Canada's Lindsay Agnew ready for next chapter of her life after announcing early retirement

A foot injury suffered last May not only gave Canadian national team defender Lindsay Agnew pause for thought, it also ended up changing the course of her life.

Agnew caught a lot of people in the Canadian soccer community completely off-guard last month when she announced her plans to retire at the tender age of 26. The native of Kingston, Ont., is still a young woman, and had plenty of game left in her legs, so she could have continued playing on for Canada and the NWSL’s North Carolina Courage.

But it was a piece of advice from her father, former NHL assistant coach Gary Agnew, that resonated with her as she recovered from her injury and helped her decide to walk away from the sport that she started playing when she was four years old.