Kansas City Current midfielder Vanessa DiBernardo spent 385 days off the NWSL pitch to fulfill a personal goal of hers: becoming a mom.
The Current star last played on June 20, 2025, before officially announcing her first pregnancy with her husband, Andy Miltonberger, at the end of July. She gave birth to a daughter, Charlie Mae, in January of this year.
DiBernardo took a few months off for maternity leave after giving birth, sitting out for the entire NWSL preseason and first few months of the 2026 campaign. Once she was given medical clearance to return to soccer, the 34-year-old midfielder began practicing again, working to get her body and energy back.
On July 10, DiBernardo entered in the 82nd minute of the Current’s away game vs. the Orlando Pride. Mission accomplished.
“Everyone’s journey is going to be different, everyone’s birth is going to be different,” DiBernardo says. “You kind of just listen to the player and listen to their body and go at their own pace. They did great here, and we worked together in the return-to-play process of just getting my strength back, my fitness back, my ball work back. I felt really ready once I got into the team environment and team training.”
DiBernardo admitted she was shocked at how “great” her body feels just six months after giving birth to her daughter. She vividly remembers talking to a teammate years ago who’d been on maternity leave, talking about her experience.
“It was funny, a few years ago I talked to one of my teammates who was returning and she’s like ‘My body actually feels so much better,’ and I was like ‘O.K,’” DiBernardo recalls sarcastically. “But, I feel the same. My body feels great. I think just some time off is different for us, we don’t really get that amount of time off to rehab your whole body, and that’s kind of what I did. I’m grateful to have had that experience.”
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When DiBernardo started her career as a professional women’s soccer player, though, returning to the game after birthing a child didn’t seem very possible. Sure, there’d been a select few players to successfully return to the pitch after giving birth (notably USWNT player Joy Fawcett in 1994, who had three children and continued playing for 10 years after the birth of her first). But players weren’t always given the resources they needed in order to make stepping away from the game for around a year worth it. For a long time, pregnancy resulted in retirement for women’s soccer players.
“I think when I started in this league, it was very different. If you wanted to start a family, you retired. The past few years, we’ve kind of grown into that, and we’re capable of doing both,” DiBernardo says. “You need the support system to be able to do that. I think I’m fortunate to have a great support system. My teammates have been great. Just bringing [Charlie Mae] on the road, it’s nice to have a human aspect to it.”
In 2024, the NWSL passed a revised collective bargaining agreement, which will run through 2030, that expanded the league’s parental leave legislation. Players now are guaranteed to receive their base salary while out on maternity leave. For players whose contracts expire during their leave period, their club is required to include them in the following season’s 30-day training camp to give them a chance at earning a new contract. Additionally, players are given money for childcare services and travel support, and the NWSL helps provide resources to help through fertility journeys.
Right now, there are nearly 30 active NWSL players competing who have come back from having children, which is the most in a given season in league history. Stars like Mallory Swanson and Sophia Wilson made headlines earlier this season when returning from their respective maternity leaves. Both Swanson and Wilson recently spoke to The Athletic’s Melanie Anzdiei about their experiences coming back to the pitch under the new CBA. Swanson harped on how important the additional resources and support have been for her specifically.
“Everyone’s body is so different, and everyone’s journey, and pregnancy, and postpartum is so different,” Swanson said. “The one thing that I can collectively say is: Everyone needs support from everyone around them. And I’ve had that during this return, and I’m just very thankful for that.”
Wilson utilizes the CBA to help pay for childcare. The Portland Thorns and USWNT star wants to be a fully hands-on mom, but the NWSL schedule calls for additional help. Wilson is grateful that the league offers assistance where she needs it.
“It’s been so great, so helpful, but I do feel like I am a mom that likes to do everything, unless I literally physically can’t,” Wilson said. “So I’ve been finding what that balance looks like, and being able to be fully present and give my whole self to [daughter] Gigi, and then at the same time give my whole self to whatever team it is I’m playing with.”
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USWNT coach Emma Hayes has always advocated for women’s players to be given fair opportunities to become parents while also not giving up their playing careers. With so many active mothers competing on NWSL rosters this year, including on the national team, Hayes is hoping the league will continue having these open discussions around parenthood moving forward.
“I think sometimes as women we have to talk about it more positively,” Hayes said, via The Athletic’s Asli Pelit. “I do value being a role model in that regard, because for too long, too many women, if they so choose to have children, found it very difficult to maybe go back to work or didn’t feel they had the support or the expertise, and I am more than happy to do those things, but I am also happy to make tough decisions, like I don’t have to be one or the other.”
NWSL players repeatedly highlight how important it is to have the support from their club and coaching staff when making the decision to start a family. This was on top of DiBernardo’s mind when she became pregnant and notified coach Vlatko Andonovski last summer.
Andonovski coached mothers in Kansas City and on the U.S. women’s national team, but by the time she made her return, the club had moved on and hired Chris Armas. The position is his first in professional women’s soccer, presenting a unique challenge as he oversaw DiBernardo’s pregancy and recovery from afar.
However, DiBernardo wasn’t worried about whether Armas would support her after the birth of her daughter—the two spoke in December before his official hiring, and Armas emphasized how the team would respect her timeline and comfort level. She was more focused on her ability to adjust to a new strategy and approach.
“It’s always hard to jump in the middle of a season and just jump into what’s going on. I missed preseason, which, with a new coach, is super important,” DiBernardo says. “I’ve kind of just been trying to take as much as I can in team meetings and really learn his style. I think it’s been a little bit of a process for me.”
Even just a couple of months into working together, Armas is already appreciative of how DiBernardo has taken it upon herself to step up for her team this early into returning.
“I think it’s really awesome to see how she has pushed the boundaries a bit and got herself back, and really diligent to do so,” Armas says. “I’m so thrilled for her and really happy for us that we have another player that’s really reliable for us.”
Armas also loves having Charlie Mae along for the ride. It’s reminiscent of a time when his children were young and around the game.
“I think it is a nice reminder that the game brings so much demand and stress to players,” Armas says. “It’s just a nice dynamic, it’s a good reminder about life and the realities sometimes.”
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Back on July 10, Charlie Mae was in the crowd to watch her mom enter her first game following her birth. It was a surreal moment for DiBernardo to know her daughter was in the crowd, even if it’s a moment her six-month-old won’t remember. It isn’t her plan to bring Charlie Mae to every game—it isn’t feasible for her husband to do so—but DiBernardo looks forward to when she can see her baby in the crowd or give her a hug after a match.
Having a baby, especially a girl, has changed DiBernardo’s perspective on life, she says. She hopes to be an inspiration for Charlie Mae and for other young girls out there to show that women are strong and capable of being working mothers if they so choose.
“I think a lot about her and how I can be a good role model for her,” DiBernardo says. “…I want to be able to share it with her and just show that she can do what she wants to do and to dream and to not let thoughts or outside noise stop her from doing that. I think that’s what’s been great the past few years in this league. I think so many women who want to start families feel comfortable to be able to do that. We’re changing the narrative that you can come back and still be as good as you were and still be able to do both.”
