A Conversation with Two-Time Olympic Soccer Gold Medalist Lauren Holiday

Lauren Holiday has experienced the indescribable high of Olympic gold (in 2008 and 2012), the devastating low of falling short at the 2011 World Cup, and everything in between. That wide range of emotion has both tested and strengthened her relationship with God.

In this conversation, the former US Women’s National Team star talks about how she fell in love with soccer, the people that helped her fall in love with Jesus, and what it’s like to play for your country on the world’s biggest stages:

Chad Bonham: How did you get started playing soccer?

Lauren Holiday: I started playing soccer because my brother played soccer. I followed everything that he did. I played on the boy’s teams until I was 12. I just loved it and had a passion for it. You couldn’t get a soccer ball away from my foot.

Bonham: What impact did the national team have on your interest in the sport? 

Holiday: I didn’t really get into the women’s national team until the 1999 World Cup. Then I realized how badly I wanted to play for my country and play in the Olympics. I was a nerd. I would put together team books for Team USA but it was really just all my best friends that I thought would be on Team USA with me. It made it real to me. That’s when I knew I could play on that stage one day.

Bonham: What was the basis for your spiritual foundation growing up? 

Holiday: I was raised Lutheran my whole life. I went to church on Sundays. My mom raised us in the church. It was a slower paced service. There were a lot of older people except for a few young people in the youth group. So at that time, I was going to church. I was baptized as a baby, but I don’t think I really knew what it meant to have a relationship with God on my own.

Bonham: When did you start to grow deeper in your faith?

Holiday: In junior high school, I went to some youth camps and that’s where I started to discover the presence of God. I was able to experience God through the singing and by talking to other girls that had similar experiences. That opened my eyes but I still had to seek out that relationship. I didn’t drink or do any of those things so I was very loyal in that sense. While I was in high school, I made the U20 women’s national team. Tobin (Heath) was on that team and the entire team was Christians including the head coach (Tim Schultz). He was on fire for the Lord. I just remember praying one night, “God, I want what he has.” He was so passionate and he would cry and he would laugh. I wanted that too. And that’s when I really started to seek the Lord.

Bonham: Talk about the contrast between the 2008 gold medal and the World Cup loss in 2011. 

Holiday: I’ve learned to give God the praise in the highs and the lows. That’s not easy. It’s not easy to lose the World Cup and say, “Thank you Lord,” because it hurts and it doesn’t feel good. But especially at such a high level, your life is a roller coaster. Our lives are completely full of highs and lows. I’m so grateful that my confidence in Christ is never shaken. My identity in the Lord will never be shaken. My career will come and go but being faithful to that has made my relationship with Him what it is.

Bonham: What is the future of women’s soccer and are you still fighting for relevancy? 

Holiday: People are just more drawn to men’s sports. It’s a fact. Men are more athletic. It’s a quicker style of play. But I think women’s soccer is so important. Soccer is the biggest sport for little girls. It’s so important for us to give these girls a dream and something they can aspire to be. It’s not to be paid millions of dollars. None of us play for that. None of us female athletes play for that. 

Check out Chad Bonham’s book Glory of the Games featuring Olympic athletes such as Shannon Miller, Dave Johnson, Josh Davis, Tamika Catchings, Ruth Riley, Michael Chang, and Tobin Heath.

Photos courtesy of US Olympic Team/NBC Sports.