Olivia Moultrie is the youngest player in the history of the National Women’s Soccer League. A professional since she was age 13, the now 16-year-old is a midfielder for the Portland Thorns. As someone who is almost always training or playing the game, it’s perhaps safe to say that soccer is the young athlete’s life.
But it doesn’t come first in her life.
“Soccer may be the most important thing that I do but it’s not the most important thing in my life,” Olivia said in a new Church video. “It’s always [been] for me: faith, family, and then my soccer. I think the thing I’m most proud of is just that I am a daughter of God and that I feel like I have a relationship with Him and that I have my faith that I can always turn to, and knowing that He’s always there is special.”
Olivia made her first professional goal and first assist at age 15, which is the youngest in league history. But something that she loves about the gospel is that it’s not about the numbers—as Elder Holland has said, you simply get credit for trying.
“In soccer you need results. You need to win. You need to accomplish things,” Olivia says. “In my spiritual life, it’s comforting because you do get credit for trying. You get credit for trying to just become a better person and become closer with God.”
And Olivia is always trying. Her biggest spiritual goal is to continue using the platform she has to share the gospel with as many people as she can, and despite her rigorous training schedule, she makes time for scripture study and personal prayer.
“I always have this grounding presence of knowing that I always have somebody to pray to … and that’s the thing that can always bring me back down from being nervous or feeling like I have a lot of things to juggle. And I pray before every game—like before the kickoff happens, I’ll be standing on the field and I’ll just say a quick prayer like in my heart. And I have done it since I’ve been like 10 years old and I’ll continue to do it forever, and it just gives me this one last like deep breath of like, ‘I know this is [going to] be OK,’” she said.
You can watch more of Olivia’s story in the video player below:
