Katrina Gorry of the Australian national team says that motherhood taught her to love soccer and made her a better person.
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Australian national team Katrina Gorry and soon to be two years old Harperdaughter are a familiar duo at the team’s victory party. Gorry is one of the players at the World Cup who has spoken prominently about motherhood and the positive effects it brings to the game.
– Harper gave me another reason to fall in love with football. My priorities really changed and now I feel like I only play because I love the sport, Gorry told Australian broadcaster ABC.
The midfielder, who turned 31 on Sunday, has brought his daughter prominently to the fore, and Harper has impressed at this year’s World Cup as well. The last time Gorry and Harper were seen waving on the field was in the quarter-final match against France.
Gorry said after the match that there was also sadness behind the joy. Her spouse, a Swedish soccer player by Clara Markstedt, father passed away shortly before the quarterfinals.
– This has been a difficult 48 hours for me, Gorry said after the match for the Australian soccer media Keep Up.
Gorry admitted that over the past two days his thoughts had been “a bit all over the place”. However, Gorry managed to score in the penalty shootout when Australia had their backs against the wall in the match.
“I feel like a different person”
At the club level, Gorry represents Vittsjö, who plays in Sweden’s Damallsvenksan. They also play in the same club Linda Sällström, Jutta Rantala and spouse Markstedt.
According to Sällström, the Harper daughter also plays an important role in Vittsjö.
– When Gorry came to us, he had little Harper, who was probably six months old at the time. We have a lot of volunteers around the team in Vittsjö, and the seniors there take care of little Harper during training and he is our little mascot, Sällström described.
Gorry has said that motherhood has changed her a lot. Before becoming a mother, Gorry struggled with, among other things, her body image and suffered from several injuries. Gorry later revealed that he suffered from an eating disorder and said he was close to quitting.
After injuries, he made a comeback to the World Cup in 2019, but slowly started to distance himself from football completely.
– It was really tough. I was in a really bad place mentally and physically.
Daughter Harper, born in 2021, has made Gorry whole, according to her words, and life has been on the upswing in recent years.
– In my situation, nothing could have gone better. Becoming a mother happened at the perfect time.
Different attitude in clubs
Nowadays, Gorry plays football entirely for his family, and external pressures are not felt on his shoulders. Combining family life and football is made possible by the club team Vittsjö, where, according to Sällström, additions to the players’ families are only seen as a positive thing.
In some clubs, however, motherhood is still perceived as something that complicates a professional career. Among other things, Icelandic Sara Björk Gunnarsdottir At the beginning of the year, he brought up the grievances of his club team Lyon.
In addition to Gorry, Vittsjø has others who are older and, among other things, a defender Lisa Klinga Falke-boy has been seen on the field after the team’s matches.
– The captain also had a child here a couple of weeks ago, so there will be more. The whole thing about Vittsjö is that we take care of the players and that they have a good time and that we see the person behind the player, Sällström said.
The host of the World Cup, Australia, has already achieved a giant surprise in the World Cup tournament and the best result in the country’s history. It will face England in the semi-final next week on Wednesday.
Sources: ABC, Keep Up
England and Australia clash on Wednesday at 1:00 p.m. In Tuesday’s semi-final, Spain and Sweden will meet at 11:00. will show both matches live on TV2, Areena and the app.