'Keep inspiring us': Giannis shows appreciation for soccer's newly-inducted Hall of Famer Lauren Holiday

Greatness recognizes greatness.

Lauren Holiday, the wife of Milwaukee Bucks all-star Jrue Holiday, was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame on Saturday night. And the Bucks' future Hall of Famer, Giannis Antetokounmpo, acknowledged Holiday for being an inspiration and highlighted the 35-year-old's toughness.

Holiday's soccer résumé is a long list of accolades.

She was a high school and college All-American, was a key figure on Olympic and World Cup gold-medal teams, and was a champion, top scorer and league MVP at the professional level.

Off the soccer field, Holiday's résumé might be more noteworthy. She, along with Jrue, launched a social justice fund in 2020 to aid in Black-owned small businesses and historically Black colleges and universities.

Lauren Holiday was recently instrumental in Sojourner Family Peace Center and Hope House in Milwaukee and The Women's Center in Waukesha receiving upgrades to their shelters this year. The efforts of the Holidays, Kohler Co. and the Milwaukee Bucks Foundation led to nearly $300,000 in renovations.

The soccer and sports community praised Holiday Saturday night, including Antetokounmpo.

"Keep inspiring us," Antetokounmpo wrote on Instagram while featuring images and videos of Holiday's acceptance speech. "Lauren Holiday, you're one of the toughest people I've ever met. Your kids get to see the example you and Jrue Holiday set for them every day."

Holiday retired from professional soccer in 2015. A year later, she was diagnosed with a brain tumor while pregnant with her first child. She had the tumor removed a month after giving birth to her daughter, Jrue Tyler (J.T.) Holiday.

"It was single-handily the hardest thing I ever had to go through," Holiday said in her speech. "At times the weight of waiting felt unbearable. But it was in these moments that I realized soccer had prepared me for this."

She referenced how during her training she would figure out the exact timing needed to achieve her goals.

"Waiting to deliver my daughter and four weeks later have surgery, I'd break up the waiting that all I had to do is get through the next hour or the next 10 minutes, and I would repeat Psalm 30, verse 5: 'there may be pain in the night, but joy comes in the morning.' And each time I repeated this to myself I found the strength to keep going."

"The sheer will to show up for ourselves even our darkest days can transform our lives in the most powerful ways," Holiday also said in her speech.

Holiday showed up big time on the big stage time and again. She scored the USWNT's first goal during their silver-medal run at the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup. She led the team in assists (three) during that tournament. Four years later, she scored the third goal in the USWNT's 5-2 win over Japan in the 2015 FIFA World Cup final. She appeared in 133 games for the USWNT.

Joining Holiday in the 2023 National Soccer Hall of Fame Class were DaMarcus Beasley, Landon Donovan, Jill Ellis, Kate Sobrero Markgraf and Slavisa “Steve” Zungul. Hope Solo, who was Holiday's teammate on the 2008 and 2012 Olympic gold-medal teams, was a member of the 2022 class but was inducted this year.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Lauren Holiday inducted into Soccer Hall of Fame and Giannis inspired