Sam Mewis has already accomplished some remarkable feats in her still-young professional soccer career. But now, the US Women’s National Team superstar is becoming an Olympian for the first time.
And she’s doing it alongside her sister, Kristie.
Last month, the Mewis sisters learned that they would be competing side-by-side in Tokyo when USWNT head coach Vlatko Andonovski selected his highly competitive roster for this summer’s Olympics. But when they finally had confirmation that both of them had made the team, Sam and Kristie had an unexpected – and somewhat bizarre – reaction.
“I called Sam, and we started dying laughing on FaceTime,” Kristie told Insider. “I don’t know why, but we just like looked at each other on FaceTime and started dying laughing.”
“We just held the phone like this,” Sam added, holding out her hand and miming laughter.
Sam, the younger of the Mewis sisters at 28 years old, has been a consistent force on the USWNT roster since 2016. Named the best women’s soccer player on the planet in March of this year, there was little doubt that the 6-foot “Tower of Power” would be named to the Olympic roster.
But Kristie, who is 30 years old, only recently made her way back into the national team ranks after a six-year hiatus. Had the games been held in 2020, she likely wouldn’t have been in the running for a spot. But with three USWNT goals and an assist under her belt heading into the final stretch before the Olympics, it began to appear as though the elder Mewis might just punch her ticket to Tokyo, too.
“When I first started getting called in [to the USWNT] back in the fall, I really was just happy to be there,” Kristie said. “But then something switched for me. I don’t really know what point it was, but I realized I can actually do this. Sam and I could go to a major tournament together – I can make this 18 man roster.”
As Kristie remembers it, she was on the road with the Houston Dash – her National Women’s Soccer League club – when she received a text message from Andonovski about scheduling a phone call for the following morning. She later learned that her sister was set to speak to him 45 minutes earlier.
Once Sam learned her own good news, she assumed that her sister had made the team, too, “because our phone calls were within the same hour, so he must be calling people with good news.” Once they knew for certain and finished laughing hysterically with each other on FaceTime, the sisters patched in mom and dad.
“We immediately called my parents, and they were overwhelmed and so excited,” Kristie said. “They didn’t even know what to say. They were just stunned and so happy for us.”
“It was definitely a very special family moment that we got to share with them,” she added.
Sam already has experience playing in a major tournament, having been a member of the USWNT squad that won the 2019 World Cup in France. But this one is extra special for the anchor of the national team’s midfield, she says, because she gets to experience it all alongside her “best friend.”
“Being on this team is so sick on your own and then making an Olympic roster is so sick on your own,” Sam said. “So the fact that there’s two of us on here and we’re sisters and … we’re both at this level at the same time, it’s just so surreal. I don’t even really know how to like rationalize or grasp it, so I’m trying to just soak it in as much as I can.”
“Obviously, we have a big, important job to do, but I know that this is something that we’re going to remember forever, and I just want to make it as special and as memorable as possible,” she added.
Read the original article on Insider