Five years ago this fall, The Athletic published a feature in which NWSL players Mana Shim and Sinead Farrelly opened up about their abusive former Portland Thorns coach, Paul Riley. The story prompted an investigation into how the NWSL handled reports of abuse, and by the end of that year, half of the league's head coaches either resigned or were fired, along with league commissioner Lisa Baird.
I met Shim while on tour for Normal Gossip in 2023, and I was curious to talk to her about how she made the decision to go public with her experiences when there are so many reasons not to, like the fragility of the then-nascent league and the potential repercussions she might experience. And there were the identity questions. She had dedicated her entire life to soccer, so what happened when she decided to walk away? How did she find her way back on new terms after everything that had happened?
This season finale of Try Hard is a bit heavier than the other episodes this season, but I wanted to end on it because I was so inspired by Shim's courage, not only to make herself vulnerable by speaking up, but in daring to imagine a new version of her life after spending so many years chasing a singular goal.
Try Hard is available wherever you get podcasts: RSS here, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify (if you must). You can subscribe to Try Hard and other Defector podcasts on our YouTube channel. A transcript of the episode can be found here.
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