Rowdies star opens up about sobriety

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla — This past weekend, Tampa Bay Rowdies defender Forrest Lasso shared a letter via "X" that detailed his journey through sobriety. The letter details how stepping away from alcohol use has helped him become a better father, husband, and teammate.

Lasso, who's in his fifth season with the Rowdies, said his journey began after he suffered a season-ending knee injury on May 18th of last year. It was a game where Lasso tallied a pair of goals- unusual for a defender. Forrest, 32, said everything started after that game.

ABC Action News sports reporter Kevin Lewis sat down with Lasso to discuss his openness about this part of his personal life.

WATCH report from Kevin Lewis

Q: What made you decide that it was time to share your story?"

A: For many years of my career, I’d like to come home and have a glass of wine and just digest and decompress and just enjoy that little moment. So, I got home and I was in my darkest depths. I remember walking in the door and I knew, of course, I hadn’t had my scans yet. But I knew that I wasn’t probably playing soccer for a while. But I’m just gonna have a glass of wine, and I’m going to try not to think about things, and tomorrow morning, we’ll hit the ground running. We’ll start the recovery process. I gotta give a massive shout-out to my wife. She didn’t tell me what to do. She just kind of highlighted “Hey, you do that, you know how long your body’s going to take to breakdown that versus what it needs to be doing and healing. There’s a mind-body-soul connection. There’s a lot of things that go into it. Seeing ways that I could be there for my wife, postpartum. Or being there for my children as they’re growing up. As well as the teammate I can be, or the friend that I can be. Or how I can help the community as a complete stranger.

Q: Why is it important to have the ability to be open and talk about these topics?

A: I think when you speak about subjects like this, it’s kind of like a Band-Aid thing. I think a lot of people become uncomfortable because it’s tough. We individually battle things that a lot of people on the outside don’t know about. And I think that’s what propels me to have the courage to speak about things that are sometimes tough to speak about.

Q: How important is your platform and your ability to inspire feedback through your experiences?

A: This was for me. Now I had 30, 40, 50 people not just engaging, but “Hey, I’m at day 150.” “I’m at seven years.” If you can realize that someone is- even on the brightest, sunny days, it could still be raining inside for them. So I think, just kind of understanding that and trying to be the best version of yourself for you, in turn makes the next person, the stranger in the community a little bit better. I’m just a stubborn optimist, man. I like bringing joy and life and energy into things. It takes more muscles to frown than it does to smile. So if I can find ways to keep trimming the fat and be a better version of me, that’s what it’s all about.