- Ava
Hello and welcome to Stop Wasting Your Life, the podcast. I'm Ava Heimbach, your host and founder, and I'm here with my friend Mary Long, who is a professional soccer player for the Kansas City Currents.
- Mary
Hi guys. That's so cool.
- Ava
Do you feel so cool saying professional soccer player?
- Mary
Sometimes. I feel like not.
- Ava
I feel cool being in this room with you right now, like a professional soccer player. Thank you. That's so cool. But yeah, I just, our moms, were best friends in high school. and still are really really good friends so I was like oh my gosh I love Mary I'm gonna interview her because she's so cool so your mom actually texted me yesterday what did she say she just said congrats on the goal and she feels like a proud mom that's so funny I know it's so weird to think that our moms are like best friends in high school I'm like we have to be best friends now because like we have to carry on the tradition
- Mary
She called herself the better Megan. She what? She called herself the better Megan.
- Ava
The better Megan. Oh, because there's a Megan Weber, I think is the other one. Yeah. That's so funny. I know. Silly Megan. But yeah, so I just wanted to talk to you today and interview you and pick your brain about all the cool things that you get to do. And yeah, you ready?
- Mary
Yeah, I'm ready.
- Ava
Before we begin, just a little reminder that we are doing that five free nights in Hawaii giveaway. You can enter to win a four bedroom, three bathroom house for five nights, three minutes from the beach. It's amazing. I love it. And you can go to www.stopwastingyourlifepodcast.com, click on the giveaways tab, and there you will find all the ways that you can enter into that drawing. So go ahead and check that out. And then also, I just want everyone to know, again, I say this before every single episode, but there is no right or wrong way to live your life and a definition of a fulfilling life is unique to each and every person. So we're not here to tell you how to live your life, but give you ideas, knowledge, inspiration, stories, and cool people to talk to so that you can create a life that you think is beautiful. Welcome to Stop Wasting Your Life, the podcast that helps you break free from a life of self-doubt and distraction and inspires you to create a fulfilling and purposeful life. Each week we dive into actionable advice, meaningful conversation, and insightful interviews to empower you to prioritize your well-being, pursue your passions, and become the best version of yourself. It's time to stop wasting your life and start building one that you are excited to wake up to. Hello, once again, I'm Ava Heimbach, your host, and I'm here with Mary Long, and this is Stop Wasting Your Life. So Mary, tell us a little bit about yourself just so we can kind of know this cool person that we're talking to.
- Mary
Yeah, so I play professional soccer for the Kansas City Current. I've lived in Kansas City my whole life, so all my family's still here.
- Ava
So growing up, did you, I'm assuming you played soccer growing up. It's not like you just started soccer like last year. But when did you actually start playing soccer?
- Mary
Oh my gosh. I'm pretty sure my first team I played on was when I was like three years old or something by my dad. I know. And he likes to make fun of me because I hated the sport. No way. I used to just sit on the field and cry and I wanted nothing to do with the ball. But probably by like first or second grade, I figured out it was my favorite.
- Ava
You're like, wait, so did you play any other sports?
- Mary
Yeah, I've played everything. My parents, they pretty much were all my... me and my three other siblings like put us in every sport imaginable so i played tennis swimming golf ice hockey basketball hockey yeah that was my second favorite sport actually i played at carriage club oh really oh yeah literally right there plays there actually i'm always like ice hockey like you don't hear about that in kansas city no like i could barely ice skate it's so fun i miss it i'm probably rusty now though i think i skated like one time really Thanks.
- Ava
yeah this is pretty bad go this winter but i was really bad last time so i always get scared too that i'm gonna like absolutely wreck some little kid that's ice skating on the rink is it a rink yeah okay yeah not like a court an ice skating sport anyway anyway so so you started soccer really really young and when was it that you decided like oh okay wait i could actually see myself playing this as a career
- Mary
I think probably I want to say elementary school, like it really became my favorite sport because before that I really did love ice hockey, actually. Really? Yeah, interestingly enough. But yeah, and I think that's when I started like getting into. Like all of the star players of that time, most of whom are now retired. Just kind of sad, but I know. But yeah, I feel like around then and then ever since then, it's just been a dream to play professionally.
- Ava
And where did you go to college?
- Mary
So I went to Duke for a semester. So I graduated high school in three years and then just went this last fall. I was there for a semester and then I signed pro in January.
- Ava
Okay. So when you went there, did you know you were going to sign? pro after just one semester or was it like after a semester you were like okay I can sign pro now like yeah I'd say more more the latter because
- Mary
I always knew that I wanted to sign pro but I I think I thought I would be in college a little longer than I was but I can't turn down that opportunity yeah did you enjoy Duke I loved it yeah we had a really good season we won the ACC's Lost to UNC in the semis of the tournament, which is unfortunate, but it's okay. Yeah, it was a lot of fun. I loved it.
- Ava
Did you enjoy your teammates?
- Mary
I did. Yeah. I still talk to my roommate all the time. No, I miss her. She's actually getting a new roommate this fall. Oh, you're being replaced. I am being replaced. Because when I left in the spring, she just had our room like by herself. But yeah, I miss my teammates a lot, actually.
- Ava
So your parents own the Kansas City Current. with Patrick and Brittany Mahomes, correct?
- Mary
Yeah. When did they,
- Ava
tell me about that. Like, did they, when did they buy the Kansas City Currents or did they create it from the ground up or what did that look like?
- Mary
Yeah, so they, the way they like to explain this story is in 2019, I got to go play in France for a couple weeks, which was super cool. We played like some local French teams and it was during the Women's World Cup. Oh, cool. So after that, I... They credit that to being some of their inspiration. And so then they reached out to the league and just said, like, we want a team in Kansas City. Because there was a team here called FCKC. Really? And they won two Indy FSL championships. And Vlad Kovanovsky actually coached for them as well.
- Ava
Really?
- Mary
Just kind of a funny, like, the way that worked out. And then that team was bought by Utah. So they were in Utah for, I want to say, two, three years. Maybe longer than that. i could be wrong on that one but yeah and then so they bought the team from utah and moved it here and that was in 2021 or two this is season four of the current okay 2021 or 2022. i think it's 2021 probably 2020 yeah okay that would make sense but yeah and then we played and it's crazy right since then because they bought the team in december and our season starts in march so very short turnaround by in december and then in march everyone was playing yes oh wow yeah we should turn around crazy yeah that first season was just absolutely insane uh-huh so when did they build the stadium so this is our second season in the stadium okay yeah so it only took it was built in 18 months so it was that quick as well yeah wow in that big but
- Ava
when did they i guess they said they started it in 2023 okay yeah i love that stadium oh it's beautiful beautiful listening is near kansas city go to the kansas city current stadium it's beautiful and the games are so much fun i love going to them anytime my mom's like do you want to go to a kansas city current game i'm like duh is that even a question like is the grass green Yes. But cool. Okay. So you've been playing, this is your second. season with the current first season this is your first yeah okay but last year was the first season of the current in the stadium yes correct yes okay correct so if you could go back to your younger self and give her like one piece of advice knowing where you are now what would you tell her that's a hard question i don't even know what i would tell my younger self what would i tell my younger self probably just keep working
- Mary
Like, I think there's always going to be people who don't believe in you. And that was definitely something for me, like people who told me I couldn't do it. Even when I was leaving school or people told me I wouldn't be successful as a professional. And so I think, yeah, and just also to keep loving it because I think that I have a job, but it doesn't usually feel like work because I love what I do. So, yeah.
- Ava
Works. Was there any time when you were younger or recently where you remember it being some sort of big like rejection or setback or something that really made you question like? your decision?
- Mary
Oh I think I've always had a pretty strong self-belief so I don't know that I've necessarily questioned it but definitely growing up like in the club soccer world there was a long period of time where I wasn't called into the national team and a lot of like the first year you can get called in is the U15s and I wasn't called in that year I wasn't called in the next year. And the U-17s is the first big year because we play in a World Cup. And first half of that year, and I still hadn't been called into camp. And so that was definitely like, I think, something that pushed me to keep working, honestly. But then in June, May, June, I got called into my first camp. And ever since then, I've been in every camp since then. Oh, okay. Yeah.
- Ava
So you said that you feel like you have a strong self-belief. Tell me about that. Like how did, where did you get that from? Are there any moments or stories that you really remember being big moments that kind of shaped your career or shaped where you are today?
- Mary
Yeah. So I think, well, before even like moments or just people, just my parents, they've always. instilled, I think, very strong values in me, which I really appreciate.
- Ava
Is there anyone in your career, because you said your parents were always very supportive of you, but was there anyone in your career or throughout your life that really like did not believe in you at all or acted like maybe you weren't going to be good enough for where you are today?
- Mary
Yeah, for sure. One of my college coaches at Duke, won't name drop him, but at the end of the season came to an end and we had our like closing meeting or whatever and I at that point I known I was going pro and so I explained that to him and we had that conversation and he pretty much exploded in my face and the first thing he said to me was that I would be absolutely miserable and this was the biggest mistake of my life Wow. I can 100% say he was not correct in that one. Yeah.
- Ava
Wow. That's great. And he said that to your face.
- Mary
He did. Yeah. This meeting was just with me. So I was still 17 at that point. So my parents were, they were at school with me, but they didn't come into the meeting. And so we sort of kept talking and he just said like, no one was going to support me there. And If I wasn't good enough to start at Duke, then I was never going to start for the current. And I thought that one was ironic because I don't choose the story line up. He did. So, wow.
- Ava
So how did that make you feel? Like, I mean, obviously you probably like, owie, that kind of hurts a little bit. But tell me like your reaction to that.
- Mary
Yeah, it definitely stung a little bit because he's supposed to be someone who's leading you and developing you. but I think I always kind of knew that he wasn't right because I even before going to Duke I had trained with the current for going on two years so quite a while and so I knew I could compete at the very least and like be productive in that environment so yeah and then he went on to call my parents into the meeting and it was a whole it was a whole ordeal but He texted me Merry Christmas this year. Oh,
- Ava
wow. Yeah. I think he regrets saying that to you.
- Mary
I think I honestly when I scored on what day was that? It was on Tuesday, right?
- Ava
Yeah. I know she scored her first professional goal two days ago.
- Mary
Yeah.
- Ava
My mom walked into my room. She was like. guess what mary did and i was like oh i don't know she's heard her first goal oh my gosh that's awesome i probably would have cried oh i'm assuming you didn't cry but i didn't but i looked at my dad's face after the game and i thought he was gonna cry so so cute yeah but anyway sorry for the little anyways everyone had to know that because that is exciting thank you but now i completely forgot where we were oh yes the coach that yeah was probably watching and was like, wow. I really did not.
- Mary
I thought it was funny because there's another girl on my team, Michelle Cooper, and she also went to Duke. And she went a little bit longer than I did because she went for a year and a half. So she played in two seasons and then went pro. And she, like, assisted my goal. So I'm sure he saw the Duke connection. But, yeah. And I thought about calling him afterwards. And he's like, or at least texted me and like, so you were wrong.
- Ava
Actually, you remember that time? Yes. Well,
- Mary
you were wrong. But I didn't do it. I stayed the bigger person.
- Ava
Oh, I'm proud of you because I probably would have done it. I'm working on being the bigger person, but sometimes I slip up.
- Mary
It's hard sometimes. Yeah, it's hard.
- Ava
But, oh, that's awesome. So how, was there anything in particular that you did or told yourself to kind of.
- Mary
remind yourself who you are and all the amazing things you've done and not get pushed down by comments like that yeah my mom and my grandpa have their favorite saying um which is the cream rises to the top and i think for me like it's like if you keep working eventually you'll be a product of that and people will start to notice so i think that's what i like to tell myself when like There's people who doubt you or don't believe in you.
- Ava
The cream rises to the top.
- Mary
Yeah. I know. It's kind of cute.
- Ava
Tell me a little bit about just being on the team. Do you have any funny stories or something interesting about it? Or is there anything around just being on the team that I need to know?
- Mary
Oh, my gosh. First need to know, I have the most fun teammates ever. They're awesome. Yeah. It's really cool to... like be on a team with such a wide variety of ages because there's obviously me and Katie and Alex Pfeiffer are all younger but then up to like Dabinia and Lola Bonta and some of our older players who you would never know are old I was like how old is this old they're not they're not even old that's the thing and they they play I swear they play like they're in their low 20s and they're all above 30 really yeah see I would have never known that yeah in my head everyone's like 25. I know. i said it looks like you're 25 everyone's just like 25 and in their prime playing soccer i think that's why it's so fun too because even though like they'll make jokes and like we'll joke then like some of our moms and it's it's fun but you know like on the field it becomes kind of a non issue so oh i know every time i'm watching you guys i'm like they look like they're having so so much fun.
- Ava
But also again, I'm like. any one of these girls could literally crush my soul with their thighs like some of them are oh my gosh some of my teammates are so strong i know and you can just like tell like i'm like yeah these are the baddest asses women
- Mary
i've ever seen ever yeah but we definitely have a team of big personalities so yeah we're always having fun oh in the locker room and yeah i love it
- Ava
Do you ever struggle with your confidence on the field?
- Mary
I think the first couple months of being pro were harder for me than soccer has ever been, I think. It's a much different game than college or club or any other level because it's so much faster. You have a split second to make a decision. And it's like it takes experience to know like what the right thing to do is. So. I think the first couple months were definitely like I've never been someone who struggled with confidence but playing against people who are so good every day can definitely hurt that.
- Ava
What position do you play again?
- Mary
I my main position is like center forward so I play the nine but I've played a lot a little bit of left forward this year.
- Ava
Okay I'm still really learning soccer because I had no connection to soccer growing up.
- Mary
Really? Until like
- Ava
last year because then I came to a game and I was like okay I'm gonna become a soccer girly like this is my time but I feel like there's so many like little things that you would have like kicking a ball on a field is that's not what soccer is like there's so much that goes into it but yeah learning especially I feel like black is very detail oriented so the
- Mary
amount of tactics we go through is Crazy like my brain is full at all time last game.
- Ava
I went to I was sitting with your parents and there was someone in The suite also and this poor lady did not know what she was getting into sitting next to me because the whole time I was Like okay, so random question like why did they just do that? You would have to like explain it to me and I'd be like, okay. Thank you. Oh my god Okay, so random question. Why did they just do that? She would explain it to me.
- Mary
That is too funny.
- Ava
I know. And afterwards, I was like, if you can't tell, I'm really trying to become a soccer girl. No, that's good. That's good. So I'm learning. Okay. But yeah,
- Mary
if you have any soccer knowledge questions you need to ask,
- Ava
feel free. I'm going to. You're going to get a call one day. I'm going to be like, okay, so I took notes at the last game. And I'm curious as to why this happened.
- Mary
I would love that.
- Ava
I did this.
- Mary
Oh my gosh.
- Ava
I know. Have you had a mentor or leader on a team that really shaped you for the better that you still think about to this day?
- Mary
Oh, that's a tough one. I feel like. Probably right now would be the strongest example of that. Honestly, all of our older players, which I don't, I mean, I've never played for another team in the Nibiru cell, so I can't say for certain. But I know that it's not always easy to be welcomed as a younger player because you're competing for the same spot as the players who have been in the league for 10 years. And but I think on our team, everyone is always so welcoming. and like we have a great captain with Lola Bonta too she has she takes everyone under their wing and is always looking out for us so
- Ava
I think she's a really good example of a mentor oh okay so aside from soccer just for a little bit what what do you like to do when you're not playing soccer tell me about that oh my gosh so
- Mary
I feel like my typical soccer day is like Eight to two, maybe now the weather's warmer used to be longer, but can't train in the heat. But then afterwards, I, I actually found myself with way too much free time because I feel like being a student athlete in college, you don't have free time. And before then to graduate early, I had to take 13 classes in one semester.
- Ava
Oh my gosh.
- Mary
So I was honestly like, didn't know what to do with my time. So. I started taking some online classes. That's not really fun free time, but forces me to use my brain for things other than soccer. But like when I have off days, I love to hang out with my sister. I know we love to tan. She's actually a lot tanner than me though.
- Ava
I love to tan. Come tan with me.
- Mary
I literally will anytime.
- Ava
But so you like to tan?
- Mary
Yes. What would we get? multiple off days i love to travel so we like my favorite place in the world is telluride colorado we have a house out there yeah you ski or snowboard so i have skied my whole life but you're actually not that's against our contract in the end of itself so i
- Ava
had a friend who played soccer and she i invited her to ski and she was like i can't ski yeah is there anything else in the contracts that you like aren't it's allowed to pretty much everything that has a
- Mary
chance of endangering your life or injuring yourself so we're like not supposed to ride motorcycles what about horses or i don't know about or probably horses are fine i love horses i love horses too really yes one of my friends has horses lucky we went out and just rode around so my gosh i haven't ridden in a long time but i used to ride like a couple times a year Really? Yeah. Cause my mom loves. Really? She worked at a. ranch in wyoming over like some of her summers during college that's so she's like actually like knows what she's doing truly that's so cool yeah she would both come out we totally would she would love that yeah megan's not a horse girly but i could probably make it make her come i was gonna say if angie's coming megan's coming they're gonna be horse girlies no that would be so fun yeah i don't know what else what do i like to do in my free time Mainly, I feel like I just hang out with my family. Uh-huh. Yeah. I don't know. It's been fun, too, because since I graduated early, all my friends are still here because my actual graduating class graduated a month ago or two months ago. Yeah.
- Ava
Okay.
- Mary
So then they're all still here before they leave for college. So I get to see them a lot.
- Ava
That's nice. Yeah. So what are your long-term goals after playing soccer? Like, okay, wait, what did you study?
- Mary
So. I was planning to major in econ, but I hadn't even declared my major yet. So I'm hopeful I get my degree, but it's probably to take like maybe 10 years.
- Ava
I'm working on my degree and I'm taking my sweet time. So honestly, we can take our sweet time.
- Mary
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
- Ava
We can have a graduation party in 10 years if we want to. Perfect. But so long term goals after soccer, do you have any idea what that looks like? Or are you kind of just taking it day by day?
- Mary
Yeah, I honestly don't. I mean I have no idea when I'll want to retire from soccer but I'll assume I'll want to keep playing for a long time so but after that well I gotta get this degree first and then and then I'll figure it out but probably I'm not the kind of person where I can just not have anything to do so I think hopefully I'll be doing something exciting in the future
- Ava
I mean, hey, you don't need to know right now because you're living a pretty exciting life every single day.
- Mary
Oh, thank you.
- Ava
Okay, here's a little something. I'm going to do rapid fire questions really quick.
- Mary
Oh, okay.
- Ava
Okay, we're going to do something kind of new. I'm going to rapid fire questions at you and you have to tell me like the first thing that comes to your mind. Okay. Okay. Okay. Coffee or energy drink?
- Mary
Coffee.
- Ava
Beach or mountains?
- Mary
Both.
- Ava
That is not the answer. Pick or choose. First one that comes to your mind.
- Mary
Mountains.
- Ava
Okay. What's your pre-meal, your pre-game meal?
- Mary
Chicken, rice, some sort of vegetable and bread and a banana. Wow. Lots of carbs.
- Ava
I love it. Yeah. Okay. Favorite movie of all time?
- Mary
10 things I hate about you. Oh,
- Ava
great. Great one. Last song you played, if you remember.
- Mary
Oh, I don't remember. Probably something country,
- Ava
honestly. Okay. One celebrity that you would just love to meet.
- Mary
Ooh, messy.
- Ava
That'd be cool. Which one of your teammates would you want as a partner in a zombie apocalypse?
- Mary
Oh my God. I'm going to say Laurel. Laurel Ivory.
- Ava
Why? she's just i feel like she would get us out of there she's very witty like she i don't know okay good to know might take her from you if there's a zombie apocalypse but penalty or free kick penalty much easier to score really see i have no idea that question i just asked like i obviously am not doing a very good job of being soccer girly because anyway favorite country you've traveled to botswana or new zealand I want to go to New Zealand so bad.
- Mary
It's gorgeous.
- Ava
One country that you really want to visit.
- Mary
There's too many. I actually really want to go to Iceland.
- Ava
I just went to Iceland.
- Mary
I'm so jealous.
- Ava
Not even six months ago. Really? It was amazing. Oh my gosh. We saw the Northern Lights.
- Mary
Wow. That's like my dream.
- Ava
It was so cool. I remember we went on... like a tour to go look at the Northern Lights. Yeah. And we were in a bus and we like we're driving and all of a sudden the the driver like slammed on the brakes and like ran outside and we were like, what the heck is going on? Oh,
- Mary
God.
- Ava
Whipped open the door and she was like, come outside right now. We like ran outside and we looked up and you could just see them and they were dancing and I literally just started crying. I was like, no way this is real. Anyway, that was such a side note.
- Mary
Wow. That's beautiful. Hopefully one day.
- Ava
You will. It's amazing. Okay. Lucky number?
- Mary
19. Okay. New Jersey number.
- Ava
Pre-game hype song?
- Mary
We always play the last song we play before we leave the locker room is Smack a Bitch. I love it.
- Ava
Okay. Let's find one more. Do you have any hidden talents besides soccer? But that's not hidden.
- Mary
I wish. I feel like no. I always wished I was able to sing. Can't do that.
- Ava
Can you sing in the shower?
- Mary
Not well.
- Ava
Can you sing in the car?
- Mary
Sure. If the music's loud enough.
- Ava
You can sing. Okay. Okay. So what does living a purposeful life look like to you? When I say like, how do you find purpose? What is purpose in intentional living? What does that mean and look like to you?
- Mary
I think for me, it's about going after your dreams. I think patience is probably my worst quality. and I like to think that patient people don't get as much done. They don't get to experience as much. So like a lot of people would always say, oh, you missed out on your senior year of high school or, oh, the college experience. But I've never regretted any decision I made to like play soccer like I'm playing now. So I think just stop waiting for your dreams and just go chase them.
- Ava
So when someone says like. I don't want to waste my life. What does not wasting your life look like to you?
- Mary
I think if you want something, go after it. Like there's always going to obviously be people that are going to tell you you can't do it. But if you want it enough, you always can do it.
- Ava
Smack a bitch and do it anyway.
- Mary
Exactly.
- Ava
Well, thank you so much for letting me chat with you again. I think you are such a cool person and I feel so honored to be in this room with you right now, a professional soccer player who just scored her first professional career goal.
- Mary
So thanks for having me.
- Ava
And yeah, just to end our episode, just a little reminder that that Hawaii House giveaway is still going on. You can go to the website at www.stopwastingyourlifepodcast.com. Click on the giveaways tab, follow that link, and you can find all the different ways to enter. Thank you again for listening and we will see you next week.
- Speaker #2
Thanks for listening to today's episode of Stop Wasting Your Life. We hope that you are feeling motivated to take charge of your future and start living with purpose, intention, and authenticity. If you enjoyed today's conversation, be sure to leave us a good review, give us a follow, and subscribe to our newsletter. For more information, go to www.stopwastingyourlifepodcast.com, and we will see you next week.
