U.S. Soccer and Emma Hayes’ big ambition

This past week I got to do some cool stuff for The Associated Press and headed to Atlanta to visit the new U.S. Soccer headquarters — The Arthur M. Blank U.S. Soccer National Training Center.

It’s a state-of-the art facility for both the federation’s executive offices and team training. Some of the stuff the general public doesn’t get to see is the cryogenic booth, the sleep pods and the players’ lounge with all the trophies.

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U.S. Soccer was hosting the herLENS conference, part of national team coach  Emma Hayes’ vision to remake women’s soccer in the United States through a female lens. It’s a holistic approach to everything from training techniques, to player development and even research into performance. Last year Hayes referred to it as The WNT Way.

The attendees included coaches at every level of the USWNT program, a few NWSL general managers and team representatives, youth club coaches and administrators, among others from across the sport’s ecosystem. We got to hear from speakers including U.S. Soccer President Cindy Parlow Cone and former player Crystal Dunn, who will be honored for her career on Oct. 10 at Audi Field ahead of the U.S. team’s friendly against Spain.

Parlow Cone told a funny story about the Olympic gold medal game and how, the day before the game, the normally meticulous Hayes called and said she forgot to get tickets for family members and friends. US Soccer doesn’t control the tickets, the IOC does, so Parlow Cone had to scramble at the last minute, eventually getting Hayes’ guests their seats — in a box with Tom Cruise.

I’m working on a number of projects for AP that have to do with some of the topics discussed at the conference and I’ll be sharing those with Soccer Insider going forward, but I wanted to offer some of my over-arching observations.

Hayes is ambitious. We’ve already seen parts of her vision in action with the collective camps for the senior team and under-23s. We’ve seen the creation of the Kang Women’s Institute (KWI), which is tackling the lack of research into female athletes. The KWI is looking into such things as the impact of hormones on performance.

But the challenge facing Hayes and the rest of U.S. Soccer is taking the knowledge that is learned and applied at the elite level and getting it to trickle down to the 11-year-olds playing for a parks and rec team with a volunteer coach.

Hayes understands the task at hand is significant:

“I think we need a world in which you are going to work and saying, `Have we considered that through a female lens?’ again and and again and again, to change it,” she said. “To get more players, to get better environments, to create whatever that might be — and most importantly, the best practitioners. It might be mums, it might all the volunteers that are required to be in that. I think developing the female lens perspective and having more female representation in our environment will make the fundamental differences that will elevate us to the next level.”

Stay tuned for more in-depth stories about this initiative.

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Links

Meg Linehan’s excellent story on the NWSL emerging following the abuse scandal

Atlanta’s NWSL team debuts name, crest

The Athletic profiled Yolanda Thomas

Rose Lavelle signs a contract extension with Gotham

Why Emma Hayes wanted to play top-ranked Spain

Hayes uses under-23 squad to build depth for the USWNT

Hayes hopes to have Macario back in January

Ashley Sanchez is back on the latest USWNT roster

Arsenal is falling behind just 10 games into the season

Barcelona demolished Real Madrid

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Soccer: Annie Peterson, @AnnieMPeterson, AP Women’s Soccer
Tennis: Joey Dillon, @JoeyDillon, Freelance Tennis Writer
Basketball: Howard Megdal, @HowardMegdal, The IX Sports
Softball: Maren Angus-Coombs, @Maren-Angus, The IX Sports
Golf: Marin Dremock, @MDremock, The IX Sports
Hockey: @TheIceGarden, The Ice Garden
Gymnastics: Jessica Taylor Price, @jesstaylorprice, Freelance Writer