Julie Foudy - Personal and Political Activism

Personal and Political Activism

Foudy graduated from Mission Viejo High School in 1989 and Stanford University in 1994. She was accepted into Stanford Medical School in 1996, deferred for two years, and ultimately decided not to pursue a career in medicine.

Foudy is an advocate for women's rights and children's rights. She served as the President of the Women's Sports Foundation. Additionally, Foudy received the FIFA Fair Play Award for her well documented trip abroad to examine the working conditions of her then-sponsor, Reebok's factories.

In 2002, she was named by United States Secretary of Education Rod Paige to the Commission on Opportunity in Athletics, a panel charged with reviewing the effects and implementation of the landmark 1972 Title IX legislation. Foudy took strong exception to the commission's final report; ultimately, though, her advocacy on the issue and the sharply-worded dissenting Minority Report by Foudy and fellow commissioner Donna de Varona are generally conceded to have halted the implementation of the commission's recommendations.

In 2006, Julie Foudy and her husband Ian Sawyers launched The Julie Foudy Sports Leadership Academy. The week-long Academy is for girls ages 12–18 and weaves together sports and leadership. The Academy has received national and international attention for creating leaders both on and off the field.

Foudy gave birth to her first child, a daughter named Isabel Ann, on 1 January 2007. Her second child, a son named Declan, was born in December 2008.

She appeared in the HBO documentary Dare to Dream: The Story of the U.S. Women's Soccer Team.