After a record-breaking, historic hat-trick for Dallas native Allie Thornton, we were eager to sit down with her and ask her more questions about her soccer journey, her biggest inspiration in life, and her best advice for anyone aspiring to play professional soccer.
Q: Tell me about your soccer journey up until this point.
A: I started playing soccer when I was four, my very first team was called the Wildflowers and we had cute purple uniforms and my mom was the coach. When I was eight I started playing club soccer with Solar, and played for Solar for my whole club career. I graduated from Kennedale High School in 2016 and won two state championships for them. I went to SMU and played four seasons there, graduated in December 2019, and ten days later I moved to France and played the second half of the season with Lehavre, we were in division two at the time and the season got cut short because of COVID and we were in first place when the season ended so we got promoted to division one, so that was top league in France. I started with them for a season and then I left and played for a team out of Paris that was top division in France. The team was ISSY and then after that, I played for two seasons in Belgium for Anderhalct, and I got two seasons of Champions League experience which was really fun. After that, I came here, and I have been here since June!
Q: What was your favorite thing about playing professional soccer abroad?
A: Every day something happened that was out of my comfort zone, whether it was with the language barrier and trying to go to the doctor and navigating that in French, or even trying to find something I needed at the grocery store, every day presented itself with a new challenge, and I liked how adaptable you have to be. I like meeting different types of people hearing different perspectives and learning about different cultures, that part was really fun for me.
Q: What made you choose DTFC?
A: I loved being abroad but five years was enough for me, and so I loved the idea of being able to play back in my hometown and being close to my family again. I have known Chris for four years and he is someone I really trust I had confidence that he was building a very professional organization with people I would want to play with and be coached by. My confidence in him and the idea of being able to play back at home were two really big things for me.
Q: What are you most excited about for the season?
A: Being able to play in front of my friends and family is really cool and unique, especially given the fact that no one has watched me play in the last five years so that part is really exciting for me. Another thing is the potential of this team, I think we are really talented and will win a lot of games, and aiming for a championship is very possible for us. Dallas is such a good hub for successful professional sports teams, so being able to add to the success of Dallas sports in general is cool.
Q: What are your other hobbies outside of playing soccer?
A: I like going for walks and just being outside. I love strength training and speed training and learning the anatomy of being an athlete and taking care of our body.
Q: Who is your biggest soccer inspiration?
A: Abby Wambach, was an incredible player, but I also really liked how she was doing so much for women and for soccer and women’s soccer. She did it in a very respectful not super flashy way, and her focus was always on playing the game itself and I think that is cool.
Q: Who is your biggest inspiration in life?
A: My parents, while I was abroad over the three years first my mom got diagnosed with cancer and had to go through chemo, and then as soon as she got healthy my dad got cancer. He had to get chemo as well, and just the fact that they went through what they went through and now they are both so healthy and happy and active and can live these awesome lives, they are the epitome of strength and resilience. I value Those two things, so seeing that from my parents is cool.
Q: What is your best advice for someone aspiring to play professional soccer?
A: My biggest piece of advice for life in general but it applies a lot in soccer too, is so many things happen that you have no control over, whether it is coaches’ decisions or crappy refs, the two things you can always control as a person are your attitude and your effort, and so no matter what you can always be the best teammate, you can always be encouraging and supportive and positive. You can always be the hardest worker, that is something that does not really depend on anything else. Those are two things you are always able to do no matter what situation you are in.
Q: Why do you think fans should attend DTFC games this season?
A: We are a really talented team and we play good soccer, Dallas is such a fun place to watch sports, and we can score goals, and fans love to watch soccer games with goals scored.