The Playbook (2020): Season 1, Episode 2 - Jill Ellis: A Coach's Rules for Life - full transcript

I don't know how people feel,
but I think when you're a coach,

it is always easy to be the underdog.

You know, it's always easier to be
the team that's hunting,

rather than the hunted.

[haunting piano music playing]

[man] Remarkable what this team
has been able to do

over the past few decades, actually.

There have been eight
Women's World Cup tournaments,

and the US has won half.

[Jill] It takes special coaches
to always thrive in the role

of being the person who's being chased.



[commentator 1] For the 6th straight year,
the US women's national team

is ranked number one.

You're high in the rankings
and everyone's gunning for you.

You're not sneaking up,
there's a target on your back.

[commentator 2]
Under Jill's leadership,

UCLA has become one of the winningest
college programs in history.

It's how you measure success.
For some, they would just

kill to get to one final four.
You know, I'd been to eight.

[announcer] Goal for UCLA!

[crowd cheering]

But yet, that internal piece was like,
it's not enough.

[commentator 3] This was the big test
for the USA, and they've come through it.

It's got to be better, better.

[cheering]



The women of the US soccer team
are world champions again.

[Jill] When you are on the top,

the challenge is to make sure
you are competing and evolving

against the best version of yourself.

[news anchor] The women's
national soccer team cements itself

as one of the best soccer teams
of all time.

Whether you're number one
in the country or the world,

you have that attitude and mindset
you got something to prove.

- [commentator 3] Carli Lloyd!
- Put your seat belt on, enjoy the ride.

[intense instrumental music playing]

[commentator 4] A new era
for the US women's soccer team.

Former assistant, Jill Ellis,
has just been promoted to head coach.

Ellis takes over a team
brimming with talent,

that sits at the top of the world rankings

and won a gold medal
at the 2012 London Olympics.

So, the big question
on everyone's mind is,

will this coaching change disrupt a team

poised to continue winning
at the World Cup this summer?

When I took the team over in 2014,

it'd been 16 years
since we'd won a World Cup.

But we were ranked number one in the world

and we'd just recently won
an Olympic gold medal.

[commentator 5]
Japan versus United States.

US will try to become a 3-time winner.

Lloyd, with Morgan streaking,
she's chipping the goalkeeper!

Hat trick for Lloyd!

[loud cheering]

The drought is over,
the US wins the 2015 Women's World Cup!

[Jill] So, nobody was surprised
when we won in 2015.

Jill believes in every single one of us.
We had a game plan.

We started off a little bit slow

but we finished stronger,
that's the important thing.

And after my first year at the job,
we were, you know, world champions.

USA! USA! USA!

[Jill]And feeling good about ourselves.

I know you know this.

This is a remarkable group of women,
and I couldn't be more proud of them.

But when you are on the top,

really the competition becomes yourself.

Every day, so far, it feels great
to wake up as a world champion.

That feeling won't get old.

[cheers]

[Jill] That's when you see
failure in sport.

And, I think
if you want to sustain excellence,

it's not about being the best,
it's how do you stay the best.

I think it's critical.

You have to push the envelope,
evolve, get better.

A year after World Cup,
we had to get ready to play

in the Olympics in 2016, in Brazil.

And I remember the first meeting
I had with the team in 2016.

All right, welcome.
Great to see everybody.

Excited that you're here.

I'm very visual.
I put up an image of a mountain peak.

I said, "Congratulations,
we are on top of the mountain,

you're world champions. It's fantastic.

But, mountain tops are small
and the air is thin for a reason.

You're not supposed to dwell
on top of the mountain.

It's rented space.

You get up there, enjoy the view briefly,
and must climb again."

But what I'll also tell you,
it's not gonna be this.

Many have been on this journey,
it's sometimes this.

It was an important message,
because no team had won a World Cup

and then followed it up
by winning the Olympic Games.

I was trying to re-center them,
refocus them,

you know, find our humility
and really now go and march towards, um,

the gold medal in Rio.

[commentator 6]
Welcome to the 2016 Summer Olympics,

where the US women's national team
will try to build on recent success

as World Cup champions
by capping the summer off

with a gold, here in Rio.

But to do that, they'll have to get past
this scrappy Swedish side

here in the quarterfinals today.

Before that quarterfinal with Sweden,
I remember thinking to myself,

we can't just show up.
You know, we have to make sure

we're staying locked on and focused.

[whistle blows]

[Jill] We were a very athletic team,
but we struggled.

[commentator 6] Haven't cleared it.
It comes towards Morgan with left foot...

It's blocked.
Desperate defending by the Swedes.

It is a siege at the moment
of that Swedish goal.

Now, did we have opportunities to win?
We did.

[commentator 6] Mallory Pugh,
also Carli Lloyd, on the left foot!

Oh, it's deflected!

[Jill] Not our best football,

and, at the end of the day,
we went to penalty kicks.

[commentator]
It comes down to this.

Dahlkvist... wins it for Sweden!

[loud cheers]

And the United States go out
in the quarterfinals.

[crowd cheering]

[Jill] We finished the lowest
we've ever finished in a major event.

It's hard to know what to say,

'cause you can't comfort them,

because nothing's gonna make it better
at that moment.

It was a massive wake-up call for me,
and the team.

Something I firmly believe is
share your success, own your failure.

I shouldered the responsibility.
You have to, as a coach.

And there's no bigger in-your-face
lesson than losing.

[Julie] This US team should
beat that Sweden team,

and that's what's gonna be
so frustrating for US players,

because that loss
just burns and burns for years.

[Jill] It very clearly showed

that success
is never resting on your laurels.

And someone's always
gunning for your spot.

The bar at the national team, it's so
high. The expectations, demand.

Second place, not good enough.
Not even making the medal round

is kind of unforgivable.

So, I think I came out of there

incredibly disappointed.

Frustrated.

So, I knew I had to do something
very quickly.

[indistinct yelling]

[Jill] The way Sweden had defeated us

was almost going to be a blueprint
for other teams.

They were smart,
they eliminated our space.

[commentator 7] Rapinoe making the run
to penalty area, she may get there!

Her run initially was blocked off
by Lisa Dahlkvist.

Compacted their team,
they sat lower on the field.

Essentially making the space
harder to find.

Harder to penetrate.

Harder to take advantage of.

So, I think what the game showed me was,
we need to have more players

that could operate in between lines.

[whistle blows]

[Jill]
That's a certain profile of a player.

So what I decided was,

we have to have a hard reboot.

And, at that point, I said to the players,

"We are going to do something new,
something different."

So, this failure is now an opportunity

for us to explore
and bring new players in,

find more players, and add to the depth.

I said,
"It's going to be uncomfortable, hard,

it's going to be stressful,
but we need to get better.

And I need you to understand
and buy in to this process."

We've been talking a lot
about the new faces to this lineup.

[commentator 8] The US has brought in
a younger squad in this tournament.

[Jill] I was cutting people.

Numerous changes for the USA.

Lowering contracts,
leaving people off of rosters.

[commentator 9] The other night,
the US made three changes.

They've made five here.

And I felt we needed to play
the hardest schedule we've ever played.

And we were losing.

[commentator 10] And right now, the US
is just making poor mental decisions.

It was a very challenging period.
It was tough.

[commentator 10]
This isn't how they hoped they'd be

at 70 minutes in.

[loud cheers]

Great to see a lot
of young faces on the field,

and with that said, we don't like excuses.

And when you lose,
that opens the door for criticism.

[commentator 11]
As a fan, I'm happy to see Jill Ellis

committed to this experimental phase,

but as a former player,
it's frustrating.

[reporter 2]
You look back on what you need to do,

what comes to mind, first off?

First off, I...
I just think about chemistry on the field.

I think about the fact that
we've had so many different, um,

starting elevens in the last year or two,

and, um, I think the team needs
to start gelling a little bit better.

Certainly the hardest moment was when
my two captains met with me,

um, and said, you know,
some of the players have some concerns.

[reporter 3] And speculation
on Jill Ellis's job security grows,

as poor performances continue

and frustration mounts
on and off the field.

That's hard, you know?
It's hard for any coach to think that

players are at that point
where they want a change.

A ton of people were like,
"Are you afraid of losing your job?"

I said,
"I'm not coaching to keep my job.

I'm coaching what I believe."

Years ago, a Navy SEAL shared something
that has stayed with me,

and I appreciate him giving me this gift.

What he said was that the Navy SEALs...

when they go into tough situations,
their mantra is, "Hold fast, stay true."

And it came from years ago,
when a storm was raging

and the waves were lashing.

The sailors had to actually hold on
to something that was connected

and tied down to the deck.

And then, the person at the wheel
had to stay true to the direction,

even though they couldn't see stars
because of the storm.

And so, the concept,
"Hold fast, stay true," was their mantra.

You can't get into coaching
if you're pandering to the critics,

or even to your players.

You've got to have this sense of self
that this is what you believe.

[crowd cheering]

[commentator 12] Here we are, championship
of the 2018 Tournament of Nations.

This US team has shown
growth in recent matches.

Let's see if they can pull out a victory
against a strong Brazilian team.

It was a maelstrom,
the storm that was raging.

I had to block everything,
block out the noise,

and keep the belief
and the faith in myself.

I remember,
when we played against Brazil...

[commentator 12] US has to win
this game by two or more goals

to win this tournament.

[Jill] ...and I remember,
Brazil scored first.

[commentator 12]
Brazil is on the board!

Did it go off Davidson?

[commentator 13]
She scores an own goal.

We sort of went on this march,
and we started to see it

kind of come into focus...

[commentator 12]
Horan... went short. Lavelle!

Goal! One-one!

[cheering]

[Jill] ...and pay us back.

[commentator 12]
Heath, gets end line, slots it across…

Ertz, goal at the back post!

[commentator 13] Jill Ellis talked about
the importance of the US

using that advanced half space

coming into tonight's match
against Brazil. Finding joy in it!

[commentator 12]
Rapinoe curls one in! Tapped home!

Alex Morgan! Four-one, US!

I thought it was a good reflection
of the blueprint of how we wanted to look.

[commentator 12] Game over.

The US wins the game and the tournament.

[commentator 13]
They continue to get better.

They managed this game incredibly well.

Everybody left the field going,
"Okay, it's really starting to click."

[announcer] Your 2018
Tournament of Nations Champions,

the United States of America!

[people yelling]

Thank you.

[people whooping]

- [woman] Congratulations!
- [man] Jill, thank you.

- Feel all right?
- Yeah.

[Jill] After the quarterfinal loss
against Sweden,

I made incredibly hard decisions.

You are gonna have
a lot of time on the ball, so make sure…

I could've lost my job, but, you know,
I think in life there's gonna be storms.

At times there's gonna be,
a lot of distraction and disturbance.

You ready, Shorty?
You're gonna be awesome.

And you have to hold fast,
stay true to what you believe.

[passive music playing]

[Margaret]
My goodness, do you remember this?

- I do.
- I wish the date was on it, no date on it.

[Jill] Based on my handwriting,
I'd say it was last year!

[laughs] That's very true!

- My handwriting sucks.
- Very true.

This is what you done
when you were little.

[Jill] It was happy Father's Day.

All the things you scarred me with, Dad.

[Margaret laughs]

[Jill] My mother was born in Scotland,
my father in England.

"Standing on the back stretch of the 800."

- Oh, we're talking Portsmouth.
- When I was an 800-meter runner.

And back in the day,
England would play Scotland

in this classic, you know,

massive gladiator match in soccer,
football as we called it.

I remember, as a kid,
my brother would always cheer for England,

so he'd have the England scarf,
the England badge,

and I would sit there as a kid

and they'd plaster Scotland on me,
Scotland stuff!

Just so we'd be balanced in my family,
you know. It was, um...

So Mom wasn't kind of isolated
three to one.

[whistle blows]

[commentator 14] McQueen went in

and the referee has given a penalty,
has he?

I just loved it. I love football.

Remember when I told you
I was going to play football?

You were like, "What?"

Remember my first high school game?
You were hurling abuse at the referee!

[laughing] Oh, yeah, that was fun days.

I grew up in the south of England,

you know, following my dad
around football pitches,

but girls didn't play back then.
It wasn't, um...

It wasn't a sport that women
were playing in England.

I remember my dad coming home one day
and saying he was offered a job in the US.

Over there,
even young girls played soccer.

And my mom and dad were like,
"Listen, you can stay

and do your education,
or you can come with us."

I'm like, "Hell, I'm going."

[laughs]
"Fuck it, I want to get to America!"

So, the red team is gonna be Malcolm,
Bob Eagles...

[Jill] When we moved to the US,
my dad worked as a coach,

and he would train guys
to break into the pros.

[John] …Walter...

[Jill] And I love sport.

In college, I played soccer,

but I never saw sport as a career.

In fact, when my classmates would say,
"What does your dad do?"

And they are, like, attorneys and bankers

and, you know, doctors, et cetera.

I almost spoke out the side of my mouth,
"He's a coach."

Because I didn't even kind of see it
as a "true" profession.

I came out of college
not knowing what I was gonna do.

So, I got a job as a technical writer
for a company.

Did that for about two years and I was...

I was feeling pretty good about myself.

I had a little Acura
and was making a little money.

You know, salary was, like, 40K,
something like that.

I was doing all right.
I was lead writer so...

I was kind of rolling in it. But then,
one of my former coaches from college,

she'd gotten a job
at the University of Maryland.

She called and said, "I've got this job,

it's a second assistant coaching position,
$6,000 a year. What do you think?"

I was kind of like, "Oh..."

At the time,
it was not a viable career path.

You saw very few... Especially in soccer,
there was hardly, if any, female coaches.

And then my mom,

she kind of felt I was sort of throwing
my education away, and a little bit crazy.

And it was a hard decision to make.

[inaudible]

[Jill] I loved the atmosphere
around the game of soccer.

I love being part of a team,

and I needed to make a decision.

[John] Hold it there.
Now, look, there it is, you see?

A little more patience, okay?
All right, let's play. Let's go.

I've never felt something
was a be-all and end-all situation

because that's how I view risk.

I see risk, actually, as opportunity.

I don't kind of define it
as something that's scary.

My dad, he has said to me, he's like,
"If you've got some ability

and a good person,
you'll always land on your feet."

It's not about how much
you have in the bank,

it's about, do you enjoy it?
I mean, I loved it.

I love everything about coaching,
so I followed passion over paycheck

'cause... it was one of those moments.

At the end of the day,
it was the best decision in my life.

Every ounce of that risk was worth it.

[laughter]

- [silverware clatters]
- [Jill] Hey. [kisses] Come.

♪ Who's zooming who? ♪

[girl imitates bass line]

I always wanted to be a mom.

I can't say I always wanted a baby,
but I knew I wanted to be a mom.

And having Lily gave me perspective
on what was important.

Tell me about your outbound trip.

I'm going to die and you need
to plan my funeral in advance.

- Please, drama!
- [Lily] I'm not...

Ma, you know me,
I can't do the outdoors.

We've never gone camping.

People can walk in the forest,
and be fine.

For some reason,
I'm the one that's chosen

to step in that little hole
that nobody notices,

and my ankle gets twisted.
I'm always falling. At school,

I'll walk across the grass,
and boom, I'm down.

[reporter 4]
The UCLA Bruins hired Jillian Ellis

to take over their women's soccer program.

Ellis comes from University of Illinois,
where she led the program to a 12-8 record

and a first-ever Big Ten tournament berth.

[Jill] When I first took over UCLA,
in the '90s,

I wanted to establish the program
to be a top contender.

To exceed at a high level,

it's based on communication.

It's very much about building harmony
within the group

and feeling like one entity.

You have to trust each other.

But when you are not true to yourself,

naturally there is going to be boundaries.

Hey. If you win possession,
or you knock it out, whatever,

you're out, next person in. Simple.
Then, just everything in here,

just make sure we're light on our feet.
Good.

When I was in coaching, obviously,
I learned more about myself,

knew I was gay.

But always was very sensitive
to the fact that

I never allowed my players

to know anything about me
on a personal level.

It was something
that I was struggling with.

And when you go into the world
of athletics as a female,

it was not something that was accepted.

I didn't know anybody that had,
you know, dealt with this

and had openly come out
and been very successful.

[applause]

[Jill] I remember watching
Billie Jean King's story unfold,

and how cruel the world was
if you were a gay female.

It couldn't be a part of sport.

[reporter 5] UCLA making
its first College Cup appearance.

Coach, a way to solve UNC pressure,

get more possession in the second half?

[Jill] And then, at UCLA, um,
I almost had two roles.

I was a head coach,
would stand in front of my team.

But then, I live still, essentially,
in the shadows.

It's a different time, back then.

Opening myself up like that

could impact my career.

'Cause if you're in coaching,

the lifeblood to what you do
is recruiting.

Especially in college. You get to know
their parents in recruiting.

You track their academics,
you're there for them.

If you come out as gay, openly,

then certainly your opponents
would use this information,

um, and hinder your recruiting,
essentially.

When I was at UCLA...

my partner and I adopted a little girl.

When I held her,

I thought about being closeted,

and I didn't want this kid
to live in the shadows.

I wanted her to grow into, you know,
a strong independent woman,

and not have to deny who her parents were.

It became clear
that this is just not gonna work.

I want this kid to have everything,

and I needed to make a decision.

So, I decided I have to be brave.

To be a leader, you have to be brave.
Make hard decisions.

I made the decision and I said,

"I'm gonna tell my team today."

It was after training.
I got the players, I said,

"Come, I wanna share something with you."
And I just...

I just said to them, I was like,
"I, um, adopted a little girl.

And, um, my partner and I
are going to live as a family,

and I wanted to share this
with you guys, so, um,

so you knew that
and heard it from me."

You kind of go... [gulps]
"How is this gonna come across?"

And the players were phenomenal.

So joyous and so happy.

Their reaction gave me such confidence
that I literally went and I was like,

"Now I'm gonna go tell my boss."
[laughing] I suddenly got fired up.

So, um,

I literally then went from
the field up to administrative offices,

knocked on my athletic director's door.

And he was great, he was fantastic.

You go through everything,
from, "I'm going to lose my job,"

to, "We're not gonna be..."
It was just so much.

But she was worth every...
Every ounce of that risk was worth it.

It was liberating.

It just took this amazing amount
of pressure off of my shoulders.

To now be this person
who can stand front and center.

I was there for 12-plus years.

And been fortunate to have the honor
and the privilege to coach

this women's national team program.

And I couldn't have done that
if I didn't decide to be true to myself.

It was strengthening to me,
to know that you can have a career,

that you can be a strong female leader.

And you can also be gay.

When I came out...

I've been blessed with a lot of big
moments in my life, in terms of emotion,

but that was probably the greatest one.
Shared on the field with my players.

[soothing electronic music playing]

[commentator 15] The US women's
team is back together,

and things start to heat up, with
the men's World Cup starting this week.

Women's World Cup qualifying
is just four months away.

[Jill] I think what I tried to do
going into 2019 was, we can win this.

We are, for sure,
growing as a sport in this country,

and we were... But I felt
this could be a massive boost.

We felt the team
was in a really good place

mentally, physically, and just, you know,
ready to go.

And off the field, the players on the team

started to speak publicly
about finding balance

in what the men's national team got
and what the women's national team got.

To have the same level of accommodation,

same level of transportation.

But also when it came to salaries.

The US women's soccer team
is taking charge

in a major fight off the field,
suing for fair pay, this just three months

before they will defend their
title at the Women's World Cup tournament.

It's not this sort of charity investment
that we're asking for.

Like, women have so much potential,

and if you look at
women's football globally,

there's, like, a massive opportunity.

[Jill] It was an interesting situation
to be in because

it was my players here and my bosses here,
and I sat there.

It's a challenging position
to sit in the middle of that.

We might not see equal pay
among athletes within our generation,

but the hope is that
future generations will.

[Jill] But if ever something was going to
derail performance,

then I think that's a coach's role,
to potentially address that, change that.

But if it's actually
galvanizing your team, in some sense...

USA!

[clapping, cheering]

...I'm wholeheartedly behind that.

[crowd chanting]
Equal pay, USA! Equal pay...

We hope they get equal pay.

...equal pay, absolument.

I said to the players
when the World Cup started,

"The best way to build a platform
to advocate for something is to win."

[commentator 16]
Teams making their way out onto the field

as the US finally get set
to open up play,

here at the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup.

First game was against Thailand.

[commentator 17] Here we go!

[Jill] We wanted to maximize points,
the goal when you play that first game.

So, we went into that game.
You know, we came out just flying.

[commentator 17] O'Hara... chipping it.
Back post header, goal!

Rapinoe on the far side.
Lavelle goes for goal and gets it!

- Scored some early goals.
- [commentator 17] Four-nothing!

Six-nothing!

Nine-nothing, US!

[crowd cheering]

Alex Morgan...

Ten-nothing, US.

Lloyd may get one here.

Carli Lloyd's got it!

Thirteen-nothing, US!

It ended up, you know, 13-0.

Well, that right there, in and of itself,

sort of, I guess, kicked off
a lot of things in the media.

Controversy over how
the women of Team USA celebrated

over that record-breaking win
over Thailand.

Critics say the team showed
poor sportsmanship

by continuing to score, then celebrate,

some calling Team USA's behavior
embarrassing, overboard,

and disrespectful.

That target they had on their back
as defending champions,

that just got a whole lot bigger.

They have now painted themselves
as villains and as bullies.

I disagreed with the criticism
levied against my team.

You know, equal pay
started to come up into the narrative.

Yesterday was about the women's team
trying to prove their worth.

They weren't playing to win a game,
they were playing to win a lawsuit.

I'll be honest. I sit here and I go,
"If this is 10-0 in a men's World Cup,

are we getting the same questions?
To be quite honest.

This is a world championship,
so every team that's here

has been fantastic to get to this point.

And I think that
to be respectful to opponents

is to play hard against opponents.

And so as a coach, I don't find it my job
to harness my players, and rein them in,

because this is what they've dreamt about.

This is it for them.
This is a world championship.

[woman] Yay! USA!

[Jill] Even people
outside of the sports world can connect,

because it's not about
soccer players getting underpaid.

It's about every female
in probably every profession

is making 80 cents on the dollar.
That's global.

What everybody realized is,
if we go through this tournament

and can achieve what we think
we're capable of,

one, we'll have a bigger platform,
and maybe prove people wrong

in the context of it.

From there, the team was on a mission.

We had to play the toughest path,

probably any team in the World Cup
has ever had to face,

in terms of ranked teams and opponents

and playing the home team
in a knockout round.

[commentator 18]
…free kick from Rapinoe.

It's in! USA lead! Ertz dummied it.

[crowd cheering]

The French were left completely befuddled.

Morgan across the goal,
come all the way through.

Rapinoe for two!

This was the big test for the USA,

and they've come through it.

For our team to march through those,

with just this steadfast belief
on what the ultimate goal is,

nothing was going to derail us.

[commentator 19] England versus USA,

for a place in the final.
They don't come much bigger than this.

[commentator 20]
…dangerous cross in. Free header!

The opening goal
of the World Cup semifinal!

…cross from Horan.
Lovely run, beautiful goal!

The USA lead again. Alex Morgan!

[whistle blows]

[cheering]

England are out.
Beaten by the reigning holders,

who are into their third
World Cup Final in a row.

As the team went through and you hear,

you know, the fans in the crowd
chanting, "Equal pay."

[crowd chanting] Equal pay! Equal pay!

Equal pay! Equal pay!

[Jill] We didn't want
to live in the spotlight,

but the exposure was getting bigger.

[commentator 21]
…keeps going. Scores!

Surely the World Cup is heading back
to the United States of America.

[commentator 22]
They called this "Tour de Four,"

their fourth World Cup.

They are, by some stretch,

the most prolific and successful
football team in the world.

[cheering]

And it certainly created
a global platform for the players

to express themselves.

[crowd chanting] Equal pay! Equal pay!

[Jill] My players,
they're more than athletes.

They're a voice for women in the world.

Our team just became
kind of this touchstone of,

stand up and articulate what you want
and why you want it.

I think it was empowering
for a lot of females, not just in sport.

[Muhammad Ali] If I thought going to war
would help my people

receive their freedom, justice,
and equality,

you wouldn't have to draft me,
I'd go tomorrow.

[Jill] I always say sport
is the vehicle for change.

[Colin Kaepernick] This country
stands for freedom, liberty,

justice for all.

It's not happening for all now.

Time to look in the mirror,
ask ourselves,

what are we doing to create change?

[chanting] Equal pay!

As a coach, you can't mute someone's voice
because they wear a sports uniform.

[playful piano music playing]

When I was stepping down, 2019,

even though I never broke through
and won an Olympic gold medal,

I felt the moment was right.

I've had best seat in the house
for this team.

It's been a privilege and a pleasure.

So, share the view that I've had
with all those people out there

that deserve to see the best of you.

When I was a young coach,
I only set trophies,

that was the thing that mattered to me.

Here we go, here we go. Yeah!

But my dad would say, "Jill,
you're destined for something bigger."

- [Jill]By myself?
- [woman] Yeah.

[announcer]
Jill Ellis' 132nd and final game

for the United States of America.

[crowd cheering]

I think, as much as coaching
is about pursuing

success and victory and wins,
et cetera,

what I'm truly gonna remember
are those moments that made me feel alive.

[commentator 23] The final game
of her victory tour...

[Jill] I was able to showcase
how far the women's game has come.

I think that's important.

[commentator 23] Carli Lloyd!

If there's one message I want to pass on
to my daughter, it's "own it."

Own who you are, be proud of who you are.
Stand up for what you believe.

[commentator 23] And that concludes
Jill Ellis's marvelous, amazing career.

Back-to-back World Cup-winning coach.

When I became open in who I was,

I found my purpose.

I'm going to miss the shit
out of all of you.

You are unbelievable people.

I will always be a fan of you
as a person and as a player.

So, all the best. Good job.

- Thank you, Jilly!
- [all cheering]

[Jill] Soccer is not a sport, it's a gift.

[women] Team!

And this sport gifted me my family.
And for that, I'll be forever grateful.

All right.

Love you. You're the best.

[crowd cheering]

[intense instrumental music playing]