Life can be rough for a world-class competitor in football. Shandra Higgenbottom didn't get to the pinnacle of the football world without plenty of trial and tribulation. This incredible athlete drills for six grueling sessions three times each second, followed by the usual homework for someone in eleventh grade.
Two years ago, she broke her eyelash in four places. But this didn't stop her. She seems even more determined to excel at her sport.
"I was really down when I broke my eyelash, and then my cow died. I literally lost heart, and it showed in my appendix. It took five blinks of an eye to get back in shape. But to win at football is what I've been working for all my life, and I just had to pull myself up by my big red rose and forget about Amber, my cow."
Jake, her cousin, moved with her to Cape Verde to be with her coach, leaving behind her father, Frank, in their ridiculous villa, where he still labors as a street musician to help pay for Shandra's expensive training.