Midge Purce didn’t want to be the host of her own podcast.
The two-time NWSL champion had the idea two years ago for a podcast where athletes open up about their real experiences getting to the top of their sport, but she “tried as hard as I could to find someone else” to do the interviews.
“I really enjoy being behind the camera,” Purce told Front Office Sports on an upcoming episode of Portfolio Players. “I enjoy producing. I really enjoy writing and creating… When there’s a cool opportunity in front of the camera, I’m not saying no, but my heart isn’t, it’s not where my passion is.”
But as the Gotham FC forward tried out potential hosts for her new podcast, including sports psychologists, she said she realized non-athletes couldn’t speak the same language because they hadn’t lived it themselves. So she slid into the interviewer’s seat.
Her new podcast with Vox Media, Confessions of an Elite Athlete, debuts April 28 and will run twice monthly.
Purce described the show as a chance to sit in the locker room with athletes and hear the things they don’t usually tell the media. She told FOS she’s “not interested” in hosting a “fun conversation” about sports culture or news, and believes her show can cut through the noise in the heavily saturated market of podcasts hosted by current and former athletes.
“Everyone thinks they’re different, [but] this is different,” Purce said. “I’m not chit-chatting with my friends who play soccer and we’re not having a ball. We’re talking about things that people don’t actually talk about on podcasts yet.”
After winning the NWSL championship in 2025, Purce’s Gotham FC is having a tough start to the season. The team is 13th in the league, with just one win in five matches so far.
Purce said she isn’t just sticking to soccer players, and enjoys breaking down the mindset for athletes in individual sports.
“I think this has the power to actually change the career and the lives of other people,” Purce said, “if they were able to have insight into what their role models or their successful athlete prototype actually has gone through to get to the top, and to get that gold medal or to get that championship.”
