DON’T BOXX HER IN

Former Soccer Standout Continues to Think Outside Herself

By Jake Ten Pas

Photos by Brandon Davis

Across the country, February is Black History Month. Here at MAC, it’s also time for the Celebration of Champions.

Shannon Boxx is both. She’s an African American woman with her own perspective on race and a proven champion who won an NCAA Division 1 Women’s Soccer Championship with Notre Dame in 1995. She went on to become an Olympian who claimed gold medals with the United States national women’s soccer team at the 2004 Athens Olympics, 2008 Beijing Olympics, and 2012 London Olympics. Boxx even won the World Cup in 2015.

She also is a mother, wife, philanthropist, and advocate, most recently stepping up on behalf of those diagnosed with lupus, a disease that disproportionately affects women and those of African American, Hispanic, and Asian descent. As a professional athlete, Boxx faced an additional challenge in worrying that news of her diagnosis in 2007 might negatively impact her career or the perception of her abilities. Ultimately, she went public with her condition in 2012, shortly before her victory at the London Olympics.

In honor of her many achievements, and also in recognition of the living history of which she is still very much a part, The Winged M interviewed Boxx about life beyond soccer, challenges she’s faced and overcome, and what she’s still doing to try to level the playing field for younger generations of athletes.

Jake Ten Pas: What’s new in your world?

Shannon Boxx: A lot. I have a tendency of saying yes to a lot of things, so I dabble in a lot of different areas. I have two kids, an 8-yearold girl and a 6-year-old boy. I just co-founded my own company that helps athletes transition out of sports. It’s called Ethos Mentality Group, and the program is called Athletes Redefined. We just launched in July, and we really are in that mode of trying to connect with athletes to let them know we’re doing this. We’re looking for businesses that are willing to support the athletes and pay for them to go through the workshop. So, we’re still very much at the startup, working-a-lot phase.

I also helped start an all-girls soccer academy here in Portland called Bridge City Soccer Academy. I used to coach there, along with other duties. I’ve been working in the community impact program. They have three pillars – development of players, leadership, and community involvement – and it’s about trying to help girls enjoy being in the game, but also teaching them more about what life is outside of the sport. So, off the field and on the field.

JTP: Are these resources that you wish that you had had when you were young?

SB: One hundred percent. Don’t get me wrong — I love the club that I grew up in. It’s very different now. The pay-to-play program is very intense. I have my daughter playing in Bridge City, and I’m so happy that she’s in that environment. I’m the most competitive person you’ll ever meet, but I also think it’s really important for girls, especially, just to enjoy playing the game, learn a lot of life lessons, learn the skills you learn from sports, but also not be so intense that coaches are demanding so much from you that you fall out of love with the sport. So, we've created this organization that's more based on the joy of the game, learning, and playing.

JTP: It seems like a lot of people grew up playing multiple sports and being able to easily manage that. Now, there’s a lot more pressure to pick a sport early on and go with it. MAC is about creating a well-rounded athlete and this idea of the lifelong athlete. Those two go together because being well-rounded theoretically makes you capable of taking on any sport, and being a lifelong athlete probably involves enjoying what you’re doing.

SB: Exactly. My daughter’s on the competitive gymnastics team at MAC, and my son’s starting to get involved, and I could see them both playing basketball here. They grew up taking all the classes. I love the idea that the MAC has been a one-stop shop for us as far as all of the sports and activities for the kids. I mean, that is one of the reasons why we joined MAC.

When I went to the Gymnastics coach and said, "I want my kid to be able to play multiple sports,” she was like, "Yes, we believe in that." They have been great; they have understood. I was a multi-sport athlete, and I feel like I’m a lifelong athlete. I still go, I train at the MAC, and I do the classes. I want to stay healthy and fit, and I think it’s because I just enjoyed playing so many sports, and I didn’t ever get so bogged down in one that I now hate it. That’s really important for the kids, and I think that MAC is doing a really good job of creating availability.

At some point, they’re going to need to decide. But I want them to know that they’re 8 and 6 years old, that we shouldn’t even be having this discussion yet. You should be trying to play as many sports as possible. Try everything because you don’t know what you’re going to fall in love with. I don’t think I really committed to only soccer until I went to college.

That was amazing for me. I played four sports in high school, and I knew soccer was probably the lead one, but I still made sure that I played all these other sports as well. I played volleyball, basketball, soccer, and softball. The cross-training was great.

JTP: You’ve got a lot going on between your kids, Ethos Mentality Group, and Bridge City Soccer Academy.

SB: I also run my own lupus fundraiser here in Portland, and I’m part of the U.S. Soccer Task Force right now that is dealing with sexual harassment and all of the things that are happening in the professional world with women’s sports. It’s blown up here because of the Thorns. The U.S. Soccer Task Force is helping change a lot of those problems. I’m not really dealing with the professional side. I’m dealing with more of the full soccer spectrum, the ecosystem that’s all over the nation. I’m excited about that because it’s going to be more on the youth side, and that’s where my daughter is. I feel like this is going to be really important for even Bridge City to say “What are we doing to protect our players?”

JTP: You’re fighting the good fight. When people retire from their first major career, it’s great when they find a way to either address some of the issues that they saw during that career, or just look for a way to make the world a better place.

SB: I was very lost when I went into my transition. I thought I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to coach at the youth level, but I found out that it just didn’t work with my lifestyle. I had two kids late — one near the end of my career and then one right after. My husband [Aaron Spearman, Senior Director, Shotlink Productions for the PGA Tour] travels over half the year for his job, and so working at night was not really working for me.

I realized as I went through transition that there’s the same theme that keeps coming up to the things I say yes to. It’s always, how do I empower people to reach their full potential?

JTP: What was it about soccer that ended up making that the sport you chose?

SB: I like to compete. I think being a competitor has always been there for me. I have an older sister, so we always were competing against each other. I loved being aggressive, and I loved what the game presented. It’s not like it’s “plays.” It’s very free flowing. You had to make decisions out on the field in real time, and I always loved that.

As I matured, I realized, “OK, I’m picking soccer over these other sports.” One, I was just better at it, so I’m like, “I’m going to go for what I’m really good at.” Two, I loved running, I loved tackling. I loved the competitiveness of what soccer brought, and I thought it was a really beautiful game.

To be honest, I just love being part of a team sport. I think the amazing piece is the camaraderie that you have with others. I grew up in a great club. I played for the same team for eight years. I’m still friends with those players who were my teammates.

And that’s the part that I missed when I left the game, was my teammates, the teamwork that we had, and the fact that we were all from different backgrounds. We were very diverse, and we had different political views even as adults. We still found something in common that we were all really reaching for. That’s just such a cool thing to be a part of.

JTP: Given just some of the gender double standards that exist — where aggression often is seen as a good thing in little boys but not so much in little girls — did it allow you to express aspects of your personality at a young age that might not have found an outlet elsewhere in your life? Or did your parents just encourage you to go hard no matter what you were doing?

SB: I think my mom encouraged me to go hard no matter what I was doing. I was a tomboy: short hair, looked like a boy, hung out with all the boys. I had to be aggressive;

It came naturally to me, and it was accepted because I was hanging out with the boys. I feel very lucky that I was in an environment conducive to, and that my mom was very open to, just letting me be who I was.

But you do see it, and it is a double standard, even as an adult, as a leader. I go into the business world, and if I’m direct, or driven, there is a double standard.

Things need to change from the youth level all the way up. It was freeing to be able to be aggressive on the field, and it’s funny because I think that a lot of people thought that’s who I was off the field. Then they meet me and they’re like, “You’re so nice and so humble.” That’s called “on the field, off the field.”

JTP: If somebody asked you to describe yourself using three descriptors, what would they be?

SB: Resilient, competitive, loyal. I’m also proud to identify as an African American woman with a Black father and a white mother, but I’m much more than that.

That was a hard thing when I transitioned. I was an athlete and identified as an athlete. But really that was just what I did, not who I was. I was all these other things. If I had to identify myself, those would be the three attributes. I see I’m a resilient person. I see it every single day. I’m loyal to the people that surround me, and I surround them, and I’m competitive. I love that piece of me.

If we talked about race a little bit, I struggled as a younger person because most people identified me as white because they saw my mom. My father wasn’t in the picture; he passed when I was young. Most people just said, “You have a great tan.” That bothered me because it wasn’t who I identified as. I am Black. People didn’t recognize me as who I thought I was, but then I realized it really doesn’t matter what other people think. It matters what I think.

JTP: Can you talk about your journey from the early years of feeling like, “I’m Black,” and being frustrated with people not seeing you, to learning more about that side of your heritage that you didn’t previously know, and how your consciousness evolved.

SB: My mom was like, "Ask me any question you want, but there are things I can’t answer because I'm white." She was very open about that and was like, “This is something you’re going to have to find yourself and ask questions.” I love that.

When I went to Notre Dame, it was more diverse, yet there were very much groups. You were grouped. But it was the first time that I went somewhere and was seen as how I felt, and that was really amazing for me. I came home from Christmas break freshman year, and I was a different person. My mom was like, “You just seem so happy.”

I started taking African American studies classes just because I wanted to take more classes, and I ended up majoring in it. It was all things that I really was interested in and wanted to learn more about. I think that was the major thing for me, was just that my identity was more solidified.

JTP: When you were growing up, who were some of your heroes, on or off the field?

SB: Early on, there weren’t too many professional women athletes, so I loved Michael Jordan, but then I realized I couldn’t be him. Honestly, my sister was a great motivator for me and somebody I looked up to. My mom was, too, for different reasons. She was so independent, and I know we’ve gained a lot of independence from her. I learned very early on that we can do everything we want to do. Doesn’t matter if it was labeled as, “This is what men do, and this is what women do.” We knew we could do whatever we put our mind to.

As I got older, in high school and college, I started seeing the women’s national team. Briana Scurry was a huge hero, one of the first African Americans to play on the national team and to be so charismatic. She was shy off the field, but man, when she was on the field, she showed every emotion.

When I got onto the national team, it was important for me to be a role model. We signed autographs, and we understood that we have a greater role than just winning games as a women’s team. I felt like I had even more of a role to find kids of color in the stands, and make sure I went to them and signed autographs for them because they need to see me. I always say this. You need to see to believe sometimes. When you see someone else who looks like you doing really cool and great things, you believe you can do them, too.

JTP: What made you want to join MAC? Did you have any concerns around perceived lack of diversity?

SB: When we moved here, we had a group of friends, a lot of them were from Portland, and they said, “You’ve got to join MAC. It’s a great place to network. It’s a great place for your kids.” I was pregnant with Zoe, and we saw the potential. I love to work out. I love that the classes are there for me and the kids.

Then as we joined, we realized, “OK, there’s not much diversity at the moment here. That’s always in the back of our minds, making sure that our own kids are around people that look like them, too.

That was a concern, but it’s changing. There’s an effort to make sure that there’s a change. Can we continue? Can we start putting people up on the wall and in positions of influence that look like us? For sure, but the fact that it's moving forward in the right direction gives me hope.

JTP: Earlier you mentioned that you run your own lupus fundraiser. What’s your experience been like with lupus, what should people know about the condition, and how did you get involved with raising money for it?

SB: It’s an autoimmune disease, which means that it’s your own body attacking itself. Lupus can cause inflammation in any part of your body, internally or externally. It’s a disease of flares. I can look, feel, and seem completely normal. Then, when a flare hits, all my symptoms come out. Some people can be very, very sick in the hospital, and some people obviously have died. So, 1.5 million people in the U.S. have lupus, and a lot of people have no idea what it is.

It's a very frustrating disease because most doctors still don't know that much about it. The fundraiser is great because it raises so much awareness and brings to light how this disease affects individuals differently. I share my story, but I also have other people with lupus come and tell their stories, which illustrates the full range of how this disease is experienced. I'm part of the Pacific Northwest Regional Council of the Lupus Foundation of America.

The frustrating piece is that before you actually know you have lupus, it can take six to seven years to be diagnosed. That was the part for me that was the hardest. I knew something was wrong with my body. I had doctors telling me, “You’re overthinking. You’re just feeling bad. You’re just tired. You’re just lazy.” I’m like, “I play a professional sport. I’m not lazy.” It’s not just a blood test. Some of it is your symptoms, some of it is your history, some of it is blood work. A lot of it, though, is the knowledge of a doctor who has seen it before and can actually diagnose you with it.

The next step of frustration is, if you do go on medication, which I am, it could take a long time to figure out what drugs will actually help you because a lot of them are borrowed. Research has increased in the last couple years, and now there are two or three drugs that are specific to lupus. Before that, there weren’t. The medication I’m still on is a borrowed drug from another disease. To find the right combination of treatment for what you’re going through, sometimes the side effects are worse than the symptoms of lupus. It’s very isolating, and it feels very lonely. That’s the one thing that I have noticed more and more as I’ve become an advocate for lupus. It’s just getting people to be aware of what this is and, for those who have it, helping them feel like they’re not alone. I’ve met so many people that have spoken at my event, and now we are really good friends. We can call each other when we’re having a really bad day, and you don’t feel so alone in the process. For years, I kept my condition a secret while I was playing because I was fearful for my job. My family knew, but I was around my teammates for 200-something days a year, and I couldn’t tell them. It was a very lonely period to be in hotel rooms, and not feel good, and have to lie, and deal with it myself.

Once I opened up and told everybody, I was able to actually play for a couple more years longer than I thought just because I felt so much more free, and I had the support around me.

JTP: You’ve now talked about liberating yourself and continuing to create opportunities for others. For you, is Black History Month as much about taking steps to ensure that the present and future continue to change and get better, as it is about knowing the past?

SB: We have to learn from our past and continue to move forward, but we all have a role to play regardless of race. This month is about celebrating the achievements of those who’ve come before us and created opportunities for African Americans. I love who I am. I love that I have a Black father and a white mother. I want to make sure our kids love who they are, too.