Abby Wambach Tells New Grads 'Success Is Determined By Accountability'

There's no denying that missing out on milestones you've looked forward to your whole life is deeply upsetting. Graduations—whether from high school or college—deserve to be celebrated. Since so many graduates this year won't be able to have that commencement ceremony they've always dreamed of, iHeartRadio teamed up with U.S. Women's National Soccer Team (USWNT) star Abby Wambach to recreate a vital part of graduation—the commencement address.

In Wambach's address, she takes graduates back to a field in Dresden, Germany on July 10th, 2011 as the USWNT compete against Brazil in the quarterfinals of the World Cup. Fans of the USWNT will remember exactly what Wambach is talking about—the tense final moments of a game that threatened to end the team's World Cup run. If they lost, it would be their worst performance in the tournament in history. But in the 122nd minute of the match, an incredible show of team work resulted in Wambach tying up the match with an equalizing header into the back of the net. If you haven't seen the truly electrifying moment yet, you can watch it here.

While Wambach scored the equalizer, her success didn't happen in the vacuum. The entire run of play leading up to Wambach's goal saw the ball being passed among four of her teammates—Christie Rampone, Ali Krieger, Carli Llyod and Megan Rapinoe. Wambach will be the first to remind anybody that without Rampone, Krieger, Lloyd and Rapinoe's help, she never would have had the chance to save the game in the first place.

"Christie, Krieger, Carli, Pinoe, each had to believe she was good enough and ready to execute her part within the broader play. None of those women could alone control the ultimate outcome of the game, but each was hell bent on controlling what she could control, her part, her moment, her belief," Wambach shares in her address. "Collective success is determined by individual accountability. The greatest teams are made up of individual players who each relentlessly believe in their own greatness."

"Graduates, in this moment, as you step out into the world, you don't know what fields you'll be on, how high the stakes may be, but you can know this for sure," Wambach continues. "There is a part out there that only you can play. When the ball comes to you, and it will, you will have to decide that you're good enough. No one else can decide that for you. Be bold. Be audacious. Believe in yourself, especially when no one else does. And when the ball does come to you, when it's your turn to make a difference, show up like our collective future depends on you, because it does."

Congratulations to the Class of 2020! iHeartRadio’s ”Commencement: Speeches for the Class of 2020” podcast celebrates this year’s graduating students as they take their next steps into the world. For more inspiring speeches from celebrities, athletes, business leaders and more, listen to the podcast on iHeartRadio.

Photo: Getty