ULTRA MAG | ISSUE 24 - JESS MCDONALD

“This is my story,” she says.

“I’m going to write a book one day.”

Jess McDonald, a World Cup Champion from Phoenix, Arizona, inherited athleticism, and a natural love of sports from both of her "stud athlete" parents.

McDonald, like her parents, began her career by exploring her abilities in basketball and track and field, before discovering her passion for soccer. McDonald was clearly a skilled, diligent, and stylish athlete who could have thrived in whatever sport she chose, but thankfully for us soccer fans, McDonald's path brought her to the beautiful game.

McDonald's narrative may genuinely begin where everything was placed on hold in 2010. McDonald was 22 years old and played for the Chicago Red Stars in the WPS (Women’s Professional Soccer).

McDonald ruptured her patellar tendon following her first appearance for the squad that year, and as a result of this rare knee injury, she had only a slim possibility of ever playing top-level sport again. McDonald's recuperation took a total of two years. McDonald also fell pregnant after a year of recovering from her knee injury. Trying to balance training, rehabilitation, expecting a child, and then recovering from childbirth, McDonald thought she would never play elite sport again.

Nonetheless, after fully healed, Jess felt fantastic. Melbourne Victory, an Australian club in need of a striker, quickly approached her. “Playing overseas, coming from the States, wasn’t even a thing then,” she recalls. “I was a nobody; I had no name.” McDonald took the difficult decision to fire her final shot, leaving her 8-month-old baby with his father for three months, because “if this was the one chance [she] got, [she] was just going to go, [she] was just going to do it.”

McDonald relished her time in Australia, scoring seven goals in 13 games and then reaching the finals with Melbourne Victory following a season that, to her surprise, propelled her career to new heights. Not long after, the NWSL (National Women’s Soccer League) was created, "and here I am," Jess explains. “[At Victory,] I was excited to play again, and I was just like, this is the last chance I really have probably, and the chance most people don’t really get. It was a very difficult time, but to get that chance with Melbourne Victory, to start my career off again, I would honestly probably not be where I am today without that second chance.”

McDonald quickly saw herself rising through the ranks of the NSWL, and she eventually found herself playing for North Carolina Courage, where during the 2018 season, they won both the regular season and the Championship, a combination no other team had accomplished. McDonald won the World Cup the following year; "it was a whirlwind for sure,” she says.

We Australians were fortunate to witness Jess McDonald's skill for the second time, as demonstrated by her recent efforts for Western United, for whom she has just finished appearing as a guest player. McDonald describes her choice to move to Western on loan as simple. “At the end of the day, this was kind of a no brainer decision for me. I am having fun and we’re killing it,” she says. “I kind of gave the team this underdog mentality, like look we are the new kids on the block, we are the underdogs, we are going to have a target on our backs, let’s just go, we have nothing to lose.” Many people were unsure what to expect from Western United as a new team, but with McDonald's leadership, they have outperformed all expectations week after week. “It’s been a cool journey being here, and honestly, I didn’t realise, how attached I would’ve gotten being here this season, but now I’m leaving and it’s really bittersweet.”

Jess is a star on the field, but she also has many attributes that are significant and distinctive to her character. She exudes happiness, enthusiasm, and vitality. Even though her communication talents are mostly employed in the locker room and on the field to inspire her teammates, it is clear that she will apply them to any future job she pursues after her football career comes to an end. Jess hopes to get her foot in the door in the media industry by participating in panel work linked to the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup. What could be more thrilling than a World Cup Champion commentating on another World Cup?

While Jess is excited about football, she is also thinking about her future. This includes being a mother, which she considers as the greatest gift of all, as well as considering what she can contribute to the broader community. “I would love to bring women’s soccer to Michigan,” she adds, expressing her desire to develop a NWSL team in the state she plans to return to with her Fiancé. “I knew what I was passionate about a while ago, I just never got my foot in the door, until now.”

Jess McDonald, often known as "JMAC", has unsurprisingly triumphed at every level of her career. Her story demonstrates a woman's strength and will serve as an inspiration to people across the world.