NWSL

Youth soccer in America is changing. Over the past few years, U.S. soccer has moved to profoundly address the exclusivity of high-level grass roots play. Talented footballers at the high school age can get offered to play for a program known as a Development Academy (DA). Both Major League Soccer and other youth clubs all over the U.S. have Development Academy teams, from the high school age all the way down to U-12. 

Every little girl that participates in soccer at a young age dreams of playing on her national team or professionally. Except Australian native Samantha Kerr.

Growing up in Perth, Australia, Kerr broke gender barriers by playing a sport that was predominately male. She refers to it as footy, but that is just the outback way of saying rugby. Playing a so-called male sport is difficult for any female, but Kerr went unnoticed as a girl by her boy teammates and once they discovered she was not the same as them they cried.

For anyone that has ever made an excuse to not go to practice, well, Orlando Pride’s Sydney Leroux just set the standard on how strong women can be. 

In American men’s soccer, the path to turning pro has never been clearer. The MLS SuperDraft, the general means for college players to enter the league, has always been somewhat irrelevant, but now it’s by and large obsolete. Talent is coming through the league's Development Academies, where players are working year-round on the quest to becoming world-class, not unlike professionals themselves.

It’s been an eventful week considering it’s offseason around the National Women’s Soccer League. The NWSL announced its 2019 schedule but also lost its primary broadcast partner. So those wondering how to watch NWSL matches in 2019 may be in for a change from recent seasons.

The NWSL and A+E Networks announced an “amicable end” to their partnership on Wednesday, with one year remaining on a three-year broadcast deal. This came a day before the release of the full 2019 season schedule.

The home of Seattle Reign FC since their first National Women’s Soccer League season in 2014 was Memorial Stadium in Seattle Center. But late 2017, the NWSL made it clear that due to the declining attendance and conditions inside the stadium, they had to find a more suitable home.

While making sure they remain in Washington, they have decided to move to Cheney Stadium in Tacoma for the upcoming 2019 season. 

NWSL club Sky Blue FC has been down in the dumps recently due to poor working conditions for its professional athletes. It's so bad that newcomers that just achieved their lifelong dreams of playing professional soccer are refusing to sign with the team. Prior to being drafted, both draftees said they would not play for Sky Blue in hopes that manager Phil Murphy wouldn’t pick them.

It is never easy to hang up your cleats and call it quits. But on January 12, 2019, Sky Blue FC defender Christina Gibbons announced her retirement from the NWSL.

At a young age of 24, Gibbons' short-lived career came to an end with her playing in 18 matches, starting in 16 of them.

Prior to her professional appearances, she had a successful collegiate career at Duke University and she was then drafted fifth overall by FC Kansas City in the 2017 NWSL College Draft. In between her trade to Sky Blue in 2018, she also competed for Melbourne Victory in Australia’s W-League.