Portland Thorns FC player Sophia Smith is taking a break from her busy training schedule to get a caffeine boost with her favorite person. Smith, 23, shared a picture of herself wearing a black tracksuit and white sneakers, relaxing with her NFL star boyfriend Michael Wilson. “My favorite coffee date 🫶🏽,” she captioned the sweet post. Smith is a force to be reckoned with at a very young age, and she’s only getting better every day. Here’s what this athlete’s health and wellness regimen looks like.
Smith knows where her strengths lie in training. “In training, when we do small-side and stuff, I’m always trying new things and trying to be a little crafty and creative and figure out ways to, I don’t know, put on a show,” she told Grant Wahl. “But I think it mostly just comes to me in games, and I envision it, and then I just do it. I’ve always considered myself a goal scorer. That’s what I feel like I do best. That’s what I feel like I can contribute to the teams that I’m on.”
Smith’s daily routine is focused on getting as much rest as possible. “[I] sleep in as late as possible, make my latte at home and drink it on my couch while I read my book for a while,” she told Portland Timbers. “Then I go to or make breakfast at home [depending if I have family in town or not] and go on a little walk [sometimes the walk just happens to be in Target] and then just relax until the game!”
Smith genuinely loves playing with the Thorns. “Our coaching staff and the Thorns as a program allows people to be special and to be themselves, and figuring out a way to be able to do that, as well as helping my team in any way that I can,” she told Grant Wahl. “I think it’s just gone really well. I think that’s allowed me to be more confident, regardless of my age, regardless of how many years I’ve had in the league. I feel like I’ve found my place. And I’m just having fun. I think that’s the biggest thing.”
Smith is proud to represent women of color on the pitch. “Not everyone has the same opportunities [that I did],” she told ELLE. “I hope that can change, because there’s so much undiscovered talent we don’t see. I was honestly one of two, maybe three people of color on all of my club teams. Most girls had long, straight hair. I always felt like my hair was too crazy or too wild… You don’t have to have your hair a certain way. It doesn’t mean anything about who you are or how you’ll play.”
Smith relies on her parents to keep her grounded. “If I look too far forward, it will just cause me anxiety,” she told ELLE. “The best thing for my mental health is to be in the moment right now, and to take each day as it is. I feel ready… [My dad will] remind me to just be myself. He’ll say that I don’t have to do anything I’ve never done before—that I just need to go do what I do, and be Soph.”