“World Is Full of Hate”- Sam Coffey & USWNT Stars Got Unplugged From Social Media, Deleted Twitter & Instagram During Paris Olympics

Damned if you do, damned if you don’t—a relatable saying, especially in the world of sports. Despite giving their all, players tend to face criticism in some way or the other. Sadly, the US Women’s National Team was one of the victims during their Paris Olympics campaign. However, star player Sam Coffey revealed an interesting strategy the American ladies used to tune out the negativity by retreating into their own ‘alternate universe.’

To be precise, a universe where there’s no social media. With the internet having become one of the mainstreams of everyone’s life, it also became one of the portals to receive criticism. Hence, Emma Hayes and Co. decided to give up the social media world and cut ties with it. “I was so unplugged from the world and honestly it’s been something I’ve kind of carried with me post-Olympics because I loved it so much,” began Coffey during a lengthy chat with Sam Mewis on the latest episode of The Women’s Game podcast.

Samantha described that period as living under a rock, not being aware of all the social or world happenings around the world as they were rather focused on the Summer Games campaign. The 25-year-old midfielder acknowledged how good it felt for her to be unreachable. “It was so peaceful and it’s really actually taught me a lot even about my relationship to social media and what I consume and the things I just feed myself.”

While there’s no problem when it comes to consuming healthy and life-giving things, the majority of the time, it has been the unnecessary and negative opinions that showed Coffey the dark side of social media. “Our world is just so critical and full of hate. All these things that I felt really needed to be mindful of that going in and I think our team did such a good job. A lot of the girls in the team really deleted Twitter, Instagram…everything and I do really credit our bubble. We were truly in this alternate universe.”

One can understand the need to create and maintain such a positive atmosphere. All that became possible due to the Stars and Stripes’ decision to quit social media. However, it wasn’t just the virtual world that Sam Coffey was unreachable in, the latter revealed that she didn’t even have time for a physical meeting with her loved ones.

Sam Coffey used to spend just 1 hour with her parents during the Paris Olympics

Representing her nation at such a crucial stage, it’s understandable why a player would need emotional support from close ones. After all, they are the player’s biggest cheerleaders, supporting them in their pursuit of greatness. However, reflecting on whether anyone came to visit her at the hotel, camp, or even called her on her cellphone, she said, “I don’t have more than one hour with my parents in the morning and then…time’s up, we got to go.”

Of course, these small sacrifices were necessary for the entire team to reach their ultimate goal. And boy it did pay them off. Be that as it may, it surely a testament to the fact that one shall remain ready to give up luxuries in order to achieve success.