Brittany Ratcliffe – Beyond the Bow

Winning with Class

Far more than a professional soccer player with the Washington Spirit, Brittany Ratcliffe is a great package of personality and talent who has her priorities firmly in order. This package has led to a long and successful soccer career and has put her on a path to ensuring that she wins with class at anything she does in life – in and beyond sports.

Born and raised in South Jersey, Brittany grew up and remains a huge Philadelphia sports fan. While growing up, she dreamed of becoming a professional soccer player as she attended Philadelphia Charge (of the former Women’s United Soccer Association) games.

Brittany attended the University of Virginia (2012-15) where she earned both Third Team All-ACC and ACC Academic Honor Roll recognition in both her junior and senior seasons – and played for previous Winning with Class guest, Coach Steve Swanson.

#FearTheBow, #The BowIsBack - It was during this time at Virginia where a small gesture from Brittany for the benefit of her parents went viral. Hearing that her parents had a hard time distinguishing her from her teammates – as their hair often covered their jersey numbers – Brittany decided to wear a bright orange bow in her hair during games. The Bow was born….becoming one of the most well-known images of women’s soccer and even working its way up to the hashtags above….

Brittany was drafted in 2016 when she was selected 17th overall by the Boston Breakers in the NWSL draft. Other stops in the league include FC Kansas City and the North Carolina Courage before joining the Spirit in January of 2024.

As you’ll hear, Brittany’s longevity in the league – she just celebrated her 100th game! - is due in large part to her commitment to consistency. A fierce competitor and loyal teammate, Brittany has scored 12 goals so far in her career, three of which have been game winning. In 2023, the forward scored in three consecutive Challenge Cup group stage matches, tallying game-winning goals against Washington and Orlando. Ratcliffe later helped her team win the Challenge Cup Championship trophy.

Much more than any stat or Bow hashtag, I know you will enjoy getting to know Brittany through this episode. Her appreciation for family and team, combined with her overall engaging and fun personality make her a great example of the winning with class personalities we’re so proud to feature on this show!

Takeaways:

Some of the specific takeaways from our conversation:

1. Brittany’s very clear appreciation for her parents as part of her foundation is one to be modeled. From giving credit to them for instilling certain principles all the way to creating “The Bow” for them…She is clearly thankful for all her parents have done to get her where she is…as should we all be.
2. Related to this point – as Brittany gives her parents credit – she makes the point of how important it was for her to learn that if you’re going to do ANYTHING – you need to work your absolute hardest at it and that this principle applies to EVERYTHING - whether it’s sports, school, friends….anything – bring your absolute best to it. This is directly in line with what this show stands for in terms of doing all we can to bring winning and class into ALL areas of our lives. Brittany clearly gets this and credits her parents for teaching it to her at an early age.
3. Culture is a big word these days. Brittany clearly appreciates how important it is on any team. She credits the players and coaches at the University of Virginia for creating a great one there. She touched on the critical element of culture being the “ALL IN” mentality all must have as a team of players owning their roles. From the stars of the team to those who only got 10 minutes of time – whatever it is – be ALL IN and own your role and the team and its culture will be successful. The benefits of this are not only immediate in the form of wins, but more importantly, they’re also long term in terms of lifelong relationships, as Brittany mentioned.
4. What drives Brittany? Her love of being part of a TEAM. Is she competitive? For sure. Does she get upset when she loses? Definitely. But at the end of the day, she loves going out after practice and getting coffee together.
5. Brittany makes a great point when she talked about how she knows she had a good day – is she happy with herself when she goes to bed? She is if she competed, brought her best, and then had a great “team” day as well. It’s hard to describe winning with class any better than that!
6. The standard that drives Brittany – a great one – Consistency. I love how she describes this. She mentions not only showing up and working hard as a good teammate but also consistently striving for and chasing growth. She asked – can you get better at something every day? What a great question for us to ask of ourselves in all areas of our lives.
7. This notion of consistency flowed right into Brittany’s definition of winning with class – never letting winning or losing affect your personality – staying consistent – while also CONSISTENTLY asking “What’s next?”…to work in that growth challenge we should all bring to ourselves every day.

Please follow Brittany and The Washington Spirit:

Links:

Website: washingtonspirit.com

Instagram: @brit_ratcliffe and @washingtonspirit