US Club Soccer doubles down on commitment to women and girls in soccer; partners with WeCOACH and Coaching HER

CHARLESTON, S.C. (Aug. 21, 2024) – US Club Soccer is proud to announce partnerships with two of the country’s leading organizations dedicated to improving the experience of women and girls in sport: WeCOACH and Coaching HER. The partnerships provide US Club Soccer members with complimentary access to research-backed educational programs and initiatives to combat dropout rates of girls in sport and improve female representation in coaching.

Founded in 2011, WeCOACH focuses on the recruitment, advancement and retention of women coaches in all sports and levels through professional growth and leadership development programs. Two years ago, WeCOACH – formerly known as the Alliance of Women Coaches – launched its flagship initiative “MOVE the NUMBERS” to improve the landscape for women coaches and the student athletes they lead, noting “if she can see her, she can be her.”

US Club Soccer has invested significantly in its coach membership base, providing women member coaches with complimentary WeCOACH memberships. Coaches can now engage in numerous programs offered by WeCOACH and build their personal networks. Programs include: the Youth & High School Women Coaches Academy, Regional Workshops, WeMENTOR Program, Video Chats, WeAMPLIFY (women of color initiative), and the About Time podcast. In addition, access to several new programs that were launched in 2023 will be available, like: WeCONNECT Women Coaches, a peer-to-peer learning opportunity led by coaches, and WeELEVATE, a program that focuses on assistant and associate-head coaches who aspire to become head coaches.

US Club Soccer will be selecting five coaches to receive scholarships to attend the WeCOACH Youth & High School Women Coaches Academy, to be held virtually Nov. 1. The Academy is a program that provides professional development with advanced leadership skills and strategies that directly impact personal and team success. Coaches may apply here by Sept. 16.

“This monumental partnership with US Club Soccer helps ‘MOVE the NUMBERS’ by providing memberships for thousands of women coaches in their community,” said Vanessa Fuchs, CEO of WeCOACH. “This collaboration reflects their commitment to supporting and empowering women in coaching, and we are excited to join forces to supplement and complement the impactful educational initiatives US Club Soccer offers their members.”

Women coaches currently registered with US Club Soccer will receive an email in the coming days with instructions for claiming their complimentary WeCOACH membership. Questions should be directed to wecoach@usclubsoccer.org.

And while increasing, retaining and developing female coaches has the potential to dramatically improve the youth soccer landscape far beyond individual coaches, it’s also important to address youth female athletes specifically. Studies by the University of Minnesota’s Tucker Center on Girls and Women in Sports show that 14-year-old girls are dropping out of sports at two times the rate of boys.

Coaching HER, a research-based online program out of The Tucker Center and backed by Nike, was created for coaches, parents and leaders in sport to understand how to best coach girls. The program’s online modules help minimize gender inequalities with topics related to confidence, motivation, body image and unconscious biases. Coaching HER will also contribute resources to US Club Soccer’s digital channels, including its new mobile app.

“We are thrilled to welcome US Club Soccer as our first organizational partner of Coaching HER,” said Dr. Nicole M. LaVoi, Director of The Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport. “All athletes deserve coaches that understand how to create an environment to help all girls thrive and reach their full potential and this is an important first step.”

US Club Soccer coaches, parents and club leaders are encouraged to access and complete the online modules at coachingher.com.

“US Club Soccer is committed to the development of people, not just athletes and coaches and anyone with a sport-specific title,” said Dr. Missy Price, US Club Soccer VP of Education & Development. “Sports present an incredible opportunity to improve ourselves as leaders and teammates – skills valuable far beyond the field. These resources, through our friends at WeCOACH and Coaching HER, require little time and no financial investment from our members, yet the pay-off of improving our sport for girls and women is immense. I invite our members to take advantage of these resources, challenge themselves to think differently and explore continuous personal or professional development.”

ABOUT WECOACH:

Founded in 2011, WeCOACH is a one-of-a-kind 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to recruiting, advancing, and retaining women coaches in all sports and levels through year-round professional growth & leadership development programs. Prior to Title IX, over 90% of women’s collegiate sports teams were coached by women. Today, over 50 years later, the dataindicates that number has decreased to 41% across all three NCAA Divisions, with only 7% women head coaches of color. Only 5% women coach men’s teams. At the youth level, the data is hard to estimate, approximately less than 20% of teams are coached by women. WeCOACH launched MOVE the NUMBERS in 2022 to help change the landscape for womencoaches and the student-athletes they lead. If she can see her, she can be her. For more information visit MOVE the NUMBERS.

ABOUT COACHING HER:

Coaching HER is a coaching resource that helps sport coaches of girls challenge the status quo and the taken-for-granted assumptions of what it means to coach girls. Coaching HER helps coaches minimize gender inequalities and to coach differently. Coaching HER tackles central and unaddressed issues which negatively impact girls’ and women’s performance, self-perceptions, sport choices, and experiences: coaches’ unconscious gender biases and stereotypes.