I didn't know there was such a thing as professional soccer, but I knew that Brazil had a women's team that competed against other countries, and I wanted to be on that team.

Football in Brazil is seen as a masculine sport, even with a lot of people accepting the female sport.

But the reason that women's football is still unknown is because it's not on television and not widely publicised for a wide majority of the leagues in the world.

I play football in training all the time with my male friends, who are also professionals. But playing together in competition? I just don't see it. We have the ability, we have the technique, we have the tactical understanding, but there are physical limitations. You can't get away from that.

When I was younger, I'd always forget stuff. I think there was probably 4-5 times where we'd drive 30 minutes to a town for the baseball tournament, and all of a sudden, I'd get to the field and look in my bag, and I didn't have my cleats. So my dad had to race all the way home to get my cleats and get back before the game started so I could play.

Sports have always been a really important part of how I energize myself, as well as how I relax. I spend a lot of my spare time with my family playing tennis, biking and rollerblading.

Writing well about sports is as difficult as writing well about sex.

You can take off a football jersey, but you can never take off your faith. That goes with you everywhere.