Wambach: City has ‘something wild and adventurous’
- Get Fit Great Falls’ Come Out & Play event
- • Registration: 9:30 a.m.• 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Snacks provided• Centene Stadium. 1015 25th St. N.
- Free camp includes:• Obstacle courses• Traditional Native American games• Wiffle ball• 3 vs. 3 soccer
- Before the Voyagers’ game, Wambach will throw out first pitch; Jakle will sing the national anthem.
They’re making a pitch all right. For fitness.
And family.
That’s why soccer superstar Abby Wambach and movie actress Kelley Jakle will be in Great Falls on Saturday. The celebrities are appearing as local organization Get Fit Great Falls presents a free fitness festival at Centene Stadium.
Those who attend the festival receive free admission to that night’s Great Falls Voyagers’ baseball game. Wambach, a soccer legend who recently led the U.S. women to a dramatic World Cup championship, has been to this city three times before.
“I have created friends from Great Falls that I know I’ll have for life,” she said last week in a phone interview. “In fact, during the World Cup in Canada I was warming up, and I saw this sign in the stadium. It said 'Great Falls, MT,' and I look up and it’s Lindsay Smith all of my friends that I’ve met in Great Falls. I was beside myself. They hadn’t told me they were coming and I was able to find them in the crowd. Even my family is hard to find in the crowd.”
Smith, the Great Falls High girls’ soccer coach, and Lacey Gallagher are two of the directors of Get Fit Great Falls. Both have become Wambach’s friends.
“There’s some sort of energy that is Great Falls for me, that attracts me to it, something wild and adventurous there,” Wambach said. “Montana is a really cool state that not many people get to. I’ve had some experiences there that probably will not ever be replicated. It’s just always really fun for me to come back year after year and Lacey and Lindsay have created something. I can’t say that for a lot of people. And they’ve stuck with it. I’m very much a grounded person in that way and I’d like to honor people and make their event better.”
Wambach will throw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Voyager game, which begins at 7 p.m. Has she been practicing?
“I have not been working on my fastball,” she laughed, “but I actually threw out the first pitch a couple of weeks ago at the Mets game.”
She did not play softball as a youngster while growing up in New York.
“It was more like T-ball or baseball,” Wambach said. “I played baseball and was a pitcher. But I will say my coach had to come and relieve me because I couldn’t throw strikes.”
She’s had perfect control of her professional life for a long time. And so has Jakle, a high school athlete who has appeared in several movies, including “Pitch Perfect” and “Pitch Perfect 2.”
Jakle will be making her first trip to Great Falls. But it won’t be her first time at a ballpark.
Her great-grandfather was Branch Rickey, the famed Dodger executive whose signing of Jackie Robinson in 1947 broke baseball’s color barrier.
“I grew up in Sacramento so I have ties to the Bay Area, but I’m definitely a Dodger fan,” Jakle said. “Branch Rickey is definitely a patriarch in our family. It’s unique that the family that descended from him has stayed really, really close. We all go to an island in Canada in the summer. My dad is one of 18 first cousins who are very close. Their kids and my second cousins are also close. There’s definitely a legacy there. He created a great sense of family.”
Love of family and a commitment to fitness. That will be part of the message for youths who attend the festival, which runs from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
“Get Fit Great Falls is something that’s an evolution, I think that’s what is so special about it,” said Wambach, whose support for the organization has never wavered. “It’s been different every year. For me, my main messages are trying to educate, trying to inspire and trying to make sure these kids have the knowledge about getting outside, being active and living a healthy and successful life.
“Am I a perfect person? No. But I do make healthy choices and the habits that are created when you’re wrong will sustain you for your adult life. It’s so important to educate and be a figure for some of these kids that may not have that education or have those habits formed already.”
Jakle played soccer and basketball and was a swimmer in high school. She’s still working out these days.
“I love going for a good run,” she said. “I love going to different exercise classes. I love doing yoga, both for my body and my mind. I think it’s important to mix up what you do and keep things exciting and keep your body guessing.”
Jakle said fitness is a boost for anyone’s professional life.
“I feel better about myself, about my day and about my life when I exercise,” she said. “And I think that goes for most people. If you’re feeling like you’re having a bad day and you go for a jog, you’re definitely not going to feel worse. You’ll feel better.”
Wambach has been providing great vibes for a long time for millions of soccer fans in this country. The World Cup victory was the pinnacle of her great career.
“My life has changed,” Wambach said. “I’ve been very, very busy and very, very thrilled at the reception that my fellow Americans have given me and my teammates. It’s been a thrilling, thrilling summer and a dream literally come true. It’s funny because I get the chills just thinking about it. That it actually happened. Because you work so hard for your whole life to accomplish the dreams and the goals that you set for yourself. And when you do, it’s almost like, now what?
“So I’m going the circuit of appearances and reaching out to the fans and letting them celebrate. Because this isn’t just a celebration for our team, this is truly a country that backed us and supported us. So I want to share this World Cup with everyone.”
Jakle will sing the National Anthem at the ballpark on Saturday. Don’t be surprised if she runs out onto the field before performing.
“I plan to address how exercise is important for the mind and body as well as eating healthy,” she said. “And how playing sports can help you achieve a sense of perseverance, hard work and camaraderie with other players.
“And also that my industry projects many images through commercials and movies and television of what healthy looks like, but I want to instill in kids that maybe what they see on television isn’t what they need to be. Or even look to be. That being healthy is how you feel and something you can do for yourself, and others shouldn’t influence how you feel.”
Is there a misconception that extremely slender corresponds to extremely healthy?
“Yes. I completely agree with that,” Jakle said. “What I want to say is that healthy is beautiful. It’s being strong and knowing your body. Putting healthy food into your body and staying active.”
Wambach’s tremendous sports career comes with a tremendous duty, she said.
“It’s always exciting to be able to play a sport and have a passion and love what you do. That’s the first and foremost thing I try to convey to all the kids I get to talk to that I hope to inspire,” she said. “And it’s a responsibility. As a professional athlete it’s a responsibility to pass on your knowledge, your experiences, to that next generation so that their experiences can be better and more fulfilling.”
What could possibly be better for Wambach’s career? She’s 35. The Rio Summer Olympics in 2016 beckons.
“Am I retiring? I don’t know,” Wambach said. “It’s been a long career. I have yet to make those final decisions. Those are conversations and things that I will decide in the future. But I do know that this team will be successful whether I’m on it or not. And I will always stay in the game and be a fan, whether I’m on the team or off.”
Wambach said she will be a fan of Get Fit Great Falls for life. And an athlete, too.
“That’s for sure,” she said. “I will never stop being an athlete. I will never stop being active. That’s really the message. Whether you get to play pro sports or not, you get to choose a healthy lifestyle. And those choices and decisions you make will affect the rest of your life. And I hope to be a positive inspiration for people out there.”
If you go
Get Fit Great Falls’ Come Out & Play event features Abby Wambach, Kelley Jakle and Voyager players.
•Registration: 9:30 a.m.
•10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Snacks provided
•Centene Stadium. 1015 25th St. N.
Free camp includes:
•Obstacle courses
•Traditional Native American games
•Wiffle ball
•3 vs. 3 soccer