PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Crystal Dunn used to be the only black girl on her youth soccer clubs, and even when she finally made the national team, she did her own hair and makeup for photo shoots. because “there was no one prepared it for me.”
While the US national team has become increasingly representative, Dunn says there’s still work to be done. That starts with making sure young women of color feel included right up to the youth level.
“I had parents who were very supportive and explained to me that, ‘This is good, you are still welcome in this sport. And just because there aren’t many people who look like you, this is still your game,” Dunn said. That support was key to his success “because honestly, at the end of the day, it’s pretty lonely to feel like you’re the only one in this space and to feel like you don’t belong.”
Women’s soccer in the United States has long had a diversity problem: The sport’s pay-to-play model means it’s expensive, especially at the highest levels. Club teams and traveling teams can cost thousands of dollars in some cases. Almost from the start, players without financial resources, including many from marginalized communities, are left behind.
Even the president of US Soccer, Cindy Parlow Cone, has lamented that American soccer is seen as a “rich white kid’s sport.”
Dunn was among just five players of color out of 23 on the roster for the USA team that won the World Cup in 2019. By contrast, France had 12.
The most recent USA roster featured 10 women of color, including young stars Trinity Rodman, Naomi Girma and Mallory (Pugh) Swanson, as the team prepares for the World Cup this summer. The United States will face New Zealand twice next week as the teams prepare for the tournament, which will be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand.
“Representation matters,” said Sophia Smith, who scored 11 goals for Team USA last year and won the US Soccer Women’s Player of the Year award.. “And I think for young girls to be able to look at the screen or come to a game and see a lot of people who look different, it’s great.”
The growing representation has helped diversify a team that included fewer than a dozen total black players in its entire history prior to 2012.
The pool of players talented enough for each of America’s highest levels, the national team and the National Women’s Soccer League, is already small. The exclusive nature of youth soccer makes it even smaller.
The pay-to-play structure “leaves many minority communities marginalized in a bind” due to the high costs, Dunn said. “And if I didn’t have parents who could dish out three, four, five thousand dollars a year, I don’t know if I could sit here and say that I would have continued to play this sport.”
Parlow Cone told a youth sports panel last year that the US federation is looking into access to the game.
“A lot of it comes down to how our sport is viewed, the marketing, and how we change that thinking about this being a rich white kid’s sport to this being a sport that’s literally played in every country in the world.” she said. “And as the most diverse country in the world here in the US, how do we shift that focus to make sure every kid feels welcome in our game?”
Ed Foster-Simeon, executive director of the US Soccer Foundation, is among those trying to make soccer more accessible to communities that have traditionally not been involved.
The foundation’s Soccer for Success program has worked with more than 400,000 children, 90% of them from communities of color, since 2008. The program expects to serve more than 100,000 children this year.
The foundation says more than 121,000 girls from underserved communities have benefited from its programs in the past three years, part of its United For Girls initiative launched after the 2019 World Cup. In addition, the foundation has hired 5,475 coaches who identify as female or non-binary during that period.
The foundation’s goal is not to develop elite talent but to bring the game to more kids, particularly those in underserved communities, he said.
In recent years, “increasingly clear pathways” have emerged for talented young people, Foster-Simeon said. “But I think our biggest challenge still today is that we’re only scratching the surface in terms of participation. We are not reaching enough children.”
In fact, much of the work with girls is being done at the grassroots level.
Shannon Boxx, who was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame last year, played on the national team from 2003 to 2015. She is on the board of directors for Bridge City Soccer in Portland, whose goal is to attract girls to soccer. match.
He recalls moments on the national team when he realized he was the only person of color present.
“For me, it was just a big weight that I was willing to carry, but I remember feeling like, OK, when we’re signing autographs, I’m looking for those kids who are of color because I want them to know that they can do this,” he said. “And it might be the only one right now, but it won’t be like that in the future.”
Shawna Gordon, a former professional who played for Sky Blue (now Gotham FC) in the National Women’s Soccer League, started the nonprofit Football For Her in Southern California to mentor young players on and off the pitch. regardless of their socioeconomic level. Football For Her takes a whole person approach, addressing nutrition and mental health, as well as playing skills.
“It’s a challenge to play with tough players, like they’re all talented in their own way. And for me, that helps me find my why,” said Amber Ramirez, 13, who attended a Soccer For Her program on Friday nights last fall.
There is evidence that those efforts may be working. Ten years ago, only 24% of Division I women’s soccer players were non-white. The number grew to 34% last season.
But many believe that stopgap measures are not the answer. They want to rethink the pay-to-play model.
The pay-to-play model “is completely endemic to the problems we’re having, so how do we try to adjust it?” said Kate Markgraf, general manager of American Women. “I think we’re finally at a point now where we’re willing, not as US Soccer, but I think as a society, our eyes are wide open in a way they never have been.”
Dunn is hopeful. When she first joined the national team, there were far fewer women of color in the sport and even fewer playing at the highest levels.
It’s important to celebrate the progress, she said, “but it’s also important to keep pushing, pushing for more and pushing so that more women of color can have access to the sport.”
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AP sportswriter Joe Reedy in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
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