Shannon Boxx: African American: World Cup Winner

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Last edited Wed Jul 8, 2015, 10:38 AM - Edit history (1)

http://www.sbnation.com/soccer/2015/7/6/8896325/abby-wambach-usa-japan-2015-world-cup-final-christie-rampone-shannon-boxx

The United States are World Cup winners, beating Japan 5-2 in an incredible rematch of the final from four years ago. All but one of them are World Cup winners for the first time. Some of the players from this incredible squad will not play another big match for the team.

For longtime fans of the United States women's national team, three of the players on this year's Women's World Cup squad have been in the spotlight for more than a decade's worth of World Cups. The 2015 edition of the competition marked the fifth for Christie Rampone, and the fourth for both Abby Wambach and Shannon Boxx.

Wambach, in particular, was seriously emotional before this World Cup. It would be the tournament that defined her legacy, and she couldn't stomach finishing her career without lifting the biggest prize in her sport. She's finally done it, while Boxx has her first as well, and Rampone has her second....

Boxx wasn't expected to appear at this World Cup. She was a key figure in Germany, but was not an every-game starter at the Olympics and was left out of the team afterwards. But with the team's failure to find a replacement, Boxx was drafted back into the squad and made her 191st appearance in a national team shirt during the group stage. She was rarely considered a star player during her career, because defensive midfielders rarely are, but the USWNT's inability to find a replacement shows just how valuable she's always been. There are not a bunch of future Shannon Boxxes lying around...."

The multiracial Boxx, whose biological father was black, was raised by her white single mother in Southern California. In a 2008 interview, she remembered that she had little contact with her African American heritage until she went to Notre Dame:[3]

“ For me, I really learned about my other half. I took African American studies. I majored in it. I think that was one of the best things I could have ever done. My mom couldn't teach me those things. So I went and taught myself and learned those things when I was at Notre Dame.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shannon_Boxx

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1. The Struggles Behind Shannon Boxx’s Successful Career

Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle.” For Shannon Boxx, this quote sums up her professional career.

Shannon is a defensive midfielder for the United States women’s national soccer team and has had a successful career to the say the least. She has won gold medals with the US team at the 2004 Athens Olympics, 2008 Beijing Olympics and the recent 2012 London Olympics. In addition to these accomplishments, she has also finished in third or better at the 2003, 2007 and 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

However, most great careers don’t come without the bitter taste of struggle. Throughout the span of Boxx’s career, many obstacles have been thrown in her path for her to overcome. Obstacles have come in the form of physical injuries, loss of confidence, rejection and most recently a diagnosis of Lupus, which has made her career as a soccer player that much harder.

Boxx’s career began in doubts, not knowing what she wanted to do. She tried softball for one year-like her older sister Gillian Boxx who won gold medal at the 1996 Olympics with the US softball team-however she decided that soccer was her passion and received a full ride scholarship to the University of Notre Dame, taking her team to the national championship her freshmen year. By her senior year she was captain of the team and had graduated with a double major in Psychology and African American studies....

http://www.athleteslivehere.com/blog/2012/09/the-struggles-behind-shannon-boxxs-successful-career/