Christine Sinclair has broken her silence. The Canadian women’s soccer star has often been described as reserved and quiet. Sinclair herself admits that she is “uncomfortably shy”.
But the 40-year-old athlete has opened up of late, recently appearing on NBC and Telemundo’s “Mi Mundialista Favorita” podcast to discuss her mother’s long battle with multiple sclerosis.
“My mother lived with multiple sclerosis for 40 years, and as a child, I watched her battle,” Sinclair said on the podcast. “I saw her fight. I saw her never give up. I saw her bravely face the world. She gave me a lot of perspective on life… Those days when I thought I was having a bad day. In the huge set of circumstances, I have nothing to complain about”.
Around the time that Sinclair became a teenager, he noticed that his mother, Sandra, began attending his soccer games with a cane. Sandra soon told him that she had multiple sclerosis, a diagnosis and illness that she had hidden from her children for 12 years.
Sinclair at the time was unfamiliar with the disease and before smartphones came out she did not have instant access to information.
Sinclair has always preferred to let his game speak for itself.
“All I could see was his physical abilities were taken away, he started walking with a cane,” Sinclair said. “At the time, he didn’t know what that meant for the rest of his life.”
She is the all-time leader in international goals scored, has won an Olympic gold medal and is one of only three players in history to score in five Women’s World Cup tournaments. She and she is one of Canada’s biggest stars.
He has long been in the spotlight on the pitch, but he never looked for it outside.
That changed when she was inspired by her mother to write her memoir “Playing the Long Game” after helping Canada win a gold medal at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. The book was published just months after Canada’s death. Sandra in February 2022.
“I think MS is a disease that most of the time people suffer in silence,” Sinclair said. “People have heard about MS, but they don’t really know what it is. So for me, I just want people to know that they’re not alone.”
The first line of his book says: “Talking about myself has never been something I have liked to do. For anyone who has followed my career, that won’t come as a surprise.”
She also described in the book the challenges she faced connecting with new teammates.
“It’s not my natural behavior to be outgoing until I really get to know you,” Sinclair wrote. “Not that I want to be standoffish, but I know I can seem that way.”
Get to know the United States defense in the “My Favorite World Cup” series. One important note: This episode was recorded before Sauerbrunn’s injury was announced.
That has also changed recently.
Diana Matheson, Sinclair’s longtime teammate, has noticed that Sinclair tries harder to connect with her younger and often star-dazzled teammates.
“This is Christine Sinclair, they’re in awe of her,” Matheson said on My Favorite World Cup. “And I think as she got older and took on that leadership role, she realized that and really intentionally put effort and energy into making sure she connected with those new players.”
