Soccer legend Brandi Chastain has pledged to donate her brain for chronic traumatic encephalopathy research.

The 47-year-old, best known for her 1999 World Cup-winning penalty kick and the shirt-doffing celebration that followed, highlighted the move on Thursday as an important step in understanding how youth sports may affect development of CTE.

"If theres any information to be gleaned off the study of someone like myself, who has played soccer for 40 years, it feels like my responsibility -- but not in a burdensome way," Chastain told The New York Times .

Conditions like CTE, which are linked to repetitive hits to the head , can only be diagnosed after death . It manifests itself in ways that can include cognitive disorders like memory loss and mood disorders like depression and rage.