Long Shot is a production of McClatchy Studios and I Heart Radio, previously on Payback. My son is sat in my training sessions as a baby, like a host roller by himself. Do you reach my Granmy? She's not available. We've amented me fine, I will be like, go enjoy the game. He's gonna be okay, here Shot. I get a text from Joel Elis right after the game. I might be going into camp. Okay, okay, I'm just gonna have him say your name. Okay, go ahead, Okay, Hello guys. My name is Jeremiah Stewart. And it's been really fun hanging out with my mom. Over the past year. I've spent countless hours talking to Jess and her teammates and coaches and friends and sports psychologists and others about her journey and the challenges she's overcome as a single mom and Jess a story contains so many different kinds of struggle and perseverance and growth. Sometimes we guilt to watch movies together, but hers is not the only story unfolding. You're in her home. I think my favorite might be Iron Man. My other favorite is the Sonic movie You Can Like Go Faster than light speed. Jeremia's last name is Stewart, like his father, but the boy Jess called string Being responded to her like no other. And she's as protective of Jeremiah as you might imagine. As far as I know, I'm the first reporter she's let interview him about the busy life he's already led and the challenges that he's overcome on this journey. You do it so good. What did your mom tell you take care of herself? Eat hydra um. Come give me a little credit something. Oh, you're teaching me to clean my lunch fox every day from camp. Yes, indeed, cleaning very important. And sure he's an energetic ten year old. So we talked a lot about karate and climbing trees and his favorite movies. But in quieter moments, it seemed clear that among the things Jeremia has gotten from his mother is an understated perspective about the roads we travel and a search for stability in the midst of larger transitions. Well, yeah, sometimes I want things like a little balanced instead of curved, because when it's curved, things are not worked out properly. So when things are worked out, probably then everything would be fine. Back in late that elusive balance felt further away than ever for Jeremiah and his mom. As Jessic's championship seas have reopened professional doors that she thought had been closed for good at home, that success would perhaps present the stiffest challenge yet. I went to say every camp with this chip on my shoulder because I was doing it for my kid, doing it for the sacrifice that I was making in that moment, and I had to take advantage of that. That's exactly what I did. From the Charlotte Observer, Raleigh News, An Observer, McClatchy Studios, and I Heart Radio. This is payback. I'm Alexandrea, and this is party my other half in the fall, just was at home near Raleigh, riding high off her second nd WUSL championship. Even US national team head coach Jill Ellis had no disturbed performance. It was all tremendous. As Ellison texted her, she was m v P. She scored two of the three goals Dan Rockaway. I remember her getting the tech and she was like wow. I got a text in Joellis, I said, how is she have your number? Well, I guess Joe has everybody's number, which is amazing. Jess had reason to hope that maybe her national team dreams weren't dead yet. Could she really make the US roster at thirty years old? And now I'd like to present our two eighteen and USU Championship Most Valuable Player congratulations, Jessica McDonald. The following league championship, Jess had a more pressing question on her mind. Where was she going to live next month? NWSL teams at the time often provided share departments for players and sometimes housing stipends so players could find their own accommodations, but only during the season league champion or not. Just this season was now over. So what happens is these two year olds come out of college to play and they're hoping to get caught up to the USA camp. Dan Rockaway was as surprised as many of the players the first time he learned about their pay scale. During that championship season, Jess said she was paid roughly thirty doll lars And when I found out that they usually have to get other jobs, and I was like, how can these people pay this much? This is ridiculous. It could be easy to paint the NWSL is stingy, especially in its early years. Certainly no one claims it's good that the pro athletes are working second jobs in the off season to make ends meet. And especially for a single mom like Jess who was dependent on her nws L pay because she wasn't on the national team roster, those concerns are valid. I was worried if I was even going to be able to feed my kids without you know, having to worry about finances at the end of the month. You know, oh gosh, what are we gonna do this last week. But to be fair, there is another valid consideration here, and that's the general solvency of the league. So historically US Soccer supported the NWUSL very substantially, including substantial financial assistance and other administrative support. Uh and that was really instrumental in starting the NWSL. And Jamie Wine is a partner at the law firm of Latham and Watkins. She's represented the US Soccer Federation since and so in the early years, US Soccer support for the nwus L, I think amounted to more than twenty million dollars, which was comprised of, you know, paying salaries to all of the US women's national team players who were allocated to play in the end of us L up to a certain number of players. I think it was twenty two and that was in addition to the salary that they were getting for being women's national team players, and so there was significant financial support. A large part of the nwsl stability as a league can be attributed to that financial support from US Soccer. The w U s A and WPS before it didn't have the same support, and it's clear where those leagues ended up. The NWSL has long operated with what might feel like ruthless financial efficiency, but at least it still operates. There were some basically failed attempts to have a women's soccer league in the US, and US Soccer was really the supportive of setting up a league that would be able to thrive so that the women's national players would have a league to play in in the U S and and not have to go outside of the country to play professionally if they didn't want to. The NWSL didn't have a player's association until and when jess stepped off the plane in Rowly a year later, Championship Game MVP trophy in hand. Congratulations Jessica McDonald. The League still hadn't legally recognized the players union, and as Jess was grambling to figure out where she and her son would live for the coming months, the news got better or worse, or at least a little more complicated. End of October, I get an email from the national team saying that I got invited into November camp, which is a two week camp in Portugal. Obviously, that was an mediate yes from me. Jess was getting another shot and making the national team. That congratulatory text from Joe Ellis suddenly seemed like the start of something big, But Jeremiah was starting something big as well. Elementary school. I had to think about Jeremiah. Though he's in school full time, he's in the first grade. During that time, I couldn't bring him in Portugal for two weeks because he couldn't miss school, and I'm a single mom here in North Carolina, had no family here, like a crap. What Jess and Jeremiah did have, however, was the Rockaways, and they had a guest room for Jess and even a home office they could turn into a room fit for a six year old. I remember her saying, I got called up like I called out. This is great. I'm just talking to them at dinner, family dinner, and it's two weeks of Portugal. But like the stuff with Jeremiah, you know, blah blah blah, We're like, okay, so you just come and live with us until your next season begin right then, and they are Dan was just like, we love you guys. You guys are over all the time. Anyway, we love Jeremiah. Go worry about Jeremiah. Go like, make the World Cup team, this is huge. Let us help you, and we'd fill in when you know, when she was gone, we'd fill in her role. I was like, okay, I didn't even hesitate. I was like, absolutely so Jeremiah. I moved in within days and it was kind of the start of awesome stay. She stayed with us for two years. Soon Jess had a plane ticket to Portugal, Jeremiah had a new house to call home, and the Rockaways devoted parents of a teenage daughter, well they got a crash course and raising a little boy. We'll tell you all about that after this. Okay, So arm Man, where to nerf gunt sleeve dren Okay, so I'm searing breedti J's son, Jeremiah, was born in. By the time they moved in with the Rockaways, Jeremiah had already lived with her in Phoenix, Chicago, Seattle, Portland, Houston, New York, and North Carolina. There were even a few months they spent in Germany during one of Jesse's off seasons, when she earned extra money playing for a club there as opposed to packing boxes at Amazon. Oh Yeah. In this video from Twitter, jeremiahs dressed head to toe in a black Miles Morales Spider Man suit, and he's diving behind half walls at home while he addressed by her nerve gun darts of each other. For one of our final interviews for this podcast, Jess and Jeremiah invited me into their home. On this day, Jeremiah wasn't dressed as Spider Man or Batman, but rather toothless the Dragon in jeans and a black hoodie adorned with little ears and big yellow eyes. At almost five feet tall already, Jeremiah seems to have been here to Jessice height and in almost every other way I could see he's very much his mother's son. We've definitely had a lot of fun together and we're trying to make it to the goal where we can travel all around the world. Jeremiah was relaxed when I spoke with him, and almost philosophical at times, but just told me not to be fooled. He's got her raw competitive edge, and the quality time they spend together is very much there's together. We read most nights before bedtime. Jeremiah could barely hold it together because Jess told me a favorite story from a while ago, reading a book and he just rips a little fart and we both just bust that laughing, and I just like kid, And he's like on his bed crying, laughing, crazy weird, like normal family moments where this kid will just do something unexpectedly and then he bust out laughing. I really think I have a class clown on my hands. Back when Jess and Jeremiah moved in with the Rockaways, it was an adjustment for everyone and then't another new home for Jeremiah, a new school and new chores like setting the table for dinner every night. Maybe more than anything they're at the Rockaways, he effectively had a new big sister. At first, Jeremiah did not like new additions to his family and the idea that he had to share his mom with us, and we are eight years apart, so it was difficult finding similarities to bond over. Isabel Rockaway is eighteen years old and has been fine tuning her essays for college applications. Here she's reading me one of her admissions essays. It took Jeremiah and me a few months of ups and downs before he formed a stolid relationship, but eventually Jeremiah became my other half. Isabel told me she bridged that gap when she discovered just how persuasive legos and ice cream can be. Meanwhile, has just prepared for another national team camp in Portugal. Dan and Murder Rockaway suddenly had something like a son and someone jumping on their couch. Well, we have a daughter, and having a boy is completely different. So when Jeremiah came, we had to get used to the flying down the steps in your butt, farting, I mean, you name it. Little boys do that and that's normal and we weren't used to, so we had a job. Of course, it's hard for a six year old when their mom is away for a few days, much less a few weeks. There are often tears from both Jess and Jeremiah when she heads to the airport, even justic Away games, and they generally faced time every day she's on the road. I would talk to jess right now he's reading these books if you see interested in these in that so she will always see use of these pieces of information to just connect with him. He said, well, Jeremiah, I know you're learning about sliders. And then how did you know. Marda Rockaway's parents still live in her native Columbia, so she knows how hard it is to be separated from family. I think that that was careful in a way, just understanding that he was sad, validating his feelings about messing his mom. And we were not like, oh, don't worry about that. We were like, oh, we understand, we know you're very sad. Marta Rockaway told me she knew Jeremiah had turned a corner the first time she went to get him up in the morning and found that he wasn't in his room. He decided to sleep in his spell's room with her, and as Jeremiah became more comfortable there, the Rockaways saw another trait Jeremiah had inherited from his mom, protectiveness for those he cares about. When Jeremiah like and I got really closed. Jeremiah would always start sticking up for me like a little brother. It was so cute, Isabel Rockaway. I would talk about something that I would want to do and stuff, and parents would be like, oh, like you know, like you can't do that or something. Jeremia would be like, oh, yes, she can, like she can do whatever she wants, and he would always like stick up for me. It don't be so cute. We'd always had each other's backs. Jeremiah has become a minor celebrity in his own right, addresses games, TV cameras, love a child dressed like Batman, and you can sometimes catch jeremiahssigning autographs of his own after the game, and he clearly has a sense of the larger conversations happening off the field too, even if his scale is a little bit off. I would definitely wish that each soccer game she does, she would get also equal pay, and after that to get a thousand dollars. These days, Jeremiah plays a variety of sports, just like his mom did at this age, and he enjoyed telling me about karate and what he described as the ninja kick he'd recently learned, but it's possible Jeremiah's gifts might ultimately end up being more intellectual. It's very fun to learn about maths and traction and division. Jeremiah has already been through roadblocks phase, and he told me he now has a new favorite activity like speed Cuber game. It's like it teaches you how to like solvers cube and then once you learn, then you can solveis cube and become a speed cuber. He's not kidding about that. This eleven second video just posted online shows Jeremiah at home with a scrambled Rubik's Cube in hand. What and a clever mind at work. Let me see all the sides, Show me all the sides. He smiles at the camera, a finished cube in his tiny hand. What. Over his young life, Jeremiah has proven to be as adaptable as his mother, and he was again in late has just turned her focus to a new national team camp. But as Jeremiah gets older, family dinners, the bedtime stories and showing off with the Rubik's Cube only go so far over FaceTime. Jess knows she's not the only one who's given a lot for her career. He's such an easy going kid. When I know my kids good, My career is going to be good. So I went into every camp knowing, like my kids, Okay, he's he's good. He's in good hands. You know, there's obviously people that have trustled my own life obviously, and so I'm making a name for myself at this point. And you know, I'm the only mom too on the team as well, and I'm just like this outcast, is underdog with chip on her shoulder. I was doing it for my kid, doing it for the sacrifice that I was making in that moment, and I had to take advantage of that. Just seven months from next Summer's World Cup in France, the US women's national team continues their road to a hopeful repeat the Red, White and Blue in search of a five in program history. Just outside Lisbon just made her trumphor returned to the pitch for the U S women's national team, Head coach Joe Ellis invited twenty two players to that camp in Portugal, fifteen of whom had been playing for the national team for the past few months. Ellis was clearly narrowing in on her final roster for but in that November friendly versus host Portugal, there was still a little room for experimentation. NWSL fans are gonna be very excited to see Jess McDonald getting only her second cap for the United States upfront and her first start for the US as well. Jess was one of five forwards in camp and by that time was the second leading goal scorer in NWSL history. Jess had just finished that monster season as m v P in the league championship game, and Ellis was curious to see what she could do for the Red, White and Blue, and Jeffs was determined to make it count exactly as she'd done in that NWSL title game. She had to win the championship. She had to be the m v P because there would have been a national team. She had to Here's Phoenix College coach Dave k Ameron. I don't know if that was in her head at the time that she need to, but she made it happen and that catapulder to the national team, which she still had to do something amazing. For nearly the entire first half, Portugal played the U S to a draw until in the minute US defender Crystal Dunne charged down the right side of the field with the ball and Jess sprinted through the penalty box for the goal. Done into the box, she found McDonald. What a stop McDonald again, jess ran toward the sideline and hugged on the other teammates raced over to congratulate her. It was the only goal of the friendly, and Jesse's game winner secured the national team it's historic five victory. And there it is the final whistle, the US one nothing victor's the goal coming in the forty second minute from Jessica McDonald, the game winner for five win for the nationally. She had to do little things like that. Non stopped to have the opportunity Dave Cameron, which is crazy. And then what two years before that she was homeless. She had so many barriers and she got through each one of them. Head coach jell Ellis continued tinkering with the roster for the following week's friendly versus Scotland. Justin didn't start that match, but she got quality minutes as a substitute in the second half and the US won. That game went to nothing. National team camp broke for the holidays, but jess was invited back in January, then again in February and March, and again in April. They were all incredible steps toward her dream of making the national team roster, though even her biggest fans in North Carolina acknowledged that stretch came with some difficulties. You know, she wasn't here for more than a month before she started leaving for the USA camp Dan Rockaway. There were months straight that she has gone for two weeks out of the month. And that wasn't you adjustment for Jeremiah not being with his mother, and for two weeks at the time when they should go away to a game for the nw itself, for the Courage, it would be a couple of days, but two weeks, you know, that's a long time. There's something of an irony there. Jess was glad to tell me that the US Soccer Federation treats moms well, at least compared to the NWSL, which she says still has a ways to go. The most amazing thing with the national team is that they do support moms. You know, they hire nannie's during camps. You know, they fly them out, they house them, they feed them, they pay them. You know, it's it's very supportive. That's largely a product of those original negotiations. The Acres, Boudy and Fawcets generation of players back in two thousand. Each successive national team collective bargaining agreement built on those childcare benefits. They handle everything. They fly your kid out, they fly the nannie out, you know, just stress free. It's amazing. We had a talent showing him your monest leaving this stay just coming this day. Like we were very con creating for explaining to him the timing of all that. Marta Rockaway and she's always telling him the truth in a way that he understands. I do this because of you. I want to achieve these goals and I want to show you all the things that I can do for you. So she explained that to him very well. By April seven, the core of the upcoming US World Cup team seems pretty well locked in, but head coach Joel ellis So had a few key decisions to make. The US women were in Los Angeles for a friendly against Belgium. Julie Thoughty, Joy, Fawcett, Brandy Chastain, many of the famous ninety nine were back in the city where they became legends, cheering on the current squad in the team's final game before Ellis would announce her World Cup roster. Jessica McDonald playing it, and she has been at the professional level and WUSL I thought he was in the booth for ESPN. Great in the air, she's strong, she's fast, and finally getting her look at possibly going to her first Women's World Cup. Jess entered that game against Belgium in the sixty one minute and the US was in control throughout. In the final minutes, Kristin Press lined up a free kick well outside the penalty box, and jest did what she had done so many times in the NWSL. She fought for space in front of the goal and used her hype to her advantage for US. A clip of six is gonna go in, Jessica McDonald, and that is exactly what Jessica McDonald can bring to the game, so good on set pieces. It was the exclamation point on a six nothing win for the Vest women's team, the final goal anyone would score. Before Joe Ellis chose the final roster of twenty three players for the upcoming World Cup, jess headed home to North Carolina, back to those family dinners at the Rockaways and those bedtime stories with Jeremiah and the agony of wondering if her childhood dreams would ever come true. I'll never forget waiting for that phone call at thirty one years old, waiting for Jelous to let me know if id me the World Cup team or not. We'll tell you about that after the break, as the North Carolina Courage began their NWSL title defense outside Raleigh. That April just seemed to be driven by the momentum of those national team camps. Beautiful night, and we are ready to begin the two thousand nineteen season in the NWSL. She scored her first goal of in the Courage is second game against the Orlando Pride. I want anox Way ray to McDonald if she carries it for the second goal all the gning. Justin spoken recently with her grandmother Abbey and did her best to keep Abbey's words of wisdom close to heart. I just told her that never go up, stay strong, don't worry about the team me and about it. Support him, but don't let him about to take your joy away. But the truth was her Jets. Despite all the NWSL games and goals, the national team question was top of mind until that question was answered ironically, at a doctor's appointment. For the past six years, since Jesse's knee injury, the one that could have ended her career, she's made an early season visit to her team doctor. By spring of the checkups had mostly become a formality. We both sit down in his office and he starts to talk. He's like, so, and my phone starts to ring as soon as he starts to speak. Jess told me about that doctor's appointment one day over zoom, I like, look over, it, says Jill Ellis on my phone, and he's like, do you need to get that? And I was like, yeah, I need to take it. He's like go ahead, and you know, I'm away, and I answered the phone. I'm like hey. As Jess remembers it, Ellis offered a few pleasantries and then at last, do you want to hear your answer? And I was like yeah. She was like you're going to the World Cup. And immediately, y'all, I'm bawling crying and she's still talking and I have no idea what she's saying cause I'm too busy, like ugly crying. She was just like congratulations, Like go hug your boy, go ahead and tell your family. I remember telling me like, this is like one of my favorite things about my job is hearing your reaction, and she was like, you know, you have an incredible journey, totally deserved to be here. Congratulations. Once more, it seemed Jess's life had changed. In a doctor's office. She got a quick hug and a thumbs up from the dock and he told her to go celebrate. She made her walk back through that office. Jess was in better shape physically and emotionally. I'm like walking out of his office bawling, crying, can't even catch my breath, and you know, people at his office. One woman was like, it's gonna be okay, like you're okay. She didn't know what was happening. Obviously I'm crying and she was like, oh, plenty, it's kidding, be okay, like you're fine. I was like, no, looking at I will never forget that Drek. Jesse's first call was almost a given her grandmother Abby, who didn't pick up. Jess later found out Abby was soaking in a bath at the time, which means the first person she told was Dan Rockaway on a teary FaceTime from the parking lot, then just called her brother and then Dave Cameron back in Phoenix and immediately she's like, I'm like, what the are you okay? I'm like, I'm thinking Jeremiah's hurt. I'm like I didn't know what's going on. And she's just like bawling. I'm like, hold on and leave my office, give me a second, you know, And I'm like it was just like, what's wrong? And I'm like, I mean, the world up, team Dave. And he's like, oh my gosh, you know, to deal what she's dealt with and and keep her emotions and check where I'll just cry right here. She's made differently and you don't see Dave. Dave doesn't get emotional, but you know, it's it was really important during the interview we did with him and just talking about, yeah, Dave is a huge part of my journey, and I don't think he realizes that how big of a part he has played. Even if she didn't make it, she would be fine. She can deal with adversity. She can deal with those things. So's your qualities. Ide don't understand how she got because she comes from a broken home and stuff that just doesn't make sense. That's why it's good to have unattainable goals, so you like recently get up. You know. About an hour later, I just got a call back from Mabby, oh grandmother. This woman. She was like, oh, I knew it. Oh I knew And I'm like, all you did, because I didn't know. I wish you would have told me. She she spoke with just so much confidence, and I remember us saying a prayer on the phone. She said a prayer for me, and she was just like, I'm proud of your daughter. She calls me daughter, which you know I pretty much I am, and so I remember those words coming out and she's just, I'm I'm proud of your daughter. I knew it. I knew it was going to happen, you know, like God's blessed you your whole life and you deserve it. And yeah, we we left it at that. It was. That was a beautiful phone call. A few days later, Jill Ellis held a press conference to announce the twenty three woman World Cup roster. There, she said of Jazz quote, she's got a nose for the goal, She's fantastic in the air. Seeing her in those big games last year also made me recognize and acknowledge that in big games, this player shows up. The World Cup being played that year in France, would begin a few weeks later on the horizons that everything Jess had given so much for and Jeremiah had to in his own way. As Jess told me the story about the doctor's office, I was reminded of a moment in their home and photos I had seen of Jeremiah from a few years back. Those pictures showed him with the Carolina blue cast covering his right forearm and wrist, a testament to one of those tree climbing adventures gone wrong. It was clear that as difficult as those past few years had been at times, there were lessons they both took from it. When he goes through hard times and he comes out of it, it's like a refreshing type of feeling. Do you remember when you fill out that dream brokeer arm? Yeah, and you said you'd never wanted to climb that tree ever again? Do you remember that? And I showed you the scar on my knee, what soccer did to me, and that the doctors fixed me. And I guess what I still do. You still kept going and playing soccer exactly, and after you broke your arm? What did you do? I still kept climbing the tree and higher and even higher. We sure did. But where their journey would go next, not even Jess could have imagined. And on part nine of Payback, that was does equal mean identical or does equal mean being treated in a fair and equitable way? If you put that in different terms, a woman in the workforce needs to be three times as successful to make almost as much and that just doesn't work. Thousands of people chanting equal pay. We knew that right then and there. This is something that's going to be global. I'm Alexandrea. Payback is a production of the Charlotte Observer, Raleigh News and Observer, McClatchy Studios, and iHeart Radio. It's produced by Cotta Stevens, Casey Top, Julia Wall, and Davin Coburn. The executive producer for iHeart Radio is Sean tay Toone. For lots more on this story and to support journalism like this, visit Charlotte Observer dot com slash payback or News Observer dot com slash Payback, and for more podcasts for my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. No.

Long Shot is a production of McClatchy Studios and I Heart Radio, previously on Payback. My son is sat in my training sessions as a baby, like a host roller by himself. Do you reach my Granmy? She's not available. We've amented me fine, I will be like, go enjoy the game. He's gonna be okay, here Shot. I get a text from Joel Elis right after the game. I might be going into camp. Okay, okay, I'm just gonna have him say your name. Okay, go ahead, Okay, Hello guys. My name is Jeremiah Stewart. And it's been really fun hanging out with my mom. Over the past year. I've spent countless hours talking to Jess and her teammates and coaches and friends and sports psychologists and others about her journey and the challenges she's overcome as a single mom and Jess a story contains so many different kinds of struggle and perseverance and growth. Sometimes we guilt to watch movies together, but hers is not the only story unfolding. You're in her home. I think my favorite might be Iron Man. My other favorite is the Sonic movie You Can Like Go Faster than light speed. Jeremia's last name is Stewart, like his father, but the boy Jess called string Being responded to her like no other. And she's as protective of Jeremiah as you might imagine. As far as I know, I'm the first reporter she's let interview him about the busy life he's already led and the challenges that he's overcome on this journey. You do it so good. What did your mom tell you take care of herself? Eat hydra um. Come give me a little credit something. Oh, you're teaching me to clean my lunch fox every day from camp. Yes, indeed, cleaning very important. And sure he's an energetic ten year old. So we talked a lot about karate and climbing trees and his favorite movies. But in quieter moments, it seemed clear that among the things Jeremia has gotten from his mother is an understated perspective about the roads we travel and a search for stability in the midst of larger transitions. Well, yeah, sometimes I want things like a little balanced instead of curved, because when it's curved, things are not worked out properly. So when things are worked out, probably then everything would be fine. Back in late that elusive balance felt further away than ever for Jeremiah and his mom. As Jessic's championship seas have reopened professional doors that she thought had been closed for good at home, that success would perhaps present the stiffest challenge yet. I went to say every camp with this chip on my shoulder because I was doing it for my kid, doing it for the sacrifice that I was making in that moment, and I had to take advantage of that. That's exactly what I did. From the Charlotte Observer, Raleigh News, An Observer, McClatchy Studios, and I Heart Radio. This is payback. I'm Alexandrea, and this is party my other half in the fall, just was at home near Raleigh, riding high off her second nd WUSL championship. Even US national team head coach Jill Ellis had no disturbed performance. It was all tremendous. As Ellison texted her, she was m v P. She scored two of the three goals Dan Rockaway. I remember her getting the tech and she was like wow. I got a text in Joellis, I said, how is she have your number? Well, I guess Joe has everybody's number, which is amazing. Jess had reason to hope that maybe her national team dreams weren't dead yet. Could she really make the US roster at thirty years old? And now I'd like to present our two eighteen and USU Championship Most Valuable Player congratulations, Jessica McDonald. The following league championship, Jess had a more pressing question on her mind. Where was she going to live next month? NWSL teams at the time often provided share departments for players and sometimes housing stipends so players could find their own accommodations, but only during the season league champion or not. Just this season was now over. So what happens is these two year olds come out of college to play and they're hoping to get caught up to the USA camp. Dan Rockaway was as surprised as many of the players the first time he learned about their pay scale. During that championship season, Jess said she was paid roughly thirty doll lars And when I found out that they usually have to get other jobs, and I was like, how can these people pay this much? This is ridiculous. It could be easy to paint the NWSL is stingy, especially in its early years. Certainly no one claims it's good that the pro athletes are working second jobs in the off season to make ends meet. And especially for a single mom like Jess who was dependent on her nws L pay because she wasn't on the national team roster, those concerns are valid. I was worried if I was even going to be able to feed my kids without you know, having to worry about finances at the end of the month. You know, oh gosh, what are we gonna do this last week. But to be fair, there is another valid consideration here, and that's the general solvency of the league. So historically US Soccer supported the NWUSL very substantially, including substantial financial assistance and other administrative support. Uh and that was really instrumental in starting the NWSL. And Jamie Wine is a partner at the law firm of Latham and Watkins. She's represented the US Soccer Federation since and so in the early years, US Soccer support for the nwus L, I think amounted to more than twenty million dollars, which was comprised of, you know, paying salaries to all of the US women's national team players who were allocated to play in the end of us L up to a certain number of players. I think it was twenty two and that was in addition to the salary that they were getting for being women's national team players, and so there was significant financial support. A large part of the nwsl stability as a league can be attributed to that financial support from US Soccer. The w U s A and WPS before it didn't have the same support, and it's clear where those leagues ended up. The NWSL has long operated with what might feel like ruthless financial efficiency, but at least it still operates. There were some basically failed attempts to have a women's soccer league in the US, and US Soccer was really the supportive of setting up a league that would be able to thrive so that the women's national players would have a league to play in in the U S and and not have to go outside of the country to play professionally if they didn't want to. The NWSL didn't have a player's association until and when jess stepped off the plane in Rowly a year later, Championship Game MVP trophy in hand. Congratulations Jessica McDonald. The League still hadn't legally recognized the players union, and as Jess was grambling to figure out where she and her son would live for the coming months, the news got better or worse, or at least a little more complicated. End of October, I get an email from the national team saying that I got invited into November camp, which is a two week camp in Portugal. Obviously, that was an mediate yes from me. Jess was getting another shot and making the national team. That congratulatory text from Joe Ellis suddenly seemed like the start of something big, But Jeremiah was starting something big as well. Elementary school. I had to think about Jeremiah. Though he's in school full time, he's in the first grade. During that time, I couldn't bring him in Portugal for two weeks because he couldn't miss school, and I'm a single mom here in North Carolina, had no family here, like a crap. What Jess and Jeremiah did have, however, was the Rockaways, and they had a guest room for Jess and even a home office they could turn into a room fit for a six year old. I remember her saying, I got called up like I called out. This is great. I'm just talking to them at dinner, family dinner, and it's two weeks of Portugal. But like the stuff with Jeremiah, you know, blah blah blah, We're like, okay, so you just come and live with us until your next season begin right then, and they are Dan was just like, we love you guys. You guys are over all the time. Anyway, we love Jeremiah. Go worry about Jeremiah. Go like, make the World Cup team, this is huge. Let us help you, and we'd fill in when you know, when she was gone, we'd fill in her role. I was like, okay, I didn't even hesitate. I was like, absolutely so Jeremiah. I moved in within days and it was kind of the start of awesome stay. She stayed with us for two years. Soon Jess had a plane ticket to Portugal, Jeremiah had a new house to call home, and the Rockaways devoted parents of a teenage daughter, well they got a crash course and raising a little boy. We'll tell you all about that after this. Okay, So arm Man, where to nerf gunt sleeve dren Okay, so I'm searing breedti J's son, Jeremiah, was born in. By the time they moved in with the Rockaways, Jeremiah had already lived with her in Phoenix, Chicago, Seattle, Portland, Houston, New York, and North Carolina. There were even a few months they spent in Germany during one of Jesse's off seasons, when she earned extra money playing for a club there as opposed to packing boxes at Amazon. Oh Yeah. In this video from Twitter, jeremiahs dressed head to toe in a black Miles Morales Spider Man suit, and he's diving behind half walls at home while he addressed by her nerve gun darts of each other. For one of our final interviews for this podcast, Jess and Jeremiah invited me into their home. On this day, Jeremiah wasn't dressed as Spider Man or Batman, but rather toothless the Dragon in jeans and a black hoodie adorned with little ears and big yellow eyes. At almost five feet tall already, Jeremiah seems to have been here to Jessice height and in almost every other way I could see he's very much his mother's son. We've definitely had a lot of fun together and we're trying to make it to the goal where we can travel all around the world. Jeremiah was relaxed when I spoke with him, and almost philosophical at times, but just told me not to be fooled. He's got her raw competitive edge, and the quality time they spend together is very much there's together. We read most nights before bedtime. Jeremiah could barely hold it together because Jess told me a favorite story from a while ago, reading a book and he just rips a little fart and we both just bust that laughing, and I just like kid, And he's like on his bed crying, laughing, crazy weird, like normal family moments where this kid will just do something unexpectedly and then he bust out laughing. I really think I have a class clown on my hands. Back when Jess and Jeremiah moved in with the Rockaways, it was an adjustment for everyone and then't another new home for Jeremiah, a new school and new chores like setting the table for dinner every night. Maybe more than anything they're at the Rockaways, he effectively had a new big sister. At first, Jeremiah did not like new additions to his family and the idea that he had to share his mom with us, and we are eight years apart, so it was difficult finding similarities to bond over. Isabel Rockaway is eighteen years old and has been fine tuning her essays for college applications. Here she's reading me one of her admissions essays. It took Jeremiah and me a few months of ups and downs before he formed a stolid relationship, but eventually Jeremiah became my other half. Isabel told me she bridged that gap when she discovered just how persuasive legos and ice cream can be. Meanwhile, has just prepared for another national team camp in Portugal. Dan and Murder Rockaway suddenly had something like a son and someone jumping on their couch. Well, we have a daughter, and having a boy is completely different. So when Jeremiah came, we had to get used to the flying down the steps in your butt, farting, I mean, you name it. Little boys do that and that's normal and we weren't used to, so we had a job. Of course, it's hard for a six year old when their mom is away for a few days, much less a few weeks. There are often tears from both Jess and Jeremiah when she heads to the airport, even justic Away games, and they generally faced time every day she's on the road. I would talk to jess right now he's reading these books if you see interested in these in that so she will always see use of these pieces of information to just connect with him. He said, well, Jeremiah, I know you're learning about sliders. And then how did you know. Marda Rockaway's parents still live in her native Columbia, so she knows how hard it is to be separated from family. I think that that was careful in a way, just understanding that he was sad, validating his feelings about messing his mom. And we were not like, oh, don't worry about that. We were like, oh, we understand, we know you're very sad. Marta Rockaway told me she knew Jeremiah had turned a corner the first time she went to get him up in the morning and found that he wasn't in his room. He decided to sleep in his spell's room with her, and as Jeremiah became more comfortable there, the Rockaways saw another trait Jeremiah had inherited from his mom, protectiveness for those he cares about. When Jeremiah like and I got really closed. Jeremiah would always start sticking up for me like a little brother. It was so cute, Isabel Rockaway. I would talk about something that I would want to do and stuff, and parents would be like, oh, like you know, like you can't do that or something. Jeremia would be like, oh, yes, she can, like she can do whatever she wants, and he would always like stick up for me. It don't be so cute. We'd always had each other's backs. Jeremiah has become a minor celebrity in his own right, addresses games, TV cameras, love a child dressed like Batman, and you can sometimes catch jeremiahssigning autographs of his own after the game, and he clearly has a sense of the larger conversations happening off the field too, even if his scale is a little bit off. I would definitely wish that each soccer game she does, she would get also equal pay, and after that to get a thousand dollars. These days, Jeremiah plays a variety of sports, just like his mom did at this age, and he enjoyed telling me about karate and what he described as the ninja kick he'd recently learned, but it's possible Jeremiah's gifts might ultimately end up being more intellectual. It's very fun to learn about maths and traction and division. Jeremiah has already been through roadblocks phase, and he told me he now has a new favorite activity like speed Cuber game. It's like it teaches you how to like solvers cube and then once you learn, then you can solveis cube and become a speed cuber. He's not kidding about that. This eleven second video just posted online shows Jeremiah at home with a scrambled Rubik's Cube in hand. What and a clever mind at work. Let me see all the sides, Show me all the sides. He smiles at the camera, a finished cube in his tiny hand. What. Over his young life, Jeremiah has proven to be as adaptable as his mother, and he was again in late has just turned her focus to a new national team camp. But as Jeremiah gets older, family dinners, the bedtime stories and showing off with the Rubik's Cube only go so far over FaceTime. Jess knows she's not the only one who's given a lot for her career. He's such an easy going kid. When I know my kids good, My career is going to be good. So I went into every camp knowing, like my kids, Okay, he's he's good. He's in good hands. You know, there's obviously people that have trustled my own life obviously, and so I'm making a name for myself at this point. And you know, I'm the only mom too on the team as well, and I'm just like this outcast, is underdog with chip on her shoulder. I was doing it for my kid, doing it for the sacrifice that I was making in that moment, and I had to take advantage of that. Just seven months from next Summer's World Cup in France, the US women's national team continues their road to a hopeful repeat the Red, White and Blue in search of a five in program history. Just outside Lisbon just made her trumphor returned to the pitch for the U S women's national team, Head coach Joe Ellis invited twenty two players to that camp in Portugal, fifteen of whom had been playing for the national team for the past few months. Ellis was clearly narrowing in on her final roster for but in that November friendly versus host Portugal, there was still a little room for experimentation. NWSL fans are gonna be very excited to see Jess McDonald getting only her second cap for the United States upfront and her first start for the US as well. Jess was one of five forwards in camp and by that time was the second leading goal scorer in NWSL history. Jess had just finished that monster season as m v P in the league championship game, and Ellis was curious to see what she could do for the Red, White and Blue, and Jeffs was determined to make it count exactly as she'd done in that NWSL title game. She had to win the championship. She had to be the m v P because there would have been a national team. She had to Here's Phoenix College coach Dave k Ameron. I don't know if that was in her head at the time that she need to, but she made it happen and that catapulder to the national team, which she still had to do something amazing. For nearly the entire first half, Portugal played the U S to a draw until in the minute US defender Crystal Dunne charged down the right side of the field with the ball and Jess sprinted through the penalty box for the goal. Done into the box, she found McDonald. What a stop McDonald again, jess ran toward the sideline and hugged on the other teammates raced over to congratulate her. It was the only goal of the friendly, and Jesse's game winner secured the national team it's historic five victory. And there it is the final whistle, the US one nothing victor's the goal coming in the forty second minute from Jessica McDonald, the game winner for five win for the nationally. She had to do little things like that. Non stopped to have the opportunity Dave Cameron, which is crazy. And then what two years before that she was homeless. She had so many barriers and she got through each one of them. Head coach jell Ellis continued tinkering with the roster for the following week's friendly versus Scotland. Justin didn't start that match, but she got quality minutes as a substitute in the second half and the US won. That game went to nothing. National team camp broke for the holidays, but jess was invited back in January, then again in February and March, and again in April. They were all incredible steps toward her dream of making the national team roster, though even her biggest fans in North Carolina acknowledged that stretch came with some difficulties. You know, she wasn't here for more than a month before she started leaving for the USA camp Dan Rockaway. There were months straight that she has gone for two weeks out of the month. And that wasn't you adjustment for Jeremiah not being with his mother, and for two weeks at the time when they should go away to a game for the nw itself, for the Courage, it would be a couple of days, but two weeks, you know, that's a long time. There's something of an irony there. Jess was glad to tell me that the US Soccer Federation treats moms well, at least compared to the NWSL, which she says still has a ways to go. The most amazing thing with the national team is that they do support moms. You know, they hire nannie's during camps. You know, they fly them out, they house them, they feed them, they pay them. You know, it's it's very supportive. That's largely a product of those original negotiations. The Acres, Boudy and Fawcets generation of players back in two thousand. Each successive national team collective bargaining agreement built on those childcare benefits. They handle everything. They fly your kid out, they fly the nannie out, you know, just stress free. It's amazing. We had a talent showing him your monest leaving this stay just coming this day. Like we were very con creating for explaining to him the timing of all that. Marta Rockaway and she's always telling him the truth in a way that he understands. I do this because of you. I want to achieve these goals and I want to show you all the things that I can do for you. So she explained that to him very well. By April seven, the core of the upcoming US World Cup team seems pretty well locked in, but head coach Joel ellis So had a few key decisions to make. The US women were in Los Angeles for a friendly against Belgium. Julie Thoughty, Joy, Fawcett, Brandy Chastain, many of the famous ninety nine were back in the city where they became legends, cheering on the current squad in the team's final game before Ellis would announce her World Cup roster. Jessica McDonald playing it, and she has been at the professional level and WUSL I thought he was in the booth for ESPN. Great in the air, she's strong, she's fast, and finally getting her look at possibly going to her first Women's World Cup. Jess entered that game against Belgium in the sixty one minute and the US was in control throughout. In the final minutes, Kristin Press lined up a free kick well outside the penalty box, and jest did what she had done so many times in the NWSL. She fought for space in front of the goal and used her hype to her advantage for US. A clip of six is gonna go in, Jessica McDonald, and that is exactly what Jessica McDonald can bring to the game, so good on set pieces. It was the exclamation point on a six nothing win for the Vest women's team, the final goal anyone would score. Before Joe Ellis chose the final roster of twenty three players for the upcoming World Cup, jess headed home to North Carolina, back to those family dinners at the Rockaways and those bedtime stories with Jeremiah and the agony of wondering if her childhood dreams would ever come true. I'll never forget waiting for that phone call at thirty one years old, waiting for Jelous to let me know if id me the World Cup team or not. We'll tell you about that after the break, as the North Carolina Courage began their NWSL title defense outside Raleigh. That April just seemed to be driven by the momentum of those national team camps. Beautiful night, and we are ready to begin the two thousand nineteen season in the NWSL. She scored her first goal of in the Courage is second game against the Orlando Pride. I want anox Way ray to McDonald if she carries it for the second goal all the gning. Justin spoken recently with her grandmother Abbey and did her best to keep Abbey's words of wisdom close to heart. I just told her that never go up, stay strong, don't worry about the team me and about it. Support him, but don't let him about to take your joy away. But the truth was her Jets. Despite all the NWSL games and goals, the national team question was top of mind until that question was answered ironically, at a doctor's appointment. For the past six years, since Jesse's knee injury, the one that could have ended her career, she's made an early season visit to her team doctor. By spring of the checkups had mostly become a formality. We both sit down in his office and he starts to talk. He's like, so, and my phone starts to ring as soon as he starts to speak. Jess told me about that doctor's appointment one day over zoom, I like, look over, it, says Jill Ellis on my phone, and he's like, do you need to get that? And I was like, yeah, I need to take it. He's like go ahead, and you know, I'm away, and I answered the phone. I'm like hey. As Jess remembers it, Ellis offered a few pleasantries and then at last, do you want to hear your answer? And I was like yeah. She was like you're going to the World Cup. And immediately, y'all, I'm bawling crying and she's still talking and I have no idea what she's saying cause I'm too busy, like ugly crying. She was just like congratulations, Like go hug your boy, go ahead and tell your family. I remember telling me like, this is like one of my favorite things about my job is hearing your reaction, and she was like, you know, you have an incredible journey, totally deserved to be here. Congratulations. Once more, it seemed Jess's life had changed. In a doctor's office. She got a quick hug and a thumbs up from the dock and he told her to go celebrate. She made her walk back through that office. Jess was in better shape physically and emotionally. I'm like walking out of his office bawling, crying, can't even catch my breath, and you know, people at his office. One woman was like, it's gonna be okay, like you're okay. She didn't know what was happening. Obviously I'm crying and she was like, oh, plenty, it's kidding, be okay, like you're fine. I was like, no, looking at I will never forget that Drek. Jesse's first call was almost a given her grandmother Abby, who didn't pick up. Jess later found out Abby was soaking in a bath at the time, which means the first person she told was Dan Rockaway on a teary FaceTime from the parking lot, then just called her brother and then Dave Cameron back in Phoenix and immediately she's like, I'm like, what the are you okay? I'm like, I'm thinking Jeremiah's hurt. I'm like I didn't know what's going on. And she's just like bawling. I'm like, hold on and leave my office, give me a second, you know, And I'm like it was just like, what's wrong? And I'm like, I mean, the world up, team Dave. And he's like, oh my gosh, you know, to deal what she's dealt with and and keep her emotions and check where I'll just cry right here. She's made differently and you don't see Dave. Dave doesn't get emotional, but you know, it's it was really important during the interview we did with him and just talking about, yeah, Dave is a huge part of my journey, and I don't think he realizes that how big of a part he has played. Even if she didn't make it, she would be fine. She can deal with adversity. She can deal with those things. So's your qualities. Ide don't understand how she got because she comes from a broken home and stuff that just doesn't make sense. That's why it's good to have unattainable goals, so you like recently get up. You know. About an hour later, I just got a call back from Mabby, oh grandmother. This woman. She was like, oh, I knew it. Oh I knew And I'm like, all you did, because I didn't know. I wish you would have told me. She she spoke with just so much confidence, and I remember us saying a prayer on the phone. She said a prayer for me, and she was just like, I'm proud of your daughter. She calls me daughter, which you know I pretty much I am, and so I remember those words coming out and she's just, I'm I'm proud of your daughter. I knew it. I knew it was going to happen, you know, like God's blessed you your whole life and you deserve it. And yeah, we we left it at that. It was. That was a beautiful phone call. A few days later, Jill Ellis held a press conference to announce the twenty three woman World Cup roster. There, she said of Jazz quote, she's got a nose for the goal, She's fantastic in the air. Seeing her in those big games last year also made me recognize and acknowledge that in big games, this player shows up. The World Cup being played that year in France, would begin a few weeks later on the horizons that everything Jess had given so much for and Jeremiah had to in his own way. As Jess told me the story about the doctor's office, I was reminded of a moment in their home and photos I had seen of Jeremiah from a few years back. Those pictures showed him with the Carolina blue cast covering his right forearm and wrist, a testament to one of those tree climbing adventures gone wrong. It was clear that as difficult as those past few years had been at times, there were lessons they both took from it. When he goes through hard times and he comes out of it, it's like a refreshing type of feeling. Do you remember when you fill out that dream brokeer arm? Yeah, and you said you'd never wanted to climb that tree ever again? Do you remember that? And I showed you the scar on my knee, what soccer did to me, and that the doctors fixed me. And I guess what I still do. You still kept going and playing soccer exactly, and after you broke your arm? What did you do? I still kept climbing the tree and higher and even higher. We sure did. But where their journey would go next, not even Jess could have imagined. And on part nine of Payback, that was does equal mean identical or does equal mean being treated in a fair and equitable way? If you put that in different terms, a woman in the workforce needs to be three times as successful to make almost as much and that just doesn't work. Thousands of people chanting equal pay. We knew that right then and there. This is something that's going to be global. I'm Alexandrea. Payback is a production of the Charlotte Observer, Raleigh News and Observer, McClatchy Studios, and iHeart Radio. It's produced by Cotta Stevens, Casey Top, Julia Wall, and Davin Coburn. The executive producer for iHeart Radio is Sean tay Toone. For lots more on this story and to support journalism like this, visit Charlotte Observer dot com slash payback or News Observer dot com slash Payback, and for more podcasts for my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. No.