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My father was a big influence. He kept telling me to pursue football, always. He always encouraged me and my brother.
In football, I've always been about adapting to what's asked of me, to what my team-mates need from me. I'm a team player.
My mum was always more pushing me towards the academic side; she wasn't really interested in me having a professional football career.
That attitude, that persona I carry is something I've always had with me. I mean, that's what made me successful, especially in football, and is making me successful now.
When I was growing up, I always liked playing football, and my mum always took me to football games. I owe her a lot. She was my pillar. She was the biggest influence on me.
There are always going to be some people who are uncomfortable getting any football information from a woman. And honestly, I know that's supposed to bother me, but it doesn't, really.
Preseason game plans are always about fundamentals and playing football. You're not trying to out-scheme anybody, you're just trying to beat people and out-execute people. That's what's fun to me.
Throughout my football career, I've always been somebody who's been very aware, and I know when the camera is on me, and I know how to be polished. I can see how that might come off as disingenuous.
I thought I had the potential to be a better fighter than I'd ever be a football player. Besides, it was something my father always wanted me to do. He told me since I was a little kid I was a born fighter.
I think it's helped me that I've always been very grounded, very down to earth. Lots of my friends are people I've known from school, and when I'm away from football, they're the ones who I knock about with.
I've always gone through adversity in this game, and I've always overcome it. My middle school coach told me that I was probably a better hockey player than a football player, and that still drives me every day.
Tennis was always there for me, which was lucky. I would go play baseball, basketball, football, hang with my brother, do whatever, and at the end of the day I'd come back and say, 'Hey, Mom, would you hit 15 minutes worth of balls with me?'
For me, having played the game of football, I look at it through a much different lens. I don't look at it from a fan's perspective. I'm always trying to analyze and critique things when I'm watching sporting events. That's why I never have the sound on.
That's one thing that I've always wanted: to make my own decisions and not to be pushed. That has happened in my career, and I wanted to leave football, not football to leave me. I wanted to enjoy it as much as I could and to leave it a little bit earlier than too late.
I was always a little insecure. I had brothers that played football, so I was just a straight-up tomboy for a minute. I didn't know makeup and hair stuff. My friends had to tell me what a straightener was. I didn't know fashion or any of that until the label gave me a stylist.
My father always told me I like the ball more than I like playing soccer: since I was a young kid, I was always skilled with it, dribbling furniture around the house. That's how I see football - fun and dynamic - and this goes beyond me; it's a characteristic of Brazilian football.
I always knew I would sing. I just didn't know if I would be successful or not. But I sang at school, I sang at parties, I sang at church. Everyone always asked me to sing. I'd be playing football with my friends, and my parents would ask me to sing for their guests. I was never very happy about that because I wanted to play football.
I remember when I first came to Liverpool, Pepe Reina helped with everything, and he made it easy for me. When I was Atletico Madrid captain, I tried to help everyone. These are the basics in football: you need to create an atmosphere and try to create a group of friends. It's not easy, and it doesn't always happen, but you have to try.