Obama: 'Playing like a girl means you're a badass'

The U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team visited the White House today—and President Barack Obama took the opportunity to let us know what he thinks playing sports “like a girl” really means.

He said the team “taught all America’s children that ‘playing like a girl’ means you’re a badass.” He continued, “Perhaps I shouldn’t have used that phrase. Playing like a girl means being the best. It means drawing the largest TV audience for a soccer match—men or women’s—in American history. It means wearing our nation’s crest on your jersey, taking yourself and your country to the top of the world. That’s what American women do. That’s what American girls do. That’s why we celebrate this team.”

The president went on to praise individual players on the team, USA Today reports, especially midfielder Carli Lloyd, who scored three goals in the team’s victory over Japan in the World Cup finals.”They’ve inspired millions of girls to dream bigger, and by the way, inspired millions of boys to look at girls differently, which is just as important,” Obama said.

The team posted a video talking about their White House visit. “He called us badasses. I think that was the highlight of the day,” said Ashlyn Harris.