“Women must stop following the Old Rules, which exist only to maintain the status quo. Old ways of thinking will never help us build a new world,’’ she writes.
The eight rules are (1) create your own path; (2) Be grateful for what you have and demand what you deserve; (3) Lead now—from wherever you are; (4 ) Failure means you’re finally in the game; (5) Be for each other; (6) Believe in yourself. Demand the ball; (7) Lead with humanity. Cultivate leaders, and (8) You’re not alone. You’ve got your pack.
The rules are written with a definite sports slant because Wambach has spent most of her life earning a living playing a team sport. And as a top-ranked international soccer player, Wambach has a special insight into what happens to women athletes who retire at the top of their games, as opposed to men. At her retirement, she recalls the ESPN Icon Award’s ceremony when she was honored along with the also-retiring Kobe Bryant and Peyton Manning.
“Our retirements wouldn’t be the same at all. Because Kobe and Peyton were walking off that stage and into their futures with something that I didn’t have: enormous bank accounts. Because of that they had something else I didn’t have: Freedom. Their hustling days were over. Mine were just beginning.’’
Wambach says interest in women’s sports justifies higher paychecks for women athletes: she says the U.S. Women’s National Team’s 1999 World Cup final game against China at the Rose Bowl, with 90,000 attending, had higher TV ratings than the finals of professional hockey and basketball that year.
Preparing her Barnard College speech, Wambach drew on the saga of the reintroduction of wolves, after a 70-year absence, into Yellowstone National Park in 1995. Unchecked growth of deer had severely eroded vegetation, causing the collapse of riverbanks. Preying wolves reduced the deer population, vegetation returned and plant regeneration stabilized riverbanks.
“Wolves became the system’s salvation. Women will become our society’s salvation. Throughout my life, my Wolfpack was my soccer team. Now, my Wolfpack is All Women Everywhere,’’ Wambach writes.
Wolfpack, by Abby Wambach. Celadon Books. 95 pages. $20.00.
Eleanor O’Sullivan is an award-winning journalist who writes for Financial Advisor.