-year-old Mallory Swanson to be the next stars at the position. (Swanson was not at the Players’ Ball, otherwise she would have been in the photo. She also won’t be playing in the World Cup this summer after tearing the patellar tendon in her knee during an April friendly, but she remains an integral part of the circle and the team’s future.) 

"The most important thing is to feel confident in your game and that you are making an impact at this level," Morgan says. "Abby was just the best at that — at being a leader, a teammate, a friend and mentor. And I hope that I'm able to at least give some of that to Sophia and Mal."

She is.

"Every day in camp Alex is always taking me under her wing, helping me, explaining things to me," Smith says. "She’s just someone that I’ve looked up to my whole life. So playing with her now, it’s just the best thing ever."

What does being guided and advised by Morgan look like? Lots of encouragement, Smith says.

"We’ll just be doing drills together, and she’s saying, ‘Good ball, Soph. Try this, Soph.’

"... She’s just a professional in every way," Smith continues. "How she carries herself. You can just watch Alex and learn a lot from her. I mean, she’s in the spotlight. Her life is crazy. To watch her navigate that and at the same time be a mom, which is something I hope to do too, you can learn so much."

The whole idea of keeping this mentorship chain alive and being an example for the next group to follow took on new meaning when Smith found a photo from when she was a little girl and idolized the USWNT. After earning her first senior national team cap in November 2020, Smith dug up a picture of her and Wambach from an autograph session more than 10 years earlier. Wambach could have never imagined that one of the thousands of photos she took with an adoring fan would turn out to be the future of her own lineage.

The picture reemerged recently after Smith was named to her first World Cup roster. This time, Wambach tweeted it out.

"That’s a core memory," Smith says. "I was one of those little girls who I see out at our games every day just hoping for someone to say hi to me, someone that I looked up to. So, it’s pretty surreal, like a full-circle moment." 

The same thing could happen to Smith, Swanson and Morgan some day. Earlier this NWSL season, Morgan tweeted a photo with young girls freaking out that she was signing their shoes. She captioned the tweet: "My ‘Why’ in a picture."

Morgan is now one of the older players on this team. This will be her fourth World Cup, and she’s hoping to make history with this squad by winning the Americans’ third title in a row. No team — in men’s or women’s soccer — has ever accomplished that feat.

Morgan didn’t get to this point in her career based on talent alone. It was that, plus her firm belief in the philosophy represented in the photo of her, Wambach and Smith, which she chose to post on Instagram for her 10 million followers to see. It shows that the connection between generations is always there. 

And as Wambach can attest, it lives on — strongly — in retirement. Wambach, now 43, is always following the USWNT and texting Morgan to make sure she knows that she’s supported.

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"It’s this quiet pride," Wambach says, joking that watching the team is like being a joyful parent or grandparent. "Alex had to take on leadership in her own personal unique way, much like I had to. And so as that gets passed down, it looks a little bit different. 

"But, I think with our national team, generationally there is an expectation of greatness and so when they go out and perform really well, I do feel like this weird sense of pride because they're carrying on a legacy that I tried my best to employ. I tried my damnedest to keep those that came before me alive throughout my tenure. It looks like Alex is doing the same." 

The roster that U.S. coach Vlatko Andonovski put together for this summer averages around the same age (28.5) as past American squads, but there are 14 players who have never played in a World Cup. So in that respect, there’s plenty of youth and inexperience heading Down Under.

Morgan wants to make sure they feel empowered to perform on this stage.

"I think it’s just getting on their level and making sure they know that they earned a spot like anyone else and now [they have to] take it and run with it," she says of her mentees. "It’s just continuing to lift them up. And also [for me] to exude confidence and let them know like, ‘Hey, you’re on this field because you earned it, you deserve it and now just show the world year after year.’ 

"And, if I can help them with either the way I play or by my words, then I feel like I’m passing along a little of what Abby taught me."

Laken Litman covers college football, college basketball and soccer for FOX Sports. She previously wrote for Sports Illustrated, USA Today and The Indianapolis Star. She is the author of "Strong Like a Woman," published in spring 2022 to mark the 50th anniversary of Title IX. Follow her on Twitter @LakenLitman.