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The SoccerGirl Podcast

266. From Doubt to Dream: Nealy Martin’s Wild Ride to the Pros

The SoccerGirl Podcast

SoccerGirl

Sports

51.3K Ratings

🗓️ 20 June 2025

⏱️ 22 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this episode, we sit down with NWSL defender Nealy Martin for an honest and inspiring convo about the rollercoaster that is professional soccer. From applying to 9–5 jobs while chasing her dream of playing pro, to stepping into goal (twice) during real matches, Nealy’s journey is anything but ordinary.

We talk about:

  • The moment she almost gave up on soccer — and why she didn’t

  • How it actually feels to go undrafted and still make it

  • What it’s like to literally pay to attend a pro tryout

  • Playing goalkeeper professionally (yes, really)

  • The mental chaos of getting traded

  • Her advice to anyone unsure if they should keep going

Whether you’re a young player figuring out your next step, or just love a good underdog story, this one’s for you.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Today on the pod, we're joined by we got some problems, so too know we're talking how to solve

0:06.0

them.

0:06.6

We may laugh, we may learn, we might be your game's missing peace.

0:15.9

Today in the pod, we're joined by Neely Martin, pro-defendant, accidental goalkeeper,

0:19.9

and the definition of trusting the process

0:21.7

from almost walking away from soccer to making it in the end of a cell after going undrafted neely shares the wild ups and downs of

0:27.8

chasing her dreams stepping in goal twice and figuring it all out as she goes let's get into it

0:34.9

so yeah how is preseason bet? It's been good, honestly.

0:37.8

It's been exciting to get this new group together.

0:41.0

We have a lot of new faces and young faces.

0:44.6

So seeing how they kind of connect with the group has been awesome.

0:48.0

And I think our whole team is hungry and ready to go to work.

0:53.0

And that's kind of the attitude you want new people to bring

0:57.1

and to liven the environment.

1:00.5

So it's been really great to connect with them

1:03.4

and see them transition into it.

1:08.0

That's awesome.

1:09.0

This is, I feel like it's such a different team than you guys were last year.

1:13.2

There's been a lot of change at Gotham, but it's good. It sounds like it's, you know,

1:18.7

looking like the new blood is going to bring positivity and good energy, so that's always good.

1:24.0

Yeah, it's really exciting, honestly.

1:25.7

As teammates, when players are getting

...

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