Carrie Underwood Reacts to Olympian Julie Ertz’s Touching Tribute

Carrie Underwood is speaking out after Olympian and Women’s World Cup champion Julie Ertz honored the singer by placing Underwood’s name on the back of her jersey.

“Thanks so much, Julie Johnston Ertz!” Underwood posted on social media. “I’m so honored that an iconic woman and great role model like you put my name on her jersey! If country music singers wore jerseys, I would return the favor! [heart emoji]

Underwood is one of several celebrities and athletes, along with Jennifer Lawrence, Abby Wambach, the late Sally Ride and Serena Williams, among others, that espnW honored, captioning the photo “Powerful women empower women.”

It is fitting that Underwood was included in the list, since she is both an unstoppable worker and an impressive athlete, who makes fitness a priority, even owning her own fitness line, CALIA.

“I feel like it’s my therapy everyday,” Underwood shared with PopCulture.com at a recent media event. “I don’t go get massages, I don’t go get facials. That would be great. I might get a massage twice a year – some Mother’s Day present or something, which I literally have a gift card for that, that’s like two years old that I have not used for Mother’s Day.

“But, that’s my thing,” she continued. “I don’t need vacations even. I’m like, ‘Honey, you can give me like an hour, I’m good. You don’t have to take me out. It’s fine.’ That’s kind of my therapy. I feel like a lot of what I do is physically demanding.”

Underwood will soon hit the road on her Cry Pretty Tour 360, this time with her son Isaiah, 4, and newborn son, Jacob. But as she did on her last tour, her Storyteller Tour: Stories in the Round in 2015, Underwood plans on making exercise a priority, even while on the road.

“It is demanding being on stage, and especially some of the songs that I write and sing are really hard, and I need that,” Underwood said. “I need to be at my peak. I need to be able to sing and walk across the stage without being winded. And I’m doing it in heels, which makes it five times as hard, so I feel like that’s just something that makes me a better person, a better performer. It just makes me feel better about myself. It makes me feel better. I need that in my life.”

Underwood just announced she was taking her Cry Pretty Tour 360 to the U.K. Find a list of all of her upcoming shows on her website.

Photo Credit: Getty / Terry Wyatt