The top athletes in the pool are not only fast swimmers, they are fast kickers. Here is your guide to a faster freestyle kick.

The fastest freestylers on the planet always have an unbelievable kick.

Alexander Popov, two-time Olympic champion in both the 50m and 100m freestyles, could kick a 50m long course in 27 seconds. Cesar Cielo, world record holder in the 50 and 100m freestyle, kicked the same length in 30 seconds.

Other top sprinters, including Americans Nathan Adrian and Jimmy Feigen, have made it clear that to swim fast, you need to put in work on your legs.

Even if you are not a sprint swimmer, athletes like Katie Ledecky are showing that you need to have some serious wheels in the lower body to compete at an elite level.

Despite this, it seems many swimmers (and even coaches) don’t emphasize lower body work in the pool. Sure, a bunch of kick sets might get scrawled up at the beginning of the season for aerobic work, but this typically tapers off as the season unwinds.

Your legs, being those big trunks of muscle that they are, need to be in hilarious shape in order to develop the type of propulsion and stability necessary for high-speed swimming.

Here’s your guide to developing a legendary freestyle kick.

Why You Should Be Working on Your Freestyle Kick

Doing kick goes beyond just giving your shoulders a break (although that is a solid reason in itself).

And it’s easy to understand why we ignore our legs– they are working down below on their own while we are paying attention to what is happening right in front of us with our arms and hands.

But having a solid flutter kick will help you become a better swimmer overall.

Including:

• Faster swimming. The immediate goal of developing a faster flutter kick is as fundamental as wanting to go faster. The kick makes up approximately 30% of the force in all-out, tethered swimming (Morouco et al., 2015). The faster you can kick, the faster you can swim.
• A strong kick gives you a killer body position in the water. Beyond propulsion, kicking—particularly for sprinters—helps the speed-seeking swimmer maintain a high body position in the water. While we are still far away from sprint swimmers completely hydro-planing across the water, that is the goal.
• A strong kick launches you into your arm pull. Strong legs and a strong kick add power to your hip rotation. This, in turn, helps you drive your arms forward for a faster and more dynamic arm pull. Your freestyle stroke benefits from having more power from the core and your kick.
• A strong kick keeps your stroke together. Strong legs come in handy towards the end of races, where your muscles are failing left and right, with your stroke disintegrating with each passing meter. Having endurance in your lower body is essential to keeping your body position in the most efficient and powerful position possible.

How to Improve Your Freestyle Kick

Tips for improving your freestyle kick include:

• Improve ankle strength
• Balance out the kick
• Kick backward, not down
• Improve ankle flexibility
• Vertical kicking
• Resisted kicking
• Kick mindfully
• Kick more

Next, we will examine each tip in more detail, review research on the impact of different kick-improvement strategies, offer some kick sets to help you get going, and recommend our favorite essential swim gear for a stronger and faster kick.

1. Improve ankle strength.

Swimmers can be forgiven for having ankles that aren’t the most stable. We spend a majority of our time training in water, with horizontal push-offs the only real shock to our little feet.

Swimmers can build ankle strength by incorporating skipping into their warm-up/mobility/dryland plan.

Skipping rope is not only a low-impact way to develop strength quickly in your ankles and calves, but it will also develop overall athleticism and help you be lighter on your feet, which comes in handy for developing quicker turns and starts.

2. Balance out your kick.

For most swimmers, there is a near-total focus on the downbeat portion of the kick, with the upbeat motion acting as a recovery movement.

The downbeat is where most of the propulsion happens (Andersen & Sanders, 2018), but the upbeat allows swimmers to develop a more rounded and powerful freestyle kick.

By developing the upbeat, swimmers gain a more stable foundation to exert power through the upper body, develop more power, and increase overall kicking speed.

“Fast swimmers are fast kickers.” – David Marsh, 7-time NCAA champion, 4-time Olympic coach for Team USA

Ways to improve the upbeat of the flutter kick include using swim fins to increase sensory awareness of this phase (kick slowly through the upbeat, catching more water and “feeling” the movement), using resistance like DragSox, and one of my favorites, vertical kicking.

Ultimately, improving the upbeat phase to build a more rounded freestyle kick starts with kicking through both phases with equal focus and power.

3. Kick backward, not down.

One of the important characteristics of a fast kick is rethinking the way the lower body generates propulsion. Swimmers tend to kick down. Instead, focus on pushing water backward with the top of your feet.

Just like how with our pull we strive to have an early vertical forearm so that we are pulling our bodies forward through the water by pulling backward, with our feet, we want to be kicking the water backward, and not just downwards.

Kicking up and down creates a lot of wasted effort and also tends to create a larger drag profile with the legs as the ankles and knees extend fully down instead of a motion designed to move water behind the swimmer.

4. Improve ankle flexibility.

Having flexible ankles means that you can catch more water with your foot, and achieve an EVA (early vertical ankle) that will allow you to push more water backward.

A study published in the Journal of Strength Conditioning Research confirms the importance of flexible ankles for faster kicking (McCullough et al., 2009).

A group of ten NCAA Division 1 swimmers performed 50m swim and 22.86m kick time trials and had height, leg length, foot length, and ankle flexibility measured.

The big takeaway?

Ankle flexibility, more specifically, ankle plantar flexion, was significantly correlated to kicking and swimming speed. Interestingly, anthropometric characteristics or even vertical jump power were not linked to faster kick or swim velocities.

For swimmers with limited mobility in their ankles, this will require some mobilization work.

Here are two quick fixes for low-mobility ankles:

• Ankle rockers. A simple stretch you can add to your pre-and post-workout dryland work. Sit on the back of your ankles. Lean back, lifting your knees off the ground. You’ll feel the stretch pretty quickly in the top of your feet. Hold for 1-2 minutes. Repeat a couple times.
• Ankle rotations. As a swimmer, you’ve mastered a wide variety of arm swings. You can do the same with your ankles, doing 15-20 foot rotations in each direction. The best part is that you can do it while sitting on the couch.

5. Vertical kicking

Vertical kicking is a drill where swimmers get into an upright (vertical) position and kick. The vertical body position forces swimmers to kick more intensely to stay afloat.

Vertical kicking is an excellent way to develop a more powerful kick, work both phases of the flutter kick motion, engage the core, and reduce shoulder stress from kicking endlessly on a kickboard.

A small study with a group of competitive swimmers found that the benefits of a vertical kicking protocol focused on steady progression can yield faster and more efficient kicking (Mandzak et al., 2020).

The intervention group performed bonus vertical kicking sets several times per week for a five-month period. By the end of the intervention, swimmers were doing rounds of 30 seconds work, 30 seconds rest holding a medicine ball out of the water.

50m kick time trial performance improved for the intervention group by 3.23% compared to the control group, who also improved, but not as substantially (2.64%).

The vertical kicking swimmers also used fewer kicks to cover the same distance, developing kick speed and efficiency.

Start with 5-8 rounds of 30s work, 30s rest with your arms at your side.

As your legs get stronger, progress to raising hands out of the water, adding resistance (DragSox are awesome for vertical kicking), and power up your freestyle kick.

6. Resisted kicking

Resisted kicking helps strengthen the leg muscles crucial for generating a powerful, high-propulsion kick, including the quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves.

Adding resistance, either with DragSox, a swim parachute, resistance tubing, or a power tower, swimmers are forced to work harder to maintain technique and overcome the resistance.

A study with elite Japanese swimmers (Sengoku et al., 2020) found that a four-month intervention with resisted kicking yielded significant improvements in underwater dolphin kick velocity.

No different for building a more powerful freestyle kick.

The trick with resisted kicking is to keep the efforts short, use lots of resistance, and take plenty of rest to keep power output at a high level.

One of my favorite ways to use resisted kicking is in contrast sets, where you alternate short-burst resisted kicking with “regular” all-out kicking.

This ends up looking something like this:

Five rounds–

• 4×10 seconds freestyle kick all-out using a swim tether or resistance tubing – 50 seconds rest after each repetition
• 50m freestyle kick with a kickboard, all-out on a 2:00 interval

Another of my favorite kick sets is using resisted, regular, and overspeed kicking, giving swimmers all sorts of enhanced awareness to draw feedback and improvement.

Example:

24×25 freestyle kick on a 60-second interval. All of them fast.

• 8 – with light DragSox and kickboard (resisted)
• 8 – with kickboard (regular)
• 8 – with fins and kickboard (overspeed)

Resisted kicking activates more muscle fibers than regular kicking, giving you an added jolt of speed and power when you remove the resistance.

7. Kick Mindfully.

When doing kick sets you should be mindful of the movements of your legs, of driving from your hips, of cracking your ankles like a whip.

Mindless kicking is fun for aerobic endurance, I suppose, but you want to be efficient as well, and this comes by being mindful of your kicking technique.

All too often at the pool, I watch swimmers pay careful attention to the placement of their hands in the catch and pull, but when it comes to kicking, they thrash their legs back and forth with little thought to what they are doing.

Kick with intent. Kick mindfully, whether you are on a kickboard or swimming.

8. Kick more. A lot more.

There is no substitute for doing more kick in practice. There is no secret dryland exercise or magical technical adjustment that will replace simply doing more kick during your workouts.

For a moment, consider how much kick you are actually doing in your workouts. (And no, dragging your legs around doing a 1-beat kick doesn’t count.)

Add in an extra 15-20 minutes of varied work on the kickboard. If short on pool space crank out some vertical kicking. Do high-intensity kicking and long, low-intensity kicking.

Once your freestyle kick starts to improve you will want to do it more. (Ain’t that always the case—soon as you start to master something you want to do more of it?)

Keep it fresh, keep it fun, keep it challenging, and flutter kick your way to faster swimming.

What equipment should I use for a stronger freestyle kick?

There are lots of different types of swimming equipment you can use to improve kicking technique, strength, and speed. The best ones include a kickboard, swim training fins, and DragSox, a specialized resistance tool for swimmers.

Kickboard.

The kickboard is a classic form of swim gear that helps swimmers improve kicking by isolating the lower body and giving the upper body buoyancy.

Kickboards come in a variety of shapes and materials. Look for a kickboard made with high-density EVA foam that is comfortable for extended use when doing kicking sets in the pool.

The Speedo Team Kickboard is the best all-around kickboard for swimmers.

It has an ergonomic bottom that “locks” against the sternum, is available in a ton of colors, and is made of wildly durable high-density EVA foam that won’t crack and fall apart after all of your long kick sets and workouts at the pool.

Speedo Unisex-Adult Swim Training Kickboard Adult

$24.75

Shop Now @ Amazon

09/10/2024 05:35 pm GMT

Swim training fins

Fins made for swimmers tend to have a shorter blade and are made of soft silicone or rubber for comfort.

Swim fins provide added buoyancy and help swimmers really “feel” each part of the kicking motion. Swim training fins are also an excellent option for developing kick strength.

There are several different swim fins that I recommend for developing and experienced swimmers. A medium or long-blade fin suits beginner swimmers, while short-blade swimmers are best for mimicking the natural kick tempo of regular swimming and kicking.

The Arena Powerfins Pro are the best training fins for developing a powerful freestyle kick in training.

They are made of soft silicone, which doesn’t chafe or blister, uses rails along the side of the fins to control water direction when kicking, and the open heel design promotes a natural range of movement when freestyle kicking.

ArenaPowerfin PRO Swim Training Fins

$55.00

Our rating:

4.8

Shop Now @ Amazon Shop Now @ Swim Outlet

09/10/2024 04:45 pm GMT

DragSox

DragSox are a unique and awesome tool for improving kick (and swimming) speed.

They are mesh nets designed to be worn on the feet, increasing resistance and strengthening the kick.

DragSox are superior to other resistance equipment for swimmers like parachutes and towers as there are no straps or cables that tangle swimmer’s feet.

DragSox can also be used for my favorite kicking drill, vertical kicking.

Wrapping Things Up

Ultimately, when it comes to mastering the freestyle kick, swimmers should focus on ankle flexibility and strength, building power through resisted kicking, and kicking with proper technique.

Not only will you start to motor along the pool faster when using a kickboard, but you will also find that your swimming speed increases, you finish races stronger, and you can use your freestyle kick as a weapon to storm past the competition (and your PB’s).

Give the freestyle kick tips above a try this week at the pool, get your kick on, and happy (and fast) swimming!

More Kick Guides and Articles:

How to Improve Your Kick with Mesa Aquatic Club. Paul Smith, owner and head coach with MAC, shares a couple of sets, as well as a video demonstration of the “Pushback” kick drill.

40 Epic Workouts for Competitive Swimmers. Looking to inject some new ideas into your training? Here are 36 workouts from some of the top swimmers and programs in the world.

The post How to Develop an Unstoppable Freestyle Kick appeared first on YourSwimLog.com.

Former Tottenham and Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino was hired Tuesday to succeed Gregg Berhalter as U.S. men’s national team coach, 21 months before the Americans host the 2026 World Cup.

A 52-year-old Argentine, Pochettino became the 10th U.S. coach in 14 years and its first foreign-born leader since Jurgen Klinsmann from 2011-16. Pochettino has coached Espanyol in Spain (2009-12), Southampton (2013-14), Tottenham (2014-19) and Chelsea (2023-24) in England and Paris Saint-Germain in France (2021-22), leaving after winning a Ligue 1 title.

“It’s about the journey that this team and this country are on,” Pochettino said in a statement released by the USSF. “The energy, the passion, and the hunger to achieve something truly historic here — those are the things that inspired me.”

Pochettino had been in negotiations since mid-August. Matt Crocker, the USSF’s sporting director in charge of the search, was Southampton’s academy director when Pochettino started at that club. While the contract length wasn’t specified, the USSF said Pochettino will lead the team at the World Cup.

“Mauricio is a serial winner with a deep passion for player development and a proven ability to build cohesive and competitive teams,” Crocker said in a statement. “His track record speaks for itself, and I am confident that he is the right choice to harness the immense potential within our talented squad.”

Pochettino was to be introduced at a news conference in New York on Friday and take over for friendlies against Panama on Oct. 12 at Austin, Texas, and at Mexico three days later. The next competitive matches are a two-leg CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinal in November.

“Mauricio is a world-class coach with a proven track record of developing players and achieving success at the highest levels,” USSF President Cindy Parlow Cone said in a statement. “His passion for the game, his innovative approach to coaching, and his ability to inspire and connect with players make him the perfect fit for this role.”

He arrives with high expectations from a USSF management and fan base that both believe the player pool is capable of far more than its No. 16 world ranking.

Berhalter was fired on July 10, a week after the Americans were eliminated in the first round of the Copa America. He was hired in December 2018, was allowed to leave when his contract expired following a 3-1 loss to the Netherlands in the second round of the 2022 World Cup, then was rehired in June 2023 to return in September.

Pochettino’s salary was not announced. The USSF said his hiring was supported by a leadership gift from Kenneth C. Griffin, the CEO of the hedge fund Citadel, and his philanthropic entity Griffin Catalyst; with additional support from Scott Goodwin, managing partner of the asset management firm Diameter Capital Partners, and USSF commercial partners.

Mikey Varas, a Berhalter assistant, coached the team for Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Canada in an exhibition and headed the Americans for Tuesday night’s game against New Zealand.

At the World Cup, the U.S. will be a seeded team as a co-host, which means it likely won’t have any nations ranked among the top nine in its first-round group in a tournament expanded to 48 teams. If the Americans win the group, they probably would not face a top-level opponent in the new round of 32. The U.S. has not reached the quarterfinals since 2002.

Pochettino is likely to have his full player pool available for just eight one-week training periods before the team gathers in the weeks ahead of the Americans’ World Cup opener on June 12, 2026.

He inherits a group led by Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie and Tyler Adams, who have thrived with European clubs. But goalkeepers Matt Turner and Ethan Horvath and midfielder Gio Reyna have failed to gain playing time with first-tier teams, and Chris Richards — at England’s Crystal Palace — was the only central defender in his 20s playing regularly with a top-league European club before Mark McKenzie joined Toulouse last month.

Berhalter minimized Major League Soccer players, not using any during the Copa America.

On-field discipline has been a problem, with defender Sergiño Dest getting two red cards in the past 13 months, and McKennie and winger Tim Weah receiving one each.

“I see a group of players full of talent and potential, and together, we’re going to build something special that the whole nation can be proud of,” Pochettino said.

Pochettino was a central defender who played for Newell’s Old Boys in Argentina and Espanyol, PSG and Bordeaux in Europe from the late 1980s until 2006. He made 20 appearances for Argentina, playing at the 1999 Copa América and the 2002 World Cup, where his foul of Michael Owen led to David Beckham’s penalty kick in Argentina’s 1-0 group-stage loss.

After retiring as a player, he became a coach in Espanyol’s system, took over as first-team coach in January 2009 and helped the team avoid relegation. Pochettino was fired in November 2012 with the team in last place and was hired two months later by English club Southampton.

Pochettino moved in May 2014 to Tottenham, which reached the final of the 2015 League Cup, losing to Chelsea, and the 2019 Champions League, losing to Liverpool. He was fired in November 2019 with Spurs in 14th place and replaced by Jose Mourinho.

PSG hired Pochettino in January 2021. The team finished second in the league and lost to Manchester City in the Champions League semifinals but won the French Cup, beating Monaco 2-0 in the final. Led by Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe, PSG clinched the 2022 Ligue 1 title with four games to spare but lost to Real Madrid in the Champions League round of 16.

Pochettino left PSG at the end of the 2022-23 season, then was hired by Chelsea in June 2023 after the club finished 12th. Chelsea lost the League Cup final to Liverpool and finished sixth in the Premier League, missing out on the Champions League. Pochettino left two days after the final match.

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Bo Nix’s first interception wasn’t pretty.

The rookie tried to make a play in the end zone, but wide receiver Courtland Sutton was surrounded by multiple defenders. Seattle safety Julian Love took advantage, securing the pick at the 1-yard line with 11:34 to go in the second quarter on Sunday.

While Nix’s throw was ill-advised, the protection wasn’t great, either. Right guard Quinn Meinerz fell to his knees after defensive tackle Leonard Williams slipped by him to create pressure on Nix as he prepared to throw the ball.

“We’ve got to give him a cleaner picture with some more time so he can start settling in quicker and feel safe in the pocket,” Meinerz said.

After Denver’s 26-20 loss to the Seahawks, Payton said the entire team has to be better around Nix, including the offensive line — a group that has been the team’s biggest investment over the past two seasons.

Even though Nix was only sacked twice, the Seahawks were tied for the second-most pressures (18) in the league in Week 1, according to Next Gen Stats. Seattle’s pressure rate (36.7%) tied the Minnesota Vikings for 10th.

Seattle’s defense is tough. But the defensive fronts Denver’s set to face in the coming weeks will provide a greater challenge, starting on Sunday with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

“(The Steelers) do a lot of things extremely well, and that’s not by accident,” Payton said. “I think we’ll be seeing a better defense this weekend, and that’s with no disrespect at all to Seattle.”

Seattle’s defense, led by first-year head coach Mike Macdonald, rallied to the football, making it difficult for the Broncos to create explosive plays. The chaos created by the Seahawks pass rush added another degree of difficulty. Denver’s starting offensive line allowed multiple pressures, with right tackle Mike McGlinchey giving up a game-high five, according to Next Gen Stats.

Still, Payton thought the Broncos were OK in pass blocking compared to the unit’s effort in the run game. OK will not be good enough against the Steelers.

Pittsburgh is fresh off an 18-10 win over the Atlanta Falcons, in which the Steelers relied heavily on their defense. The Steelers forced three turnovers, held Atlanta to 89 rushing yards and pressured Kirk Cousins 11 times. The veteran quarterback struggled, throwing for just 155 passing yards, a touchdown and two interceptions.

Last season, the Steelers were quick at applying pressure on QBs. Pittsburgh’s time to pressure (2.52 seconds) and quick pressure rate (20.2%) ranked fourth in the NFL, according to Next Gen Stats.

It doesn’t bode well for Denver that the Steelers have one of the sport’s best defensive players in edge rusher T.J. Watt, who recorded 19 sacks and 50 pressures in 2023. Against the Falcons, he had four tackles, a sack and a fumble recovery. Making matters worse, Broncos starting left tackle Garett Bolles injured his ankle in the loss at Seattle. Payton said the X-rays were negative but didn’t shed light on whether Bolles will miss time.

“The Steelers’ defensive tradition and how they’ve performed over the years is deserving of the accolades and all the success they’ve had,” Payton said. “It’s tough (and) physical.”

Meinerz said the offensive line dictates wins and losses. He accepted Payton’s criticism of Denver’s pass protection being “average at best” in the season opener and looks forward to improving.

Meinerz said an emphasis for the offensive line is sharpening their technique. With games against the Steelers, Buccaneers and Jets looming, Denver hopes adjustments come quickly.

“For us, it’s taking what we did and did not do well, and building new intentions,” Meinerz said. “This is a long season (and) every game is a learning opportunity to get better.”

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Bo Nix’s first interception wasn’t pretty.

The rookie tried to make a play in the end zone, but wide receiver Courtland Sutton was surrounded by multiple defenders. Seattle safety Julian Love took advantage, securing the pick at the 1-yard line with 11:34 to go in the second quarter on Sunday.

While Nix’s throw was ill-advised, the protection wasn’t great, either. Right guard Quinn Meinerz fell to his knees after defensive tackle Leonard Williams slipped by him to create pressure on Nix as he prepared to throw the ball.

“We’ve got to give him a cleaner picture with some more time so he can start settling in quicker and feel safe in the pocket,” Meinerz said.

After Denver’s 26-20 loss to the Seahawks, Payton said the entire team has to be better around Nix, including the offensive line — a group that has been the team’s biggest investment over the past two seasons.

Even though Nix was only sacked twice, the Seahawks were tied for the second-most pressures (18) in the league in Week 1, according to Next Gen Stats. Seattle’s pressure rate (36.7%) tied the Minnesota Vikings for 10th.

Seattle’s defense is tough. But the defensive fronts Denver’s set to face in the coming weeks will provide a greater challenge, starting on Sunday with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

“(The Steelers) do a lot of things extremely well, and that’s not by accident,” Payton said. “I think we’ll be seeing a better defense this weekend, and that’s with no disrespect at all to Seattle.”

Seattle’s defense, led by first-year head coach Mike Macdonald, rallied to the football, making it difficult for the Broncos to create explosive plays. The chaos created by the Seahawks pass rush added another degree of difficulty. Denver’s starting offensive line allowed multiple pressures, with right tackle Mike McGlinchey giving up a game-high five, according to Next Gen Stats.

Still, Payton thought the Broncos were OK in pass blocking compared to the unit’s effort in the run game. OK will not be good enough against the Steelers.

Pittsburgh is fresh off an 18-10 win over the Atlanta Falcons, in which the Steelers relied heavily on their defense. The Steelers forced three turnovers, held Atlanta to 89 rushing yards and pressured Kirk Cousins 11 times. The veteran quarterback struggled, throwing for just 155 passing yards, a touchdown and two interceptions.

Last season, the Steelers were quick at applying pressure on QBs. Pittsburgh’s time to pressure (2.52 seconds) and quick pressure rate (20.2%) ranked fourth in the NFL, according to Next Gen Stats.

It doesn’t bode well for Denver that the Steelers have one of the sport’s best defensive players in edge rusher T.J. Watt, who recorded 19 sacks and 50 pressures in 2023. Against the Falcons, he had four tackles, a sack and a fumble recovery. Making matters worse, Broncos starting left tackle Garett Bolles injured his ankle in the loss at Seattle. Payton said the X-rays were negative but didn’t shed light on whether Bolles will miss time.

“The Steelers’ defensive tradition and how they’ve performed over the years is deserving of the accolades and all the success they’ve had,” Payton said. “It’s tough (and) physical.”

Meinerz said the offensive line dictates wins and losses. He accepted Payton’s criticism of Denver’s pass protection being “average at best” in the season opener and looks forward to improving.

Meinerz said an emphasis for the offensive line is sharpening their technique. With games against the Steelers, Buccaneers and Jets looming, Denver hopes adjustments come quickly.

“For us, it’s taking what we did and did not do well, and building new intentions,” Meinerz said. “This is a long season (and) every game is a learning opportunity to get better.”

Want more Broncos news? Sign up for the Broncos Insider to get all our NFL analysis.

LOS ANGELES — I wasn’t looking for Alex Morgan when I stopped by the San Diego Wave’s sprawling practice facility last month. I was there to talk to Landon Donovan, the other national team legend, who had just been named the Wave’s interim coach.

But Morgan sidled over after practice anyway and we talked for about 20 minutes. She chatted about her daughter Charlie, who has been the subject of most conversations with Morgan over the last four years. But she also talked about her charitable foundation, the businesses she hopes to start, her husband Servando Carrasco and the homemade food she prepares for her two dogs.

What she didn’t talk about was soccer. And if ever there was a sign that Morgan was ready to move on from the sport that had long defined her life, that conversation on a windswept bluff overlooking the 5 Freeway was it.

Last Thursday, Morgan made it official, announcing her retirement from professional soccer in an emotional 4 1/2-minute video she posted to social media. She played her final game Sunday in San Diego, her new hometown, against the North Carolina Courage.

“I’m retiring,” she said during the video, in which she also announced she is pregnant again. “And I have so much clarity about this decision. It has been a long time coming and this decision wasn’t easy.”

“Soccer’s been a part of me for 30 years,” she continued, pausing frequently to take deep breaths and compose herself. “It was one of the first things I ever loved. I gave everything to this sport, and what I got in return was more than I could have ever dreamed of.”

Morgan, 35, who learned the game playing on AYSO teams in Diamond Bar, will leave as one of the greatest players ever. A two-time World Cup champion, Olympic gold medalist and NWSL titlist, Morgan was also a three-time finalist for FIFA’s world player of the year. Her 123 international goals — 14 more than Lionel Messi — rank ninth all time, regardless of gender.

But she wasn’t just a scorer, she was a winner: In the 86 international matches in which she had a goal, the U.S. never lost, going 76-0-10.

“In a storied USWNT program, Alex has been one of the all-time bests to wear the jersey,” said Jill Ellis, who coached Morgan to her two World Cup titles and then, as president of the Wave, made Morgan the centerpiece of the expansion team’s first roster.

Wherever she went during much of her 15-year professional career, Morgan was trailed by a legion of young fans, their haired tucked into a tight ponytail like Morgan’s and their tiny bodies wrapped in Morgan’s No. 13 jersey. A typical home game ended with Morgan patiently walking the length of the grandstands, signing autographs and posing for photos.

Partly as a result, Morgan became one of the world’s most popular players and the USWNT has become the country’s most popular women’s national team. In Morgan’s first season, the team averaged less than 6,000 fans for eight home games; in her last full season, it drew more than three times as many.

“She’s grown into this role. I think she could see what it meant to the girls,” said her father Mike, one of her first coaches and still her greatest cheerleader.

Yet she did more to change the game off the field. She was a relentless and outspoken advocate for women’s sports, suing FIFA over its use of artificial turf fields in the 2015 World Cup, then serving as the lead plaintiff in the national team’s lawsuit against its own federation, one that led to a historic agreement with U.S. Soccer to pay the men’s and women’s national teams equally.

Once U.S. Soccer’s “it girl,” as likely to land on the cover of Sports Illustrated in a swimsuit as in a soccer kit, Morgan, matured into a two-time selection for Time magazine’s 100 most influential people.

“Her impact has been beyond medals and trophies,” Ellis added. “Her legacy to the game will be the doors she helped open and the young players she inspired.”

But like all great players, Morgan couldn’t outrun time. After taking time off to give birth to Charlie, Morgan had to earn her way back on to the national team for the Tokyo Olympics. A year later she had her last dominant international performance, scoring a tournament-best three goals — including the game winner in the final against Canada — to lead the U.S. to the CONCACAF W championship in Mexico.

That year she also won her first NWSL Golden Boot, scoring a league-leading 15 goals. But hampered by injuries and poor form, she has scored just 10 times for club and country in the last two years, getting shut out in last summer’s World Cup and failing to make the roster for this summer’s Olympics, the first major tournament she’s missed since 2008.

In her absence, forwards Mallory Swanson, Trinity Rodman and Sophia Smith — none of whom is older than 26 — combined for 10 goals to give the U.S. its first Olympic title since 2012. The torch, Morgan acknowledged, had been passed.

In her retirement video, which she ended by thanking the fans, Morgan touched on her coming transition from soccer superstar to soccer mom and the role she played in opening that door.

“Charlie came up to me the other day and said that when she grows up she wants to be a soccer player,” Morgan said. “It just made me immensely proud. Not because I wish for her to be a soccer player when she grows up, but because a pathway exists that even a 4-year-old can see now.

“We’re changing lives. The impact we have on the next generation is irreversible, and I’m proud in the hand I had in making that happen and pushing the game forward and leaving it in a place that I’m both happy and proud of.”

MIAMI GARDENS — The Miami Dolphins have any number of reasons to be distracted on a short week as they answer more questions from the media about the aftermath of star wide receiver Tyreek Hill’s detainment and treatment from police Sunday than the game itself.

But quarterback Tua Tagovailoa assures that the Dolphins are prepared to take on the Buffalo Bills in a key AFC East showdown Thursday night at Hard Rock Stadium with so much else swirling around the team.

“Every game, to us, is important,” Tagovailoa said Tuesday amid three days of rapid preparation following Sunday’s 20-17 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars, “but I think guys that are in the locker room, guys are in the right frame of mind. Guys are ready to play this game.”

Tagovailoa is aware of the narratives surrounding the Dolphins and Bills as the two teams appear, once again, primed to battle for AFC East supremacy. The previous battles have gone Buffalo’s way. The Bills have won four consecutive division titles and have won 11 of the past 12 pairings between rivals.

“That’s going to be what’s written out there until we do something about that,” said Tagovailoa, who enters 1-6 against Buffalo in his career. “That’s going to be the narrative, that we can’t beat the Bills, and until we do beat them and we beat them consistently, none of that’s going to change. And we have an opportunity to do that this year. We have an opportunity to do that this Thursday.”

But he’s not letting any of the past, like last year’s loss at home in the regular-season finale that won the division for Buffalo, linger this season.

“Last year’s last year,” he said. “We’ll worry about this year.”

Tagovailoa noted that new safety Jordan Poyer, who came over from Buffalo and sits next to the Dolphins quarterback in the locker, can offer help with what the Bills do defensively, how they communicate, how they’ve stopped Miami previously and the overall philosophy of that defense.

Meanwhile, Tagovailoa downplayed how much the presence of backup quarterback Mike White, who spent last season and the past training camp with the Dolphins, could help the Bills with him on their practice squad. Miami’s quarterback noted his team doesn’t even use signals to be picked up.

Mostert, Achane in question

The Dolphins merely held a walkthrough Tuesday after not practicing Monday, but in another estimated injury report, running backs Raheem Mostert and De’Von Achane were deemed as non-participants.

Mostert has a chest injury and Achane an ankle ailment coming off Sunday’s win against the Jaguars.

“It’s just a short week. There’s a process for everyone,” said offensive coordinator Frank Smith on Tuesday. “We have a bunch of guys that are very willing to do whatever is necessary and have complete skill sets. Whatever happens when we go to Thursday, we’ll have a plan to be able to get ourselves in the best position for competing on Thursday versus Buffalo.”

Jeff Wilson Jr. was the third running back up for Miami, and he was effective in the fourth quarter, taking five carries for a team-leading 26 yards.

Rookie running back Jaylen Wright was a healthy inactive, but he could be thrust into action Thursday if one or both of Achane and Mostert are unavailable or limited against the Bills.

“They may be a little banged up, but I still expect them to play,” Wright told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “But my main thing is, I just got to be ready for that time. Whenever that time is to come, it’s my opportunity.”

He added he’ll approach every week with the same mindset to be ready.

Smith noted overall needs of the team, including defense and special teams for why he was inactive Sunday.

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Jalen and Jaelan

Dolphins defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver was impressed with the way cornerback Jalen Ramsey and outside linebacker Jaelan Phillips handled surpassing their snap counts limitations Sunday.

“Both of those guys, you can have a plan and set a number,” he said, “but if we know anything about them, we know the competitive spirit in both of those two players is second to none. So when that game was tight, particularly in the fourth, there was no chance they weren’t going to be in the game.”

Weaver loved how Phillips played with a high motor, even making a late sack on Trevor Lawrence that led to Miami getting the ball back for the game-winning field goal.

“For him to come back, look how he did, be as impactful as he was, just so incredibly impressed by him, the man he is,” Weaver said. “It’s just his sheer fight, I saw it in his rehab and then for him to come back out there and just have the production he did and play the way he did. I call him Mariano Rivera; he is the closer for us and he did that in that game.”

Weaver mentioned how safety Jevon Holland punching the ball out for the forced fumble that flipped momentum in the second half against Jacksonville was something coaches preach in practice, “shots on goal,” or attempts to strip a football on a ball carrier.

Sanders resilient

Dolphins special teams coordinator Danny Crossman knew kicker Jason Sanders would bounce back for the tying and winning field goals after missing an earlier kick.

“It’s like any highly trained professional. One hiccup, you don’t blink,” Crossman said. “You’re going to have some hiccups. You can’t think about it. You go back to your techniques, your fundamentals, get your head space correct and go back to work.”

The special teams coach said simply of Sanders’ miss: “He missed it. There is a couple of things that go into it. We can’t miss those. One-hundred percent, we need to have that kick, but you get off a little bit on timing and rhythm and don’t hit the ball properly, that’s what’s going to happen.”