LFP native, soccer superstar Michelle Akers goes from goals to foals

The Seattle Times has a story about Lake Forest Park native, Shorecrest superstar soccer player Michelle Akers and her current passion - rescuing horses.

A member of the first U.S. National team in 1985, she led the U.S. to victory in the first Women’s World Cup in 1991, scoring 10 goals, including five against Taiwan in a quarterfinal match. She also led the U.S. to victories in the 1996 Olympics and 1999 World Cup, despite battling several injuries and dealing with chronic fatigue immune dysfunction syndrome.

In 2000, she was named FIFA women’s player of the century, and in 2004, she and Mia Hamm were the only two women on FIFA’s list of the 125 greatest living soccer players. 

Now she is living another passion, with an animal rescue ranch in Georgia, taking in abused horses and bringing them back to health. She is trying to involve the soccer community in her new work.

“I am changing the focus, inviting the soccer community to partner with me and the animal welfare community to provide adoptions, and resources and money for these animals because the soccer community is a family, all over the country,”

“It would be great if the Seattle Sounders, the Seattle Reign, the youth soccer associations and all the clubs and the fans found a way to partner with the animal welfare organizations, like King County animal control, or even the private ones like mine.

Read the article here