Abby Wambach Back On Her Feet

JEN RYNDA staff photographer
Abby Wambach talks during Abby Wambach's Youth Soccer Clinic.

Via JordanCornBlog, this Rochester Democrat & Chronicle article on Abby Wambach. Good to see Abbs up and about. (I hope she's wearing sunscreen out there in sunny California. I'm sure after growing up in Rochester where six-feet-of-snow winters last from October to May, she's reveling in the good weather, but easy does it, there, kiddo....)

Pittsford native Wambach discusses injury, nutrition at youth soccer camp
Star discusses injury, advocates nutrition

The former high school and college All-American and U.S. Soccer Female Player of the Year said her comeback is on schedule for next spring, when the second women's professional league will start. She'll have to wait three more years for the next World Cup. Wambach also conducted two clinics this week in the Albany area and one in Syracuse that attracted about 1,500 children combined.

She flies back to Los Angeles, where she lives and the U.S. team is based, today to resume full-scale rehabilitation about four times a week. The Americans' top scorer the past four years, she has been in upstate New York for about three weeks.

Wambach spent most of the Olympics with her family near Alexandria Bay, where they vacation each summer. That's where she proudly watched her team, cast as underdogs without her, triumph by upsetting Brazil in overtime, 1-0, in the final.

"I'm so proud of them. It was so amazing for me to watch that last game," said the player who scored the winning goal in OT in the 2004 gold-medal match in Athens, Greece.

She flirted with the idea of going to China to root her team on in person and got permission from her coach, Pia Sundhage, but then changed her mind. She also turned down offers from USA Today and TV networks to provide commentary.

"Most people would say for sure, but that's just not me. I didn't want to negatively affect the team. I didn't want to be a distraction," she said. "The truth is I want to be back on that team for a lot more years and when you start criticizing and analyzing your teammates publicly, you cross over into territory that's not suitable to me."

Photo Gallery

There's also an article at RochesterHomepage.net which links to a local TV piece in which Abby says she wants to play for the national team for eight more years and play in two more Olympics. (Click on the "Watch" icon to the right of the headline for the TV piece.)

More video from WSYR.com (ch. 9), and News10 WHEC (NBC) (click on "watch the video" halfway down the page).