Choose to Matter: Being Courageously and Fabulously YOU

by Julie Foudy

In Choose to Matter, Julie Foudy, two-time Olympic Gold Medalist and former captain of the US National team, takes you on a journey to discover your authentic self. This book is a roadmap to unleash that courageous YOU and have you singing your dreams out loud. Along with sharing stories from her playing days and personal experiences, Julie taps into the wisdom of other incredible female leaders including "Good Morning America" anchor Robin Roberts, soccer stars Mia Hamm and Alex Morgan, and Facebook superwoman and Lean In founder Sheryl Sandberg. In her Leadership Academy, Julie encourages young women to find the leader that exists in all of them, whatever their personality or vocal chord strength might be. Complete with fun exercises and activities, Choose to Matter guides readers in all aspects of their lives. Julie believes every young woman has the power to be a leader who makes a positive impact. And it all starts by choosing to matter. So go ahead, start now. Because you can.

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help, Sports, Leadership, Soccer

304 pages, Hardcover

Published May 2, 2017

Reviews

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would give this book 10 stars if I could. In Choose to Matter, Julie Foudy writes about leadership in a fun, inspiring tone to a preteen and teen audience. The overall message is that effort and attitude are the most important elements in being a leader, and she also emphasizes the importance of being authentic. She gives a lot of examples to demonstrate that leaders come in all forms and personality types. She tells stories about her experience on the US Women’s National Team and interviews 10 accomplished women and girls in a variety of fields to address what leadership means at different levels (To yourself, your team, your school, your community, and in life). The book has fun fonts, colors, quotes, and graphics that my 11 year old daughter found entertaining. I am grateful for this book for the quality dialogue my daughter and I had while she read it, and also for the inspiration she has found in deciding what kind of leader she is and what kind of teammate she wants to be. We gave this book to her entire soccer team and ended up having a season filled with hard working, team-oriented girls that supported each other that, as a result, found themselves in the championship game at the end of the season.

[Keely · Rating 5 out of 5]

Choose to matter is a book written by Julie Foudy who is a two-time Olympic gold medalist Julie explains to the readers how there are five things you need for a complete leadership role. Life, community, school, team, and self. she refers to this as the leadershipring. Throughout the book she used examples of different people for each leader ship ring for example she talks about Tatyana McFadden who is a 17-time Paralympic Games medalist and explained her story and how hers was about having more self confidence. Julie went into detail that Tatyana wanted to be like others. as time progressed she got to play in the Paralympic Games and ended up winning 17 times. this was a great example of using one of the leadership rings to help build confidence which Julie Foudy was trying to get across to all of her readers.
I personally think the author did a great job connecting to other soccer even other sports players. I loved how i could really connect and get into this book because we both were captains and soccer players. I really enjoyed relating to most things. One thing that i really like what the author included was other peoples background with sports that most people thought they couldn't do something but ended up achieving there goal. This shows the readers that hard work beats talent if talent doesn't work heard which i think was the authors main goal.
the second thing that i liked about the book was how she separated the book about the leadership rings which were self then team next school after community and lastly life. As you progressed through the book you could see that the pages would be divided by the colors of the leadership rings and which one the author was taking about. Lastly one more thing i like about the book was how she she gave the readers advice which would help in real world situation. so as shown the book gives many information that sports players would love to hear and i would definitely recommend this book because it was very powerful and enjoyable for all readers to connect with a book and teach even others about too!

[Becky Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was probably written for teenagers but I just love Julie Foudy so much it was worth the read for me!

[Carolina Colleene · Rating 2 out of 5]

Language – PG (9 swears plus a few more that were obviously implied but not explicitly written, 0 “f”), Mature Content – G; Violence – G; Julie Foudy has a goal in life to help others—especially youth—come to know that they matter and that they can do difficult things. While Foudy has an organization that is able to reach several girls and put them in a program over a week of the summer to learn these things, Foudy is trying to reach out to more youths through putting her encouragement into this book. Choose to Matter is a mixture of interviews, personal stories, other stories, and exercises meant to help readers put the ideas presented into action as soon as possible.
Everything that Foudy talks about is for growth and moving forward—100% encouragement for you to be you and be comfortable with being the best you. Foudy is especially trying to encourage leadership and being the instigator of change within your individual sphere of influence. Your voice can be the one that makes a difference. I really like the content of this book, and I did a couple of the exercises myself (with others bookmarked to do later); however, I do not care for the way that Foudy chose to format her book with different fonts and colors and extra things that make her book more difficult to read.
Reviewed for http://kissthebook.blogspot.com/

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Downloaded this on my Amazon Echo. Julie Foudy narrates the book herself and there is no better voice to have done this. This is a life manual for all ages!

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this as a Hoopla e-book, and I think that probably helped, because I didn't encounter the problem that some reviewers have cited of the pages being too busy with fonts and colors etc. Although this is a lot about sports (Foudy being retired from the US Women's National Soccer Team, a winner of multiple World Cups and Olympic medals), it has a lot of applicable things for anyone of any gender in any field that's looking to become more of a leader or just more confident in their own skin. Light and conversational in tone, I never felt like I was being preached at. Excellent resource that I'll probably use with my youth group kids someday.

[Donna Frasor · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book aimed at young women, helping them with activities & exercises to find the leader that exists in each of them. But I also found it to be a beneficial read for anyone wanting to be a better person, athlete, or coach. The author uses personal experiences from her soccer playing days along with insights from other outstanding female leaders, including my good friend Amy Liss, who lives each day with an attitude of gratitude. A great gift for any young woman striving to be find her voice and working to be true to one's self.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I went to an event a few years ago to hear Julie Foudy speak (maybe it was a book tour?) and got this book there. I actually was kind of skeptical, given all the different colors and doodles and bubbles in the book; I thought it was going to be kind of fluffy and surface level. But I was pleasantly surprised. All the colors and design elements really serve the tone that Foudy takes throughout, which is fun but really challenges the audience (primarily teen girls) in both inspiring and thought-provoking ways. I would definitely reread and take some notes next time.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though marketed for young girls and teens, this is a book for all ages. Fun read full of real life stories from inspiring women on confidence, attitude, leadership and more. Makes you think about how you influence others by your words, examples and attitude. This 5 star rating has nothing to do with the fact that my daughter is one of the ten featured women in the book and that the author is a very dear friend :) :) :)

[Meg · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was written for teens, but as a 40-year-old woman going through a recent career change, I still found it helpful and inspirational. So many great ideas, reminders and stories to live by. My 6-year-old son even loved its message and asked me to read it aloud to him. I recommended it to my librarian friends, former coach colleagues and players. I would love Foudy to write a similar book for a more general audience. Great life lessons!

[Kristin Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know this was written for teenage girls, but as a 39 year old adult woman, I was able to relate to a lot of the information in here and as I'm trying to decide where my life is headed it was information I needed to read at this point in my life.

Also, I think this book would be very helpful for teenage girls as they decide what to do with their lives after high school. I already plan to get my niece a copy.

[Brenda Klaassen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book had more information that pertained to me then I imagined it would. I think then author did take up the challenge to present that everyone should aim high and have dreams when it comes to their lives. I plan to re-read this book because I could not absorbed all the information presented. This book assisted me this week to take one day at a time and to make each day count.

[Marie Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Julie Foudy is a friend to you as you read through this book. I have bookmarked every other page with outstanding advice. I wish I could talk with her for real because she is so wise and such a badass team leader in her sports sphere. This book will make you laugh and challenge you personally. Get it from your library (like i did) and devour her wisdom. Thanks Julie!

[Lunds&byerly · Rating 5 out of 5]

YA book filled with great examples of women in leadership roles. The multiple text sizes and colors didn't distract me too much, I just focused on the messages. Can't wait to share this with some niece-ish kiddos in my community.

[Mel (thebookishmel) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Required reading that provided some good insights into becoming a better leader, better individual, and more confident in who you are.

Not bad, not good, felt a lil preachy but had some great moments for sure.

[Reilly · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you read one book this year make it this one. Whether you are a teenager trying to find your path or anyone else, there is something in this book for everyone!

[Angie Flom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read for middle to college girls especially.

[Jeri Vick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic messages presented in a fun, light-hearted way. Will definitely encourage my young daughter to sit with these ideas....I’ll be doing the same

[Jia ♥ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book took me 11 days to read and it was FANTASTIC it was uplifting and I got great quotes and it was great!

[Fairport Public Library]

June 2021, Martha Non-Fiction

[Laura Johansen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Listen to the Audiobook, she is so energetic and has great advice for younger athletes and even great advice for old ladies like myself!

[Kassi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I plan to purchase a copy of this book for my daughter, but I also think it would be a great sort of book club book for my high school volleyball team girls!

[Jeff Thiel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Relatable. Full of the author's voice and sense of humor.

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

The BEST book for anyone who needs to find the the greatness within. The humor, passion and TRUTH only Julie Foudy can combine. A book for anyone, but especially aspiring female athletes!

[Ms. Kahn]

Read my review in School Library Journal.

[Ellie Pilcher · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually really enjoyed this book. I was looking for a non-fiction background listen on my BookBeat app and came across this. It is a book of female strength and advice – I’m not going to call it a ‘self-help’ book, although people will, it was inspiring. Well worth a listen if you like hearing from real-life, strong, independent women with stories to tell.

[Mollie Brewer]

Another USA Women's Soccer Book. This time author Julie Foudy.