Giving Back Never Goes Out Of Season

How Laura Schott's legacy isn't just soccer. It's giving back.

Jul 17, 2026

We celebrate athletes and coaches for what they accomplished on the field.

But I wanted to show something different.

What happens after the trophies?

What does it look like when someone who has reached the highest levels of their sport chooses to give back instead of simply moving on?

That’s what brought me to Formation Soccer Camp in Lake Oswego to spend a day with Laura Schott.

Not to document a soccer legend.

To understand the human behind the legacy.

It was the final day of Laura’s Formation Soccer Camp in Lake Oswego. A cool June morning with Oregon’s familiar blanket of clouds hanging overhead.The first thing you notice is the joy.

Soccer balls bouncing across the grass. Kids laughing as they race from drill to drill. Coaches encouraging every touch, every pass, every attempt.

Standing in the middle of it all was Laura Schott.

Soccer ball in hand. Sunglasses on. In her happy place!

If you didn’t know her story, you would probably assume this was her full-time job.

It isn’t.

Today, Laura Schott’s career is in real estate, helping people buy and sell homes throughout Oregon and Washington. But every summer, she comes back to the field.

Not because she has to. But Because some investments aren’t measured in commissions.

They’re measured in humans.

For most of her life, soccer has been the language people used to describe Laura.

A U.S. Women’s National Team player. A national champion. A record-setting player. A championship-winning coach.

But spending a day with her at camp, I saw something more.

Laura wasn’t there to remind people of what she accomplished.

She was there to help the next generation discover what they could accomplish. That’s legacy at work.

“It’s beyond the game,” she told me.

“We do a lot of things for confidence building. We want the kids to have a blast and love the game, but also love themselves and love what they do. We like to develop the whole person.”

That sentence explains why she’s still here.

Formation Soccer Camp isn’t about creating the next professional player.

“It’s about helping kids walk away believing in themselves.”

When Laura recently accepted an assistant coaching role with the University of Oregon women’s soccer program, many people assumed soccer was once again becoming her career.

She smiled when we talked about it.

“Most people know me from soccer,” she said. “I’ve been in soccer really my entire life, and it’s not going away. I’m not leaving soccer completely. I get to be out here, and I love having these camps. I get the opportunity to work with Oregon, and I love that too.”

Then she made something very clear.

“But my career now is all in real estate.”

That distinction matters.

Real estate isn’t Plan B.

It isn’t something she does between soccer seasons.

It’s the career she has intentionally built over the last five years.

Soccer is simply one of the ways she continues giving back sharing her knowledge and experience.

The more we talked, the more I realized she doesn’t see two different worlds.

She sees the same purpose expressed in different ways.

“There’s a lot of parallels between soccer and real estate,” she said.

“Recruiting just turns into leads. The time commitment is really similar. A lot of evenings. A lot of weekends. It’s not odd for me to pick up the phone at nine o’clock at night. I’ve done that with recruits my whole life.”

Listening to her, I stopped hearing someone explain a career change.

Listening to Laura, I stopped hearing someone explain a career change.

I heard someone carrying the same principles into a different profession.

The soccer field taught her skills that transcends the game. They transferred into real estate.

Helping families navigate the home-buying process isn’t all that different from helping a student-athlete find a college they can call home.

Both require trust.

Both require a listening ear.

Both require showing up when people need guidance the most.

Watching Laura coach throughout the morning confirmed it.

She celebrated effort.

She encouraged the quieter kids.

She made every camper feel seen.

And maybe that’s why the transition into real estate makes so much sense.

The job changed.

The heart behind it didn’t.

A lot of folks think giving back only happens after you’ve retired.

Laura challenges that idea.

She is building a real estate business.

She is coaching at the University of Oregon.

She continues leading Formation Soccer Camps.

Is in the media space as an analyst and color commentary for Seattle Reign FC.

The best part about spending the day with Laura wasn’t talking about Being HOF status, or all time record holder, or even discussing real estate. It was watching someone who understands that