Life

Soccer great on Little League broadcasting: ‘So much fun’

Soccer legend Julie Foudy gives a big thumbs up to Little League, calling it an organization that teaches leadership and maintains a purity not always apparent in sports.

Foudy took time out of her busy Little League broadcasting schedule to speak at the Williamsport Kiwanis Club Thursday.

"There is nothing like this," she said. "It is really so much fun to do."

Foudy, a retired soccer midfielder, two-time FIFA Women's World Cup champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist, has been busy since leaving behind her playing days.

In addition to sports broadcasting, she is an author, documentary film producer, and serves as head of the Julie Foudy Leadership Sports Academy which she founded with her husband, Ian Sawyer.

She is the mother of two children.

Foudy, 52, has become a familiar face at the Little League World Series as a broadcaster but also at the Kiwanis luncheons during the international tournament.

With a laugh, she said it might be time for her to step aside from the annual Kiwanis appearances and allow ESPN colleagues such as former Major Leaguer Todd Frazier to pinch-hit for her.

Foudy said her summer has been busy with broadcasting assignments including the World Cup.

While expressing some disappointment that the U.S. team didn't fare better, she added, "I thought the World Cup was amazing."

She was mesmerized by the play of Spain which took the World Cup final, 1-0, over England on Aug. 20, the nation's first ever women's title.

In answer to a question, she said being part of a gold-medal-winning soccer team was "amazing."

"Because you work so hard for it," she said. "And it's only every four years ... and to do it twice."

One of the best aspects of playing soccer, she said, were the friendships she made through the sport.

It's perhaps what she misses most about playing soccer.

"I miss hanging out with my teammates. There was laughter and joy," she said.

It's that joy and fun she loves about Little League.

Foudy conceded she didn't know as much about baseball as she felt she should have when she first started doing Little League games, but she feels she has grown into her role as a part of the broadcast team.

"I am a soccer play, not a baseball player, so I make it up on TV," she said with a smile. "I was nervous about doing baseball. I don't really know baseball."

Her people skills and interviewing experience complement the Little League play-by-play broadcasts of the baseball broadcasters. Her duties include talking to parents of Little Leaguers attending the games.

During a game this week, she could be seen on one of the national broadcasts tearing down the hill behind Lamade Stadium on a cardboard box sled. Kids sledding down the steep incline on cardboard slabs has long been a part of the World Series.

As she told the Kiwanis audience, "I've been doing this for a long time."

Foudy joined ESPN in 2005 as women's soccer and FIFA World Cup analyst.