Kansas City Current and U.S. women’s national team midfielder Sam Mewis believes soccer leagues must take climate change into account, she wrote in an op-ed published in The Athletic.
Weather can impact athletic performance, which Mewis has learned both in theory and in practice during her playing career.
Her move from the NWSL – where she had been subject to extreme heat and hurricanes – to Women’s Super League proved an eye-opener. That WSL season in England’s more moderate climate was the “best of my career,” she wrote.
“I started the season off strong. When I was expected to make those max-effort runs up and down the field, I was able to do so without feeling like I weighed a million pounds,” she wrote. “As the season went on, I started to recognize that I wasn’t just adjusting well to a new league, I was consistently playing really well. I was physically dominant, I was playing better than I’ve ever played, arguably in my entire career.
“I kept joking that it was the weather, but it wasn’t entirely a joke. When I wasn’t so physically drained from the heat, I was sharper mentally and better able to utilize my physical attributes against opponents.”
Studies also have shown how weather can impact a…
