It’s been a while but I’m taking to the interweb once again, this time on the other side of the equation. 4 years ago, I picked up a coaching job with a U-9 club soccer …
Today marks one of many last “firsts” in my soccer career. Last first day of preseason. Check. Last first full field scrimmage of the year. Check. Today: My last “first” home exhibition of the year. …
“The Game and the Glory,” an autobiography of Michelle Akers, is a story of perseverance, dedication, and triumph. And that’s just the first chapter. Michelle Akers is a female soccer player who played …
They boys girls are back in town! Women’s professional soccer is back. The NWSL kicked off its inaugural season this past weekend, with all eight teams taking to the pitch for a full weekend of soccer. …
About a year ago, I remember seeing advertisements for this new series on ESPN about 30 directors creating 30 varying sports stories entitled “ESPN Films 30 for 30“. Needless to say, I waited in joyful …
One of the founding members of Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS), the Red Stars have been around since 2009. Named after the four six-pointed stars on the municipal flag of Chicago, the Red Stars finished that inaugural season in sixth place with a record of 5-10-5 (W-L-D). Both in 2009 and 2010 the Red Stars did not qualify for WPS postseason play. In 2011, the Red Stars moved into the Women’s Premier Soccer League (WPSL), and finished first in the Midwest-North region. They were finalists that season, finishing with a record of 8-1-1. Last summer, the Red Stars were one of four former professional teams to compete in the WPSL Elite Inaugural season, and finished fourth out of eight teams. However, they finished with an overall record of 9-4-1, upsetting the top seed and ending as finalists in the WPSL Elite championship. They were Open Cup Champions in 2012.
The Breakers are one of the two remaining franchises (the Washington Spirit, formerly the Freedom being the other) that competed in the original Women’s United Soccer Association (WUSA) in the year 2000, then under head coach Pia Sundhage (who just finished her six-year tenure coaching the U.S. Women’s National Team.) They then competed in Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) from 2007-2011 under head coach Tony DiCicco, who was the USWNT head coach from 1994-1999. The Breakers had successful campaigns in the 2010 and 2011 seasons under DiCicco, making it to the playoffs both seasons. Last summer, the Breakers competed in the Women’s Premier Soccer League (WPSL) Elite under new head coach Lisa Cole, finishing the regular season in first place with the best record in Breakers’ history, 11-3.
Yesterday proved to be a big day for women’s professional soccer fans as the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) launched their website in the afternoon.
The website, nwslsoccer.com, was announced live from the organization’s twitter page, and has generated a decent amount of user feedback, including over 100 retweets.
The website includes links to the websites of the eight clubs that are slated to be a part of this spring’s action, including:
If the team websites are any indication, it seems that this time around, the NWSL is taking itself seriously. When it comes to building a fan base, one of the most prominent tools is the team’s website and Twitter handle. Each club has taken advantage of both of these tools, which should more than likely pay off in the long run. Creating hype for these teams to the locals, as well as those from around the country, should help establish some durable roots for a base of loyal fans. I personally like the way that Seattle has gone with their website design, and hope other teams follow suit in creating sites that give the league some digital credibility in a sense. With the layout (and not to mention, super awesome logo) Seattle has set a high standard for the type of class this league hopes to represent.
The website’s launch indicates the next step for women’s pro soccer fans, as it puts them one increment closer to the reality that this league is for real.
The @NWSL Twitter handle also indicated that the schedule will be released later today. Keep an eye out for my take on what the season schedule looks like, and who it favors.
Unless you play soccer, or better yet are a girl soccer player, this video is probably not funny in the slightest to you. But for us soccer players, this is life in a nutshell.
Started as a group of college girls complaining via Twitter about the daily grind of college soccer, ‘Sh*t soccer girls say,’ posted February of last year, swept the country, especially the soccer community, racking up views. The video, created by a group of girls at Fairfield University, pokes fun at common phrases and actions done by high school and collegiate female soccer players.
The video was so popular, currently with over 2.6 million views, that the creators were actually encouraged to start making t-shirts, and have sold a few thousand @soccergrlprobs t-shirts.
I can personally attest to the accuracy of the video. Our team has considered creating a video of the common phrases for our team. But for now, we just enjoy the hilarity of this tumblr, which equally identifies the life of an athlete.
They have since made a follow-up video, ‘Sh*t soccer girls say, pt. 2,’ which although not nearly as successful, is equally as descriptive of our lives as female soccer players.
Around the world, soccer is known as el jogo bonito, the beautiful game. There are many reasons for this description: the finesse, the grace, the skill, and the elegance of the sport just a few reasons.
But there is something more beautiful than all of that in the game of soccer, or football as it is called around the rest of the world. And photographer Jessica Hiltout showed it in her book entitled Amen — Grassroots Football.
In this book, Hilltout has captured the true beauty of a sport that knows no boundaries. Not constricted by equipment or space or time, soccer is the most popular game in the world because it can be played anywhere in the world.
In a desert in Africa. On a street in Brazil. In a backyard in Crofton, Maryland.
The beauty of the game is that soccer, in its purest form, is a game for everyone. This is demonstrated worldwide in the vast array of players, balls, pitches (fields) and goals. Whether it be Manchester United and Barcelona playing each other at historic Wembley Stadium in front of a crowd of 70,000, or six kids in Africa, knocking around some rags tied together with sticks in the ground for goals.
What is so profound in Hilltout’s book, published in 2010 after the World Cup in Africa, is that it highlights the people that make soccer what it is. Those who love it unconditionally and who play to escape the reality that they find themselves in. The faces of Hilltout’s book are the faces of the true football culture. They prove through their smiles, through their tattered shoes, through their makeshift jerseys one thing.
The game is for everyone, anywhere.
Ian Brower writes in the prologue the following:
This book is not just about football, or indeed about football in Africa. It is a book that tries to capture the beauty and strength of the human spirit.
In Africa, football is NOT a religion. But it is everything a religion SHOULD BE.
Every village in Africa has one open-air temple with goalposts at opposite ends and devoted followers in the middle.
Football breathes happiness into sun-baked days and rain-soaked evenings. On a continent where not even the basics are taken for granted, football is precious.
And like everything that is truly precious, it is a necessity, like bread and water.
Most kids in the U.S. could tell you what each of these three-letter acronyms stands for. These leagues are what they grew up with, some more than others, but each permeating awareness enough for them to know it’s there.
What’s more. Many young boys in the U.S. grow up watching these stars. Idolizing them. It doesn’t take a genius to figure this out, and the numbers don’t lie. These six athletes have over one million Twitter followers each, with Lebron James taking tops in this list with over 7 million!
Kobe Bryant’s Twitter page: 1,156,613 Followers
Lebron James’ Twitter page: 7,143,510 followers
Tiger Woods’ Twitter page: 2,931,232 followers
Tim Tebow’s Twitter page: 2,127,425 followers
Mike Vick’s Twitter page: 1,707,535 followers
Pau Gasol’s Twitter page: 1,755,733 followers
Photos courtesy of twitter.com
All of this to highlight the idea that professional sports in this country have always been a demonstration of what can be achieved through individual dedication and perseverance. Professional sports have a history of giving kids a means to a way out. A way out of a tough neighborhood, a tough family situation, or a tough childhood.
Above all else, professional sports do something even more important.
Give little girls something, or more importantly, someone to idolize.
On the heels of two dramatic international tournaments, the Women’s World Cup in 2011, and the London Olympics of 2012, the U.S. Women’s National Team didn’t only give little girls something to cheer about, they gave the country something to cheer about. They drew the attention of the world to women’s soccer, and they made it count.
Returning to the United States, the USWNT then played in their Fan Tribute Tour, making sure that the people of the U.S. did not forget about them, or women’s soccer. The tour was a success. The team played in front of no less than 10,000 people every match, drawing nearly 20,000 at a few venues.
But more importantly, they pounded home some important words.
These women brought soccer, women’s soccer, into the homes of millions of viewers twice in the past three years. And then, when they came back, they reaffirmed the imprint, but this time, they did at home.
The NWSL, in order to ensure their league to be successful, must continue to remind people why they tuned in to watch Ali Krieger pound home the winning penalty kick against Japan in the Olympic final last summer.
They must build upon the huge soccer culture that already exists at the youth level. They need to appeal to the millions of soccer moms, soccer dads, coaches, players, and casual fans around this country who drive tens to hundreds of miles every weekend to watch Mary and Suzie play soccer.
Above all else, the NWSL has to as most coaches would say “play within itself.” Set realistic goals, fiscally, attendance-wise, and in every other aspect, so that it can create an atmosphere that girls and the nation alike can be proud of. And, they need to give little girls what we all dream of from our athletes and leagues.
Heroes.
Alex Morgan is up to over 1 million Twitter followers, and Hope Solo has 667,000.
Welcome to You Play Like A Girl, a blog about women’s soccer. I’m going to be covering all sides of women’s soccer, and focusing a lot on the new and upcoming women’s professional soccer league in the United States, the NWSL!
Most people in the U.S. wouldn’t believe that soccer is in fact the most popular youth sport in all of the country, with over 3,000,000 kids registered between the ages of five and nineteen. And even with that huge amount, professional soccer, be it men’s or women’s, has yet to really stake a solid foothold in American culture. And, try as they might, the women players in this country, who have found great success on the international stage since their inception in 1985, have also had great turmoil in creating a stable and successful professional league.
Here’s a timeline of women’s professional soccer in the United States.
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