The truth is Kate Parker can’t really remember a time before she played soccer. She just remembers wanting to play.
“My older brothers played and I wanted to be just like them,” she says, looking back. “But I couldn’t play until I was 7 and I had to play with the boys division. And the boys were mean. I got a lot of the expected ‘what are you doing here, girls don’t play soccer’ kind of stuff.”
The following year she joined the first all-girls team in her league, and that became a core group she played with until college, when Kate got a Division 1 soccer scholarship at Wake Forest University. But before all of that – before teammates became sisters and before she was playing for college titles – back on those muddy rec league fields, she found something more important: a place to be who she was.
“Young girls are brought up to go along with things, to not make waves,” she says. “Then I got into soccer and all the things I liked: being loud or aggressive, even using my temper to really fuel me sometimes, they were good things. And just as importantly, I was surrounded by other girls who were the same way. I hadn’t really seen that before.”
From there, she says it was easy to fall in love with a sport and a community that embraced her for who she was – and helped mold her into the person she is today.
“I never thought I was the best athlete, but in soccer you can overcome skill with hard work and hustle and not giving up. I loved that. I didn’t sulk, I never put my head down, I just grinded it out. It made me successful in soccer, but it also translated toward my life. I may not have as much natural talent as other people, but if I outwork them I can achieve more.”
After graduating from Wake Forest, Kate Parker moved to Atlanta, where as a young professional she started her career at CNN. But as she got married and had children of her own, she sparked a passion for photography –– and those life lessons learned on the pitch became a driving force for her life off of it.
“The work ethic I learned in soccer, I’ve applied to everything. As a photographer, I started 13 years ago when my daughter was born and I taught myself how to shoot with YouTube videos. But I shot and shot and shot just to get better. My first book started as just me practicing. And I didn’t shoot 20 images and suddenly someone gave me a book, so many ‘no’s’ came along the way. But I just really believed in it, so I just kept pushing and pushing, and that’s absolutely comes from the mentality I learned in soccer.”
That book was called “Strong is the New Pretty,” which became a bestseller and is now one of her two published photography books. It’s the visual expression of what she learned on those rec soccer fields, when she learned she could ditch the bows and the fake smiles and be the assertive, young athlete that she was.
“When I was growing up, I didn’t want to dress up, or brush my hair, or clean up –– and my daughters were the same way. I wanted them to know they didn’t have to change who they were to be worthy, and I did that through photography. So many pictures of little girls are bows and dresses and big smiles. There’s nothing wrong with that, but for my girls, that wasn’t them. So I wanted them to know that their value didn’t reside in those things. It was in who they were, how they treat other people, and what they invested themselves in.”
As Kate’s life –– and family –– in Atlanta changed and grew, the friendships forged on the soccer field were a constant. Even today, her college roommate and teammate lives down the road from her in the same subdivision. So when they heard rumors of a possible Major League Soccer expansion in the city, they were ready.
“I remember the first season where the audio went out during the anthem, and the fans all sang. It made cry. The second we got there, the atmosphere was so electric, it chokes me up to think about it. I looked around and it was every kind of person –– all ages, all colors –– all watching this game. It’s just so cool how it’s brought together this whole city, just capturing this magic in a bottle. I grew up with no one really caring about soccer. So now, with the whole city around it I’m just so blown away by it.”
“You hear a lot about Atlanta being a transplant city,” she continued, “and everyone’s old sports allegiances from where they grew up. But it wasn’t just that people didn’t have a favorite soccer team. People in Atlanta wanted something to root for that didn’t represent their past or their upbringing but something that captured their life right now. Atlanta United provided that.”
And their love of the game stretches past Atlanta, with all eyes in the Parker household fixed on this summer’s FIFA Women’s World Cup in France. She’s thankful for all the role models her daughters have now that she had no idea about growing up herself.
“The 1999 World Cup was right after I graduated, and it was the first time I felt like anyone really cared about women’s soccer. I met them once and ended up crying talking to them, because they were my heroes. I think it is amazing that now my daughters have this wealth of female athletes to look up to that are such role models now.”
Now Kate lives with her husband, two dogs and two children, both girls. Her daughters play youth soccer just like she did, learning to embrace themselves for who they are through sports, just like she did. She says she didn’t push them to soccer specifically, but admits she isn’t surprised they fell in love with the beautiful game too. With thoughts of them playing – looking proud, and looking strong – flashing through her eyes, she pauses as a smile sneaks onto her face.
“Part of your personality comes alive on the soccer field in a way that it can’t anywhere else.”
© 2026 Atlanta United FC
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