Soccer Monday: Talking Juneteenth and the Black Women’s Players Collective with Imani Dorsey

I was lucky enough to have an extended conversation with Imani Dorsey from the Utah Royals for an AP story that I’m working on, but I wanted to share some excerpts with Soccer Monday in advance.

Dorsey is on the board of the Black Women’s Player Collective, a non-profit organization formed in 2020 that aims to elevate the representation and voices of Black women in sports.

Among its initiatives are free soccer clinics, building mini pitches and distributing tickets for kids to attend NWSL games. But above that, the group seeks elevate the general presence of Black women in sports.

Because Juneteenth falls on a Thursday this year, some teams recognized the holiday this past weekend, while others will celebrate it this coming weekend.

This year, in partnership with the NWSL, the BWPC has teamed up with artist Cortney Herron to design limited-edition Juneteenth pre-match tops that players across the league are wearing.

Readers of The IX save 50% on subscriptions to The Next!

The Next: A basketball newsroom brought to you by The IX. 24/7/365 women’s basketball coverage, written, edited and photographed by our young, diverse staff, dedicated to breaking news, analysis, historical deep dives and projections about the game we love.

Subscribe to make sure this vital work of creating a pipeline of young, diverse media professionals to write, edit and photograph the great game continues and grows. Your subscription ensures our writers and editors creating 24/7/365 women’s basketball coverage like what you’re reading right now get paid to do it!

The BWPC is holding a 5v5 youth soccer tournament in Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood on Thursday and, as always, is partnering with Girls Inc. to send girls to NWSL games.

Here is some of my conversation with Dorsey about the group and its work. I edited it slightly for brevity. And, as a note, I edited my questions a lot, because I stammer and can never get a complete thought to come out of my mouth. Which, frankly, is why I write.

Annie Peterson: So tell me about the BWPC and the work that you guys are doing now.

Imani Dorsey: I mean, so it’s crazy to think that it’s already been five years. And we’re still very much at the core and essence of why we began, which is to support one another. Not only support each other internally, but externally, so that everybody knows that we’re united and we’re together. That’s still the core of what we do, it’s holding spaces for our members. And when I say members, that pretty much consists of black NWSL players who opt to be involved in the organization in some capacity, shape or form, whether that’s hosting dinners or coffee chats or virtual zoom meetings. Just trying to find more opportunities to provide safe space and opportunity for black women to be in the room together and to talk about our experiences with one another.

Obviously, the public-facing side of that is sharing our experiences and our stories, with news outlets and on our social media platforms and through our partnerships with the Adidas Youth Soccer Foundation. Our mini-pitch initiative is still as strong as ever. We’ve also seen a larger partnership in collaboration with … our Juneteenth events with the different NWSL teams across the markets. I’m really excited for what we’re doing this Juneteenth. We have a lot of activations and partnerships and opportunities going for us to just continue to share the message of this beautiful holiday and highlight the black players that are in and around this league.

AP: There are a lot of things happening in society today, like the attacks on DEI initiatives and issues around erasure. I wanted to get your thoughts on how the BWPC and organizations like it are important in sports.

ID: I think that’s such a good point because a lot of the conversations that I have, with people in my organization and outside partners or whoever, it’s usually the same: Maybe DEI the term is being erased, but all these people are doing the same work. It doesn’t change the essence and the core of the fact that we exist. And we’re still doing the same types of gatherings and efforts and initiatives in and around the community. So I will say — and I don’t want to minimize the fact that it’s incredibly detrimental that we’re erasing the term DEI because there’s an importance to that — but the work remains the same. And we are not going anywhere. And we will continue to amplify and elevate our members and sharing our experiences and our stories because we know that it means a lot. So it means a lot to young girls and means a lot to to allies. It means a lot in our community continue to share the experience of what it is to be a professional athlete, and on top of that, a woman of color.

AP: You’ve talked about being a mentor. What is your advice to young women of color who come into the league?

ID: I would say, always continue to work on finding your voice and finding your identity outside of soccer. That ties into my mental health, that ties into who I am as a black woman. Before the Black Women’s Player Collective, I separated the two. I separated my identity as a black woman from my identity as a soccer player. Soccer didn’t feel like a space for me to maybe express the issues or concerns or stressors I feel in a white world, in a predominantly white sport. The Black Women’s Player Collective, in that time, in 2020, was the first time that I felt open and comfortable and able to talk about these issues that affect me and my community, that my family is talking about every single day. And obviously it’s not just about the struggles, but it’s about my culture and my identity. I’m so excited to be able to that. I feel comfortable enough to share Juneteenth with my teammates and our club and know that we’re not just ignoring what our history is and what our past is, but trying to honor it, recognize it and celebrate it.

To come back to the advice, I just say, continue to search on finding your voice and finding your identity. I think it’s so important for athletes to use their platforms for good and to enact change. Everybody can do that in their own way, shape or form. But it also, I think, helps you understand what’s important to you and what defines you and what makes you you, on and off the field.

Your business can reach over 3 million women’s sports fans every month!

Here at The Next and The IX, our audience is a collection of the smartest, most passionate women’s sports fans in the world. If your business has a mission to serve these fans, you should reach out to our team at editors@theixsports.com to discuss ways to work together in 2025.

Onto the links:

PayPal Park in San Jose will host the NWSL title game this year

Denver NWSL breaks ground on its performance center

The Equalizer looks at 3 NWSL standouts flying under the radar

The players’ unions for the NWSL and the WNBA release a joint statement denouncing immigration raids

How the NWSL’s CBA set the precedent for the WNBA’s

Angel City gives fans Immigrant City Football Club T-shirts

Olympics channel with a handy list of all the teams and players in the Women’s Euros.

Tampa Bay Sun win the 1st USL Women’s Super League title

Alex Cooper says she was sexually harassed by her former soccer coach (NY Post, I know, sorry)

Conversations surrounding host cities for the 2031 Women’s World Cup are starting to happen.

Final note: Way to go, Angel City.