Mick Unplugged
Heather Mitts Feeley: Embracing the Gold Medal Mindset for Success in Life and Leadership
Mon, 19 May 2025
Heather Mitts Feeley is a three-time Olympic gold medalist and former U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team defender, celebrated for her relentless grit, tenacity, and leadership both on and off the field. A University of Florida alum, Heather helped build their soccer program from the ground up and became a national champion. After retiring from soccer, she transformed her athlete’s mindset into motivational speaking and advocacy, inspiring business leaders and championing equity in sports. Today, Heather balances her passion for empowering others with her most cherished role: being a present and loving mom to her three children. Takeaways: Mindset Matters Everywhere: The ‘gold medal mindset’ isn’t just for athletes; Heather shares how the principles of resilience, goal setting, and controlling what you can translate seamlessly into business and life. Surround Yourself with the Right People: Heather emphasizes the importance of curating your inner circle, noting that the company you keep can fuel—or hinder—your growth and dreams. Adversity Builds Strength: From career-altering injuries to personal loss, Heather’s journey reveals that hardship can sharpen your toughness, shape your character, and lead to your greatest moments of triumph. Sound Bites: “You retire from the sport; you don’t retire from being an athlete. The dog mentality is still there.” “We are the sum of the five people that we spend the most time with. That blows my mind, because at one point in my life, my five weren’t great, but now they are amazing.” “Giving yourself permission to imagine a positive outcome—dreaming—doesn’t stop when you grow up, it’s something we need all our lives.” Mick’s Quote: “A great leader knows their team better than their team knows themselves. Meaning you know how they think, you know the right positions to put them in, and you set them up for success by knowing them better than they know themselves.” Connect & Discover Heather: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-mitts-1b50a18/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hmitts2/?hl=en Website: Players for Good FOLLOW MICK ON:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mickunplugged/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mickunplugged/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@mickunplugged LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mickhunt/Website: https://www.mickhuntofficial.com Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mick-unplugged/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Chapter 1: What is the gold medal mindset?
The biggest thing is being able to share my story with others. And so I came up with what's called the gold medal mindset. And I do go to a lot of business leaders and I share what helped me on the field to succeed. What is that gold medal mindset? What is that athlete mindset that then translate into the business world? Because it's really not, it's not any different.
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Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another exciting episode of McUnplugged. And today we are in for a banger. One of my favorite athletes of all times. We're talking about a three-time Olympic gold medalist, a trailblazer in women's soccer, and a fierce voice for equity in sport.
From dominating the pitch to shaping the next generation of leaders, she embodies resilience, fierce leadership, and unapologetic authenticity. Please join me in welcoming my friend, The dominating Heather Mitz-Feely. Heather, how you doing today, dear?
I love it. Thanks, Mick. I'm great. Thanks for having me on. I'm so excited to be here.
I'm the excited one. You know, we were talking offline. Most people don't know. Well, everybody knows I'm a Tar Heel. Everyone knows I'm a UNC Tar Heel. Most people don't realize how dominating UNC is in women's soccer. And literally my first week on campus, I went to a UNC women's soccer match and I have been hooked since 1996.
Like literally one of my favorite sports of all time is women's soccer. And one of my favorite players of all time is Heather Mitzfeely. Heather, this is an honor. Truly mean that.
Oh, that's so sweet of you. Um, You know, I think UNC is like where it all began. Right. Anson Dorrance, Cindy Parlow. So many greats that went there. It's a great place to to fall in love with soccer. That's for sure.
Absolutely. So let's talk about that, though, because you did not attend UNC. You went to this little school in the state of Florida that likes blue and orange that may or may not have just won the national championship in basketball. How did you arrive at the University of Florida?
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Chapter 2: How did Heather Mitts Feeley start her soccer journey?
Um, and I said, I basically owe my brother for the fact that not only my love of the game, but also, you know, my toughness, I was in the backyard. I was trying to get the ball away from him. Hence why I kind of probably gravitated towards a defensive position. Um, I was always small, but I was, I was always tenacious. And so, um, That's where it all began, was in the backyard.
That is literally why you were one of my favorite players. Everybody that knows me knows I like gritty. You give me gritty and scrappy, and that's me all day long. That was you. Before saying someone was a dog was a great thing, you were a dog, Heather. You were the person that, I say, set the tone defensively.
Like if there were a comparable, Heather was like the Draymond Green of women's soccer, right? Like without the technical, without the red cards.
Hard-nosed defender. That was it. That was it.
Yeah. Yeah. But you sacrificed a lot too. I mean, you, you've overcome injuries, even when people didn't think you were going to come back from them. Like, What was that drive like? What was that, like, I'm not giving up spirit that you had? And I'm not even going to say it's proving people wrong. It was just, I think you were just proving to yourself that I'm not done, right?
What was that like for you?
Yeah, I mean, I look back on my career, I had a million injuries. I was only 5'4", like 120 pounds soaking wet. So I was tiny and I was playing defense against... much bigger and stronger girls. And I was a dog, you know, I was throwing my body everywhere. So, um, you know, but I, I learned a lot about myself through those injuries. Uh, my ACL injury was probably the biggest one.
Um, you know, it, it happened at a not great time. It was right before my, what would have been my first ever women's world cup where I was starting. I was so excited to wear my ACL. I ended up going online. mistakenly and reading some of the comments when the announcement came out that I would not be playing. And some people were like, you know, she shouldn't have been starting anyway.
Uh, she'll never make it back. Uh, you know, when she's competing against these much younger, much talented players. And there's this quote, it's telling me I can't then watch you work twice. It's hard to prove you wrong. And I just kind of, that was it. You know, I just kept grinding and grinding and grinding and,
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Chapter 3: What challenges did Heather face during her career?
Um, I had told a couple people, um, that I was going to retire cause I just didn't, I didn't think I was going to make it. And I was at the time afraid of failure. And my husband also, we had this agreement, like you plan one world cup and then we're going to start a family. And so I knew that's what he wanted. I was getting older and he knew I wasn't ready.
And so he said, all right, give it a go. And so from that moment on, I just, I did everything. I made that team. Luckily we won gold. And so then when I stood up there on that podium one last time, I was just like, we did it. This is everything that I ever dreamed of. And now I can walk away on my own terms. I can start a family. I can do whatever's next. And yeah,
I know how fortunate I am because I know a lot of athletes don't get to do that. But I'm so thankful for the opportunity to have been given by those coaches to even be on that roster, for my teammates to help me win that gold. You know, it's a dream come true.
I love it. I love it. So then you kind of answered my follow-up, which was, I was going to ask you, how did you know officially it was time and like, no looking back, like line in the sand, I'm retired. I'm moving forward.
A lot of it had to do with my age.
Yeah.
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Chapter 4: How did injuries shape Heather's perspective on success?
You know, it's, it's tough. I think even tougher being a female, because for me, I, I knew I had a lot of teammates that could do the juggle, but I, I knew I didn't want to. And, um, I just knew how tough it would be. So, you know, I, I knew when the time was for me to come to an end. And I think, you know, it helped that my body just wasn't cooperating at the end.
You know, I was just doing everything just to kind of manage to even get on the field half the time. So all the stars were aligning and I knew when it was time to walk away.
Love it. So again, things that I always say, you retire from the sport, you don't retire from being an athlete, right? Like Heather is still an athlete through and through. The dog mentality is still there. You took that very well into business and leadership. And, you know, being a sports nut, I tell folks all the time, the parallel between sports and leadership is so strong and dynamic.
Because if you were a leader of your team, Leader doesn't mean the most popular leader doesn't mean the highest score that usually the fancy in every locker room, in every field, in every team, in every huddle, there's a leader. And I know that you were that. How did you take those skill sets and then transform them out of sport into the business world?
You know, I think the biggest thing is being able to share my story. with others. And, and so I came up with what's called the gold medal mindset. And I do go to a lot of business leaders and I share what helped me on the field to succeed. What is that gold medal mindset? What is that athlete mindset that then can then translate into the business world?
Cause it's really not, it's not any different.
Right.
You know, you're doing the same thing and it does come down to but I think it comes down to giving yourself permission to imagine a positive outcome, you know, to, to dream and even figuring out what that dream is.
A lot of times we think we dream as kids, but we have to continue to dream as adults and to set our goals high, make them scary and unattainable what they seem like, because then you're going to be surprised. I did that. when I was playing soccer and I achieved all my dreams and then I had to set new ones because we all need to continue to dream throughout our lifetime.
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Chapter 5: What does it mean to surround yourself with the right people?
So that really kind of was like my aha moment. I think losing someone that's really close to you at such a young age is, it's a wake up call. Perspective, right? We can choose the right choices or the wrong choices. And it's up to us every single day. It's positive or negative. And luckily, you know, by going away to the University of Florida, I went away from those friends.
And I look back on it and I realized that soccer saved me. You know, it gave me something to focus on that I was really darn good at and that I really hadn't been, you know, putting in my all in it. And so it gave me an opportunity to kind of refocus.
Yeah.
And here I am.
And I'm glad you're here. Totally glad that you're here. So let's fast forward now to the gold medal mindset. What are a couple of pillars of the gold medal mindset?
I kind of went through two of them. Giving yourself permission to imagine a positive outcome to dream. Learning what you can control. Surrounding yourself with those positive people that we talked about. I think finding a great coach or a mentor or taking a class to kind of get you ahead and be...
surrounded by those people that have been through it, that want to help you succeed and maybe see something special in you that you might not even see in yourself. Figure out what makes you unique and hone that skill so you become known for it. I think a lot of times we're into comparing ourselves when instead we should be focusing on us and how we can be the best version of ourself.
Demand more of yourself because who else is going to do it? And don't ever stop until you're successful.
That's it. I love that. I love that. That parallels into a couple of things that are my pillars, right? So I have seven, but two of my favorite, and I picked these up from sport. is a great leader knows their team better than their team knows themselves, right?
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Chapter 6: How has Heather transitioned from sports to leadership?
And Dundee made Ali stand up in between that round and said, face your opponent. And Ali was like, where are you doing? And he said, if he sees that you're willing to stand up and take this, right, then all of a sudden his mind is not on the fight anymore. It's how are you doing it? And then also by moving the stool, he made Ali do something he didn't think he could do.
And I think that's a great leader. A great leader knows when to make Heather stand on her own a little bit. knows when to make Heather face that adversity, to face that challenge head on, because it's real easy to sit down. It's real easy to, hey, I need a timeout. Sometimes in life and sometimes in business, you don't get that timeout.
And so, again, things that I've learned from watching you, my scrappy one over there, and I put that into my pillars is like knowing when to move the stool, because I feel like that's the lesson you learn as well, too.
Yeah, I love those. Those are great.
Yeah, yeah. So let's talk a little bit about family for you now. So, you know, you've got an amazing family. AJ, you know, I'm a Patriot fan, so, you know, there was a little bit of time AJ and I couldn't quite get along. He played for another team that, you know, we didn't like each other. But what's family like? What's mom and wife Heather like?
You know, not getting, like, teary-eyed. It's like the greatest gift. I think about it all the time, how lucky I am. From the minute I had my first son, I just feel like my life completely changed. I was opened up to this different perspective on just everything when someone depends on you.
and you have this opportunity to lead, we're talking about leading, you know, I think there's, there's no greater gift. And so you learn a lot about yourself. Um, you know, I've changed a lot, a lot, um, through becoming a mom. Um, what I thought I was going to be like as a mom is not who I am as a mom.
You know, I think I'm, I'm more tender now than I've, I've ever been, you know, I was always like a, that fight mentality, the hustle, all those things. And, you know, it has definitely just softened me up and trying to figure out the different personalities. I have three kids, so I have an 11 year old boy. I have a nine year old daughter and I have a six year old son.
Um, and just trying to figure out the best ways to connect with each one of them personally and and with their personalities and just to be extremely present.
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Chapter 7: What lessons does Heather share about resilience?
Because we get one chance. you know, we get one chance on, on this earth to, to make an impact and there's, there's no other way to do it than just to, to do your best and to try to live the most positive life that you can in the time that we have on this planet. Um, you know, my dad and I had an amazing relationship and, He unfortunately passed up Alzheimer's almost three years ago.
And so kind of watching his decline, he was the most amazing man, super smart, cardiovascular surgeon, worked his whole entire life for his family, but never really got to do the things at the end that he always wanted to do. So I think I realized from him that our choices that we make every single day make a difference.
Um, and you know, to take advantage of the time we have, you know, take the trip, do the things that you've been saying you wanted to do, but you, you just never had the time to do it and make time for it. So, um, just making the most of, of every minute, every day.
Amazing. Totally amazing. You know, another reason Heather, that I'm a huge fan of yours, aside from playing the sport, you're a huge, huge, huge advocate for equity in not only sport, but also in business and in leadership. And I don't need to ask how or why that became a passion for you because I know that answer, but talk to us about the fight that needs to continue to happen for, for equity.
Yeah. I mean, we've just still got a long way to go. Um, it's night and day what I experienced when I was playing and I love to see the growth, but it's just, it's still not where it needs to be. And, you know, I, I, what I love the most is that there's so many women that are so passionate about this. So many of my former teammates, so many just friends. So it's, it's at the forefront and,
you know, it's a major topic and we're all invested. And so I know it's only a matter of time, but we still have more work to be done.
Amazing. And whatever, Heather, and I mean this for my soul, whatever I can do, don't ask you, just tell me and literally consider it done. Absolutely. All right. You ready for your hot five, Heather?
Oh gosh.
Hot five. You ready? Question one. It's a cheat day. Cheat meal. What's your cheat meal?
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Chapter 8: How does Heather balance motherhood with her career?
Yeah, it's the best though. So when you come in town, I'll treat you to it.
Flavor?
I'm usually pretty boring. I do raspberry with chocolate sprinkles on a cone.
Okay. I can dig that. I can dig that. Mom Heather. It's time to cook a meal. What's your go-to meal that you're cooking?
Prime meatballs. Ooh. Easy. Everybody likes it. That's the hardest thing when your mom is like getting one meal that everybody's going to like. That's a crowd pleaser. So that's my go-to.
I'm there for meatballs. All right. That's one of my top five.
Balls and handles ice cream. Next time you're in town.
I mean, not together. One meal.
Meatballs first.
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