U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team legend Brandi Chastain announced Thursday that she will donate her brain to Boston University for research on the chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
Chastain — best known for sealing the United States’ 1999 World Cup victory over China — told The New York Times that, “if there’s any information to be gleaned off the study of someone like [herself], who has played soccer for 40 years,” she feels it’s her responsibility to help, “but not in a burdensome way.”
“People talk about what the ’99 group did for women’s soccer. They say, ‘Oh, you left a legacy for the next generation.’ This would be a more substantial legacy,” she added. “Something that could protect and save some kids, and to enhance and lift up soccer in a way that it hasn’t before.”
“If we can learn something, we should. And I won’t need it.”
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