Khan Kickoff Pep Talk: Brandi Chastain

Hello Khan Academy students! This is Brandi Chastain, former U.S. Women's National Team member, Olympic gold medalist, and World Cup champion.

I'm here to say to you that what you're doing is not easy. Trying to learn in an adverse environment to be a champion takes a lot of determination, desire, and resiliency. It takes a lot of falling down and getting back up.

I want you to know that anything that is worthwhile is worth fighting for, is worth getting dirty, and it's worth getting a couple scrapes. If it were easy, everybody would be doing it, and it wouldn't be a big deal. But what you're doing is a big deal!

You're challenging yourselves to learn like champions, and to be a champion takes time. It's a process. It's not always going to be smooth, and most of the time, success isn't this upward ascension straight line to gold medals.

So remember that what you're doing is really a life's work and a life's journey. When you get to be my age, you'll understand that maybe a little bit more. You'll be able to look back and say, "I stuck with it."

It wasn't easy. Sometimes I wanted to give up. I know that along my journey to playing in the Olympics, being on the World Cup team, and scoring that final penalty kick goal where I got to do a little celebrating, it wasn't easy.

I was on the team, cut from the team, made the team in a different position which I'd never played before. When that was presented to me, I had a choice: Did I want to be on the team and try to make a contribution to a positive outcome? Or was I more prideful and say, "No, that's not my position. I want to play my position."

I realized that being on the team and having a chance to get into the game was really what I wanted. So I want you to remember that when things get tough, you got this!

You got to remember you are talented, you're smart. We all have a competitor inside of us, and you have to be willing to allow it to come out. And don't settle—never settle! Becoming a gold medalist is definitely not about settling.

And you, in 2021, will be champions! So I'm going to hopefully give you your first gold medal ever. So if you bow your head, here comes the gold medal! There it is! You are now on Team Brandi, and we are strong, and we are resilient, and we get the job done.

So all the best to you in 2021. Hopefully, at some point, we'll meet on a soccer field or somewhere else near you. Take care!