Former US women’s national football team goalkeeper Briana Scurry (Briana Scurry) has impeccable timing.

In 1994, her physical time allowed her to become the starting goalkeeper of the USWNT, for which she created a record of 173 international appearances in this position and helped win two Olympic gold medals.

Scully’s most famous physical timing display may be in the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup final against China in Los Angeles, when she blocked Liu Ying’s overtime penalty, allowing Brandi Chastain to secure the victory of the US team. , And take home the team’s second championship. penalty At only 36 feet from the goal, traveling at a typical speed of 70 miles per hour allows the goalkeeper to react in less than half a second.

Moments such as these won Scurry a history-making deal with Nike, which not only consolidated her position in the American Football Hall of Fame, but also consolidated her position in the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

As she pointed out, her timing also often puts her in the right place at the right time to drive change-whether it’s growing from the benefits of Title IX or joining USWNT during a period of increased visibility.

“In the women’s national team, once you put on that jersey, you are a fighter for pay fairness. That’s how it is, you take on this matter, just as the quality of the football you play is as important as the quality of the football you play. When you When you put away your cleats, you didn’t put away the cloak,” Scully said. “If you are a woman, you will accept it when you come into this world, because it seems unfair everywhere. My taste happens to be women’s football, and the taste of others is at the top of the company.”

CNBC Make It and Scurry talked about USWNT’s struggle for equal pay for equal work and the time required to make progress.

“We are still fighting for pay equality. I am 50 years old. When I was 80, I assumed that we would still fight for it,” she said. “These journeys take a long time.”

Scurry grew up in Minnesota. He played basketball and football, but he was inspired by serious sports when the American men’s hockey team defeated the Soviet Union during the “Ice Miracle” of the 1980 Olympics.

“I told my mom and dad,’I want to be an Olympian!'” she recalled. “I ended up being what I saw and what I wanted, but in terms of making a living from it, this is not my opinion. I just want to be an Olympian. I don’t know what that means.”

Scurry said she never thought of becoming a professional female football player because she had never seen it before.

“It’s not something I think I can make a living,” she said. “At the time, it was an amateur status, so there was no money. Then in 1992, it changed. It was the first Olympic Games where professionals participated… Now young girls see Alex Morgan or Megan Lapi Nuo did amazing things. They knew exactly which sport they wanted to play and what they needed. We didn’t have that. We didn’t have that role model back then. My role model was a basketball player.”

She still looked up like Billy Jane King, They later coached them when USWNT was fighting for pay fairness. Although she continued to play basketball, Scully was recruited to play football for the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

“Football and goalkeeping happen to be things I am better at, so this is the tool for me to enter the university and then into the national team,” Scarri said. “I didn’t even know there was a real [national team] Until my second year of college. It’s basically an invisible sight, and this beautiful and accidental crossing between me and the national team. ”

This road to university (and later international) football is by Article 9This requires all educational institutions that receive federal funds to provide equal opportunities for men and women in sports. It was passed in 1972-only one year after Scurry was born.

“In this regard, my timing is perfect. I am and will always be grateful for this law, which brought my life to an end in this way. It really helps. This is a watershed moment,” Skar Said. “Without that scholarship, I don’t know if I can go to university.”

Scurry is currently writing a book that will be published next year to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Title IX.

“Men fly in business class, especially international flights, while women do not. Women usually get a middle seat on the flight, and when men cannot get business class, they choose an aisle seat,” she said. “The reason given is: men are bigger, they need more space.”

Similar lines are used to explain why these women’s daily allowance rates are much lower.

“Women get $5 a day, or a daily allowance, and men get $25. At the international level, I think we get $10 and they get $35. The excuse is: men eat more,” she said. “I am a logical thinker. I am a Virgo. First of all, the money is not necessarily used to eat, because we get the food. But most importantly, they are making excuses because they don’t want us to be equal .”

CNBC Make It contacted USSF for comments, but did not receive an immediate response.

the year 1995Afterwards, nine national team members, including Scully, chose to boycott the Olympic training camp and strive for fair conditions for the upcoming 1996 Atlanta Olympics. then, Women can only get Olympic bonuses if they get gold medals, while men will get gold, silver or bronze medals.

USSF stated that the organization will not “Reward mediocrity“And shut out players who challenge the conditions.

“I joined the team in November 1993, so I participated in the World Cup, I started in the World Cup, I quickly became a core player, but I did not stay in the team long. And I completely And completely stand on the ground, because even though I am still very young, I am in my 20s, but I understand the seriousness of what we are trying to do,” she said. “But I also understand what risk I am taking.”

This risk makes this move even more frightening, and the unity among other strike teammates is even more valuable-Scully said many workers who are organizing may appreciate this feeling.

“I was on the verge of becoming an Olympian dream of becoming a reality. Then all this came, and we decided that we might lose this dream,” Scully said. “This is a big risk because this is the first Olympic women’s football gold medal. We hosted the Olympic Games in the United States that year. We were one of the favorites to win. We were working hard to develop our game and everything was very fragile at the time. ”

Once again, the timing was on the side of a hurry. “We are influential because we won the world championship in 1991, and we know we can win again, and because the time is right,” she said. “We have received more resources and more funds from the Federation.”

“I think I am very lucky, because when I entered the national team, Nike appeared. Nike has never been involved in football before,” she said. “I am one of Nike’s earliest football players. We have five people. The income from this transaction has had a huge impact.”

She said that her Nike contract paid $40,000 a year, and she remembered receiving her first check for $20,000 every two years, which was “deposited directly into the bank.”

“This is a lot of money for me. I can’t believe it. I make money by playing football,” Scully recalled. “I’m here at the right time, so I never need additional income.”

She continued, “Because of Nike, our promotion of the Federation, and the 96 Olympics not long afterwards, I was able to make a living playing football, which is great,” she said. “But my timing is impeccable, because the years before I joined the national team were very, very boring. Most players either coached on the side, or returned to school to continue their education or coached in the university team, or Doing things like clinics and doing some things next to me, but I came in when I was really lucky.”

Although she is grateful for this, Skurry emphasized that without the high salary days that many of the world’s top male athletes are accustomed to, women like her often have to plan to pursue a second career after sports.

“Female professional athletes definitely need to think about what the next step is, because compared to the rest of your life, the game window on the court, on the court, or on the court is very small,” she said. “And this money won’t last forever.”

In April 2010, Scully suffered a third and Concussion at the end of a career, The next three years of persistent headaches.Since then, she has been talking about the danger of head injuries in football, including in Before Congress.

Although her sudden retirement was “difficult”, Scully emphasized that she would not organize her time or her career in a different way.

“I’m really struggling, but if it weren’t, I wouldn’t meet my wife.”

Scurry met her wife Chryssa Zizos, who is the founder and CEO of Live Wire strategic communications company, while pushing her insurance company to provide treatment for her head injury.

“My career, along with what we were able to do and how it turned out, affected the chances of millions of young girls in ways that would never happen, or until a long time later. Because what happened is that these Things will cause ripples,” she said, referring to current football stars and equal pay advocates such as Alex Morgan and Christian Publishing House She was in the stands during her big save in 1999 and a big win in the United States.

“Like when I was eight years old [Miracle on Ice], Watching such things change the trajectory of people’s lives. ”

do not miss it:

go to https://updatednews24.com/category/business/ to know more about business