PS: You mentioned the World Cup. Can you just talk a little bit about competing on the world stage and how you cope with the pressure of that?
CP: I put a lot of self-care, every single day, in my life so that different experiences or different moments that are more stressful are balanced out. I don't actually change anything I'm doing for a high-pressure moment or a high-stress situation. I'm trying to live a life that allows me to come out of that perception that something is scary or stressful. So I have a lot of self-care strategies, like meditation, grounding, yoga, all of those things.
MR: I don't love attention in the sense that I need it all the time, but the thought of playing in front of 100,000 people is so energizing versus 500 people, like, "What a nightmare. No one will see!" [laughter]. I just think those moments are what you dream about as a kid. They're so much fun, and the crowd's crazy, you're on the absolute biggest stage that you can be on, and that to me is energizing. That's what motivates me when I don't want to work out or I don't want to train. And also, just seeing how much the game has grown over all of this time. We were playing in front of 5,000 fans, and we're not anymore, and we never will again. And that's because of all the hard work that we put in. CP: That energy that you get from these games with 50,000 or 80,000 people watching, and millions around the world, is something you can't mimic within your head. But for me, I always want to make my family proud . . . I always want to do right by them and make sure that what I'm putting forward is a reflection of not only my team but of my family.
PS: Of course, we are looking ahead to 2020. How much is that in your periphery right now, or is it the focus?
AM: Oh, 2019 is like, it's now, and it's all we have our minds set on. Getting to the top of the podium.
PS: And how are you preparing? How are things changing as far as training or just like you said, that mental focus?
MR: It's much of the same. I try to prepare myself all the time in the same way. I think all of us want to be at the top of our level all the time. So to try and do something different, just for this moment, seems distracting to me. Take every day as it comes, and then by the end of it, you're sitting on a pile of days, and you're at the World Cup.
![PS: You mentioned the World Cup. Can you just talk a little bit about competing on the world stage and how you cope with the pressure of that?
CP: I put a lot of self-care, every single day, in my life so that different experiences or different moments that are more stressful are balanced out. I don't actually change anything I'm doing for a high-pressure moment or a high-stress situation. I'm trying to live a life that allows me to come out of that perception that something is scary or stressful. So I have a lot of self-care strategies, like meditation, grounding, yoga, all of those things.
MR: I don't love attention in the sense that I need it all the time, but the thought of playing in front of 100,000 people is so energizing versus 500 people, like, "What a nightmare. No one will see!" [laughter]. I just think those moments are what you dream about as a kid. They're so much fun, and the crowd's crazy, you're on the absolute biggest stage that you can be on, and that to me is energizing. That's what motivates me when I don't want to work out or I don't want to train. And also, just seeing how much the game has grown over all of this time. We were playing in front of 5,000 fans, and we're not anymore, and we never will again. And that's because of all the hard work that we put in. CP: That energy that you get from these games with 50,000 or 80,000 people watching, and millions around the world, is something you can't mimic within your head. But for me, I always want to make my family proud . . . I always want to do right by them and make sure that what I'm putting forward is a reflection of not only my team but of my family.
PS: Of course, we are looking ahead to 2020. How much is that in your periphery right now, or is it the focus?
AM: Oh, 2019 is like, it's now, and it's all we have our minds set on. Getting to the top of the podium.
PS: And how are you preparing? How are things changing as far as training or just like you said, that mental focus?
MR: It's much of the same. I try to prepare myself all the time in the same way. I think all of us want to be at the top of our level all the time. So to try and do something different, just for this moment, seems distracting to me. Take every day as it comes, and then by the end of it, you're sitting on a pile of days, and you're at the World Cup.](https://media1.popsugar-assets.com/files/thumbor/247g7llwf63Mb08sdFZqfQ_j8aQ/fit-in/1024x1024/filters:format_auto-!!-:strip_icc-!!-/2019/04/01/166/n/1922729/36c76bc85ca2d03c2316b9.44543910_C57A6384/i/PS-You-mentioned-World-Cup.jpg "PS: You mentioned the World Cup. Can you just talk a little bit about competing on the world stage and how you cope with the pressure of that?
CP: I put a lot of self-care, every single day, in my life so that different experiences or different moments that are more stressful are balanced out. I don't actually change anything I'm doing for a high-pressure moment or a high-stress situation. I'm trying to live a life that allows me to come out of that perception that something is scary or stressful. So I have a lot of self-care strategies, like meditation, grounding, yoga, all of those things.
MR: I don't love attention in the sense that I need it all the time, but the thought of playing in front of 100,000 people is so energizing versus 500 people, like, \"What a nightmare. No one will see!\" [laughter]. I just think those moments are what you dream about as a kid. They're so much fun, and the crowd's crazy, you're on the absolute biggest stage that you can be on, and that to me is energizing. That's what motivates me when I don't want to work out or I don't want to train. And also, just seeing how much the game has grown over all of this time. We were playing in front of 5,000 fans, and we're not anymore, and we never will again. And that's because of all the hard work that we put in. CP: That energy that you get from these games with 50,000 or 80,000 people watching, and millions around the world, is something you can't mimic within your head. But for me, I always want to make my family proud . . . I always want to do right by them and make sure that what I'm putting forward is a reflection of not only my team but of my family.
PS: Of course, we are looking ahead to 2020. How much is that in your periphery right now, or is it the focus?
AM: Oh, 2019 is like, it's now, and it's all we have our minds set on. Getting to the top of the podium.
PS: And how are you preparing? How are things changing as far as training or just like you said, that mental focus?
MR: It's much of the same. I try to prepare myself all the time in the same way. I think all of us want to be at the top of our level all the time. So to try and do something different, just for this moment, seems distracting to me. Take every day as it comes, and then by the end of it, you're sitting on a pile of days, and you're at the World Cup.")
