Mary Harvey says you can’t change the past.
But, the future, that’s another story.
It’s a lesson the former U.S. Olympic soccer star learned many times in her lengthy career, including the inaugural 1991 Women’s World Cup, when the Americans took a 1-0 first-half lead, only to have Harvey crash into a teammate as the ball soared over her head and into the net.
Her teammates said nothing to her during halftime and in the opening minutes of the second half, her focus regained, she made a key save on a similar play.
The Americans would go on to score a 2-1 win over Norway, capturing the first ever Women’s World Cup and Harvey would go on to star at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, another U.S triumph.
The now 50-year-old former goalkeeper brought that message of inspiration to Thunder Bay on Monday speaking to students at Ogden Community Public School.
“I just wanted to talk very personally about what I learned about playing soccer for so many years. So I shared with them three life lessons that hopefully hit home for them.”
Harvey, who served on U.S. Soccer’s board of directors and also worked for FIFA , the sport’s world governing body, in her post-playing career, stressed the importance of being a good teammate, explaining how someone who doesn’t pull their weight and lets their emotions get the better of them can pull the team down.
It applies just as much in the classroom and the workplace as it does on the soccer pitch, the California-born Harvey said.
“What sport taught me was how to interact with people in a way that’s respectful of their time and everything else. But also what I say and what I do impacts other people. When you start to think that way, it makes you fundamentally more capable in working with teams of people,” Harvey said. “It just makes life easier.”
Odgen Community Public School principal Christy Radbourne said Harvey’s message fits in with the lessons the school tries to teach its students each and every day.
“We want them to really see a sense of responsibility, teamwork, a sense of hope and optimism and everything they can become with just a little hard work,” Radbourne said.
Harvey was going to make several other stops in Thunder Bay during her visit, which was sponsored by the U.S. Consul General’s Sports Envoy Program and timed to happen during this year’s Women’s World Cup, being staged in Canada for the first time.
