On Wednesday, April 28th, I held a conference call with all 6 female coaches in Women’s Professional Soccer to talk about the development of women’s soccer coaches – in America and around the world. On the call, we had:

* Emma Hayes, Chicago Red Stars Head Coach
* Pauliina Miettinen, Sky Blue FC Head Coach
* Lisa Cole, Boston Breakers Assistant Coach
* Denise Reddy, Chicago Red Stars Assistant Coach
* Nicci Wright, Washington Freedom Goalkeeper Coach
* Anne Parnila, Sky Blue FC Assistant Coach

Below, I’ve included the text from my intro, and then a very brief summary of each Q&A, with time markers for your listening convenience. Enjoy, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts!

* Please note that the summaries are not exact words (you’ll need to listed to the podcast for that!), and I recorded the call on Skype so once in a while there’s a break in the audio (sorry).

(If you can’t see the player above, you can also download the .mp3)

Intro: Welcome everybody to today’s call, “Women Coaching Top-Level Football, A Discussion”.

My name’s Amanda Vandervort, and I’m the owner of Soccer Science – a blog about the technology that is revolutionizing the way we see the beautiful game. I also work in New Media at the WPS League Office, and I’m the Chair of the Women’s Committee for the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA).

I’ve organized this call, here at the beginning of the 2010 WPS season, because I often find myself talking about Women Coaching Soccer – why we’re not seeing many women at the highest levels, what barriers women are facing to becoming top-level coaches, and how we as a coaching community can help develop women to stay in the game and take on coaching as a career. I thought – who best to chat about these things than with the select few who have actually made it?

With that I’d like to welcome 4 of the female coaches in WPS to the call. We’re expecting two more throughout the call, so hopefully they do join us. Let’s go around the room and if you could each introduce yourself, the team you coach, and your position that would be great. And, to give this intro a little flavor, let’s dig right in and can you give us a n idea about how your background (hometown, country, culture) has impacted your career choice to be a soccer coach.

Emma Hayes (right) discusses strategies at the 2010 WPS Draft with Red Stars general manager Marcia McDermott. (image: isiphotos.net)

1:30 – Emma Hayes, Head Coach for the Chicago Red Stars. From London, England. Was injured and took coaching courses as a teenager. Then came to the states to pursue her dreams of coaching professionally.

Lisa Cole walks onto the pitch to congratulate her players after a win in 2009. (image: isiphotos.net)

2:00 - Lisa Cole, Assistant Coach for the Boston Breakers. Soccer has been a huge part of her life and felt coaching was a natural progression. Started coaching in the 9th grade. Tactics have always appealed to her.

Nicci Wright (left) works with Freedom goalkeeper, Erin McLeod. (image: isiphotos.net)

2:30 – Nicci Wright, Goalkeeper Coach for the Washington Freedom. From British Columbia, Canada. Was a teacher, and started coaching during her time with the Canadian National Team. Progressed into club, ODP college, the W-League and then WPS.

Denise Reddy shares a few words with the Red Stars defenders. (image: isiphotos.net)

3:30 – Denise Reddy, Assistant Coach for the Chicago Red Stars. Coached ODP in NJ at age 16 and continued throughout college. Played oversees as a pro for 11 years and learned a lot from many different coaches.

Pauliina Miettinen has a word with Sky Blue FC player, Laura Kalmari. (image: isiphotos.net)

4:00 – Pauliina Miettinen, Head Coach for Sky Blue FC. It’s been natural, she always wanted to be a teacher and loves soccer. Appreciates all the support she’s received, and she wants to give back.

Anne Parnila organizes the Sky Blue FC midfield. (image: isiphotos.net)

5:24 – Anne Parnila, Assistant Coach for Sky Blue FC. Welcomed to the call, but just plans to listen in.

5:45 – Why do you think you “made it” to pro coaching? What was it that influenced you – a person, an event? Were there any particular challenges that you faced?

6:00 – Emma Hayes. Intrinsic motivation and enjoyment of being a leader. Didn’t have the opportunities in her own country, even if she had the qualifications, because there were no opportunities. The 1999 World Cup made her realize there were opportunities in the States. Sue Ryan and Kim Wyant influenced her. Became a W-League coach at 25. Need a slice of luck and opportunity.

7:40 – Lisa Cole. The people she’s been around – Dr. Colleen Hacker and Tony DiCicco, Sue Ryan, Nancy Feldman. Can name a ton of good, quality coaches. Spent time around them by volunteering or creating opportunities to be in those spots. Good mentors are important. Taking coaching courses, speaking up, having confidence.

9:00 – Nicci Wright. Was lucky to play up until 3 years ago. Transition from player to player-coach, and then coaching. In a situation where she’s been given a great opportunity and may have followed different lines, so every day is a learning process with Jim Gabarra and Clyde Watson. Big difference between where Canada was when she played, and where they are now. Didn’t grow up with a lot of women to look up to in the Canadian system.

12:00 – How do we retain pro players in the game? As we’re developing WPS and pro leagues around the world, how do we encourage, retain and mentor top-level athletes and female players to stay in the game and take on coaching as a career?

12:15 - Nicci Wright. In the Canadian system, it’s a lot about the coaches you’re brought up with. Had a chance to be a player-coach, and there’s a couple players that she’s played with that are now coaching in the youth system, but more than anything it’s about having an open door. Has only had one female coach, so once women begin to see coaching as a possible career path, and the door is open to women, we’ll have more players becoming coaches. Currently, it’s still a struggle.

14:00 – Emma Hayes. In England, the support given to female coaches and their development has improved dramatically under Hope Powell. She has put opportunities in place for women to coach at the top levels. There is more support, and mentorship through their “A” license. With the creation of the 2010 Super League, we’ll hopefully see more opportunities for female coaches at the higher levels.

15:15 – Lisa Cole. The Germans have done a good job in this area because they have their players taking coaching licenses during their playing careers – not to make them all coaches, but to introduce them to tactics and help make them better players. Yet as a result we see players advancing into the coaching ranks.

16:15 – Denise Reddy. She went through the same thing in Sweden. They provided, free of charge, the opportunity to take coaching licenses. Take it with the top pro players in the region, men and women. In Sweden, they also have conferences where they invite coaches to watch games, interact, and talk about where the game is going.

17:30 – Pauliina Miettinen. Hasn’t lived in Finland for many years so can’t relate to the system there so much. Did all her schooling here in the states. Meeting Mark Krikorian was “the best thing that ever happened to me, coaching-wise”. In America, people push you to go higher, where this may not be the case elsewhere. Opportunities are greater here to support yourself as a coach. Going from player to coach, she just tries to do her best, be honest, be funny, and work hard every day.

19:40 – Pauliina and Lisa, can you talk more about how Mark Krikorian has influenced you?

20:00 – Pauliina Miettinen. Mark does things thoroughly, properly, and with integrity. He is willing to help you any time, regardless of when and where you are. Follows through and makes you feel special. He says thank you every single day. Gives credit where credit is due, and values your work and your efforts. Honest, straightforward, and doesn’t play games.

21:40 – Lisa Cole. Mark is one of of a number of male coaches who have really invested in the women’s game – also Tony Dicicco and Jerry Smith – and works to help females become successful in the game, both as players and coaches. Mark in particular, recognizes his staff’s strengths and weaknesses. He puts his staff in situations where they can excel at what they’re good at. He empowers people around him.

24:00 – Emma, can you talk more about how Sue Ryan influenced your coaching career

24:20 – Emma Hayes. Sue Ryan mentored Emma to not miss steps in the coaching development process. Coach the youth players, become a clinician. Be patient and be attentive to the details that come along with coaching at different levels. While Emma always knew she wanted to be a Head Coach, Sue advised her to take an assistant job, and it’s allowed her to have a different perspective and relationship with the players. It’s critical that we give back to communities.

26:43 – Where do you see the women’s game in 20 years?

27:00 – Lisa Cole. Gaps will close between countries, in terms of competitiveness. WPS will be celebrating it’s 22nd year of play. Sponsorship and the value that sponsors are seeing in females participating in sports is increased. There’s a lot of work to be done – In 20 years, we could be restarting again if we don’t stay on top of the work we’re doing now.

28:00 – Pauliina Miettinen. In Europe, a lot of counties have emerged, and as a result we’ll see a more balanced level of play. We have so much more to learn as players. Tactically and technically we will become more proficient, but we are still young as a sport. Even in 5 years the game will look different.

29:10 – Nicci Wright. When we started WPS last year, we were using footage of the 2003 Founder’s Cup, and the ability of players has completely changed. So looking forward, it will continue to change. 20 year is far off, but the game will continue to grow.

30:30 - Denise Reddy. With WPS, the leagues around Europe may not be as strong here at the beginning. But because of this, they will be able to develop their younger players – 16/17 year-old players are currently in the top divisions abroad. In America, we’ll need to develop younger players, especialy in technical and tactical advancement, so when they come out of college at 21, they’re at a higher level and can take the steps to becoming a pro.

32:00 - Emma Hayes. We will see the introduction of better long-term player development strategies and a more academy-like structure in the women’s game, similar to the men’s game in this country. Continued lobbying at FIFA will allow for the development of grassroots soccer in emerging nations (Africa and Latin America) will bring more teams participating in larger, worldwide tournaments. One thing that WPS has benchmarked has been the development of social media in reaching out to its followers – sharing game highlights, interacting with fans and followers, these are creating an impact that will truly be realized in the years to come. “While it may seem as a threat to the rest of the world in terms of taking players, we’re actually setting standards for the women’s game.”

35:35 – Thank you for taking the time to be on today’s call. This is just the tip of the iceberg on all the things we could talk about. Looking forward to seeing you all on the pitch soon!

Interested in seeing a WPS game? View the full 2010 schedule, the TV listings, and webcast/iPhone streaming schedule.

Megan Hueter, co-founder of Women Talk Sports, brought the soccer bloggers from her network together to talk about the state of women’s soccer. I happen to be one of those lucky few, so Megan invited me to participate. Additional people on the call were:

- Megan Hueter, co-founder of WomenTalkSports.
- Dr. Jennifer Doyle, author of From a Left Wing, and associate professor at the UC Riverside
- Jenna Pel, author of All White Kit
- Jane Schonberger, WomenTalkSports cofounder/editorial lead, editor of PrettyTough.com

We had a good chat about an entire range of topics, lasting just about an hour. Megan does have a keen passion and interest for women’s sports and media coverage, so the conversation was largely weighted in that direction. The full recording of the call can be played here:

You can download it here:
http://www.archive.org/details/StateOfWomensSoccer

While the call is almost an hour long, Megan broke down the timeline by topic, so feel free to skip to whichever topic interests you the most. (She also says, “I apologize in advance for being able to hear me type notes while people are talking. That will not happen again on future calls.) Check out Megan’s original post at Women Talk Sports. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

The Timeline

0:00 – 2:30 – Introductions and backgrounds

2:30 – 5:45 – Background on the Women’s Professional Soccer, league attendance estimates, sponsors/partners, 2010 kick-off

5:50 – 10:15 – What to look for in 2010, top players, match-ups. Mentions: Lauren Cheney, Marta, Chicago Red Stars

10:20 – 17:35 – Role of International players in WPS (differentiator from other sports): England, Sweden, Japan, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Spain. 19 countries represented in WPS. Also touched on role of international media, FIFA’s role, impact of Title IX on women’s soccer in the United States.

17:45 – 32:20 – Role of the media in the U.S. in covering women’s professional soccer. Mentioned Fox Soccer Channel, regional broadcast partnerships, webcasts, sometimes lag in mainstream media, and how bloggers are helping to fill the gap. Newspapers, sports media and game recaps. Outlets: Equalizer.com, Goal.com, Bleacher Report, The Global Game.

32:20 – 33:50 International coverage of women’s soccer (World Cup).

33:50 – 35:25 – Elizabeth Lambert/ESPN, headlines, how it was handled.

35:30 – 43:20 – Youth soccer players, their engagement in the league and with players through social media and by attending games. Also touching on the success of the WPS new Defend Your Turf marketing campaign.

43:23 – 53:45 – Engaging independent soccer leagues among Hispanic and Latin neighborhood leagues, harnessing their talent. Mainstream Spanish language media tapping into soccer community in independent leagues in the southwest U.S.

55:00 – 56:25 – Future plans, closing remarks

All righty, here it is: “Football Partnerships welcomes Amanda Vandervort, Web Coordinator at Women’s Professional Soccer“.

I prefer to think of it as a “telephone conversation with a friend” rather than a “podcast”. Basically, Alex Kotler (rock-star founder of Football Partnerships) and I chatted for a good while about social media, what’s hot, key players in the space, and some strategy mumbo jumbo.

You can listen by clicking the link below, or bounce on over to FootballPartnerships.com for the low-down. You can also subscribe to the show via iTunes by searching the podcast directory for ‘Football Partnerships’. Please note that the recording is best heard via iTunes, as some browsers disrupt audio transmission.

Download the .mp3 file here if you’re into that kind of thing.

Anway, I hope you enjoy! Someday I’ll put together a transcript (as I’ve pledged to do for every audio link on my website), but since that means listening to myself talk over and over again for an entire hour, I’d say don’t hold your breath. ;-) Also, here’s the link to my pre-game notes. Did I keep the 4-4-2 formation on this one?

I highly recommend everybody follow Football Partnerships on Twitter and sign up for the newsletter. Both are AWESOME and you can tell Alex really spends a lot of time pulling together news and information that matters to the soccer community as a whole.

Shout out to Alex. Thank you.

I’m just off the phone with Alex Kotler, founder of Football Partnerships – a great network and resource for companies in the business of football. From interviews, articles, to job openings – it’s all on the Football Partnerships website.

I’ve done one podcast before. Back in 2008, when I was working at the Chicago Red Stars, Peter Wilt invited me to crash one of his… but I was new to the scene so he led the charge. So this was the first time I’ve actually been responsible for the answers. Since I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect, I asked Alex to send me a list of questions last night. Then, I put my thoughts together in a word document – that’s what’s posted below.

We got to most of these points on the call (certainly in a different order as you’ll eventually hear), but I thought it might be interesting to post this too. Note that many these questions aren’t exactly the ones Alex sent over, but it’s pretty close.

General discussion of Social Media. What is it?

Social media is a way for people to communicate and interact with one another online.

What’s hot in Social Media right now?

Twitter, of course. But to take that a step further, the localization of information is certainly a trending topic. For example, Yelp, FourSquare and GoWalla are all sites that offer specific geo-tagging, so that when you post to their networks, your feed is tagged with a location.

Why should we care where you are and what you’re doing?

By letting the world know your location, you can enable a new kind of search. These sites all allow you to take the online communication, well, offline, and connect it to real life. You can find your friends when they’re nearby. Yelp can show you restaurants near where you’ve checked in. Foursquare can show tips near you. You can show your friends all the places you checked in on your vacation, for example. Also, a rolodex of your friends organized by location can be super helpful.

Here are some other hot trends I identified that we didn’t talk about:

Ecommerce has gone social. For example, Lululemon, Gap, Dell… All these companies are using Twitter as their Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool. Honda and Smart Water both establish Facebook as their main URL now.

Org charts are starting to catch on – Social Media jobs are no longer for the interns. Companies are hiring managers and director-level positions in the field. Soon, I think it will be standard operating procedure to have a Director of Social Media.

We’re seeing the emergence of Social Media Managements Systems – ping.fm, CoTweet, etc. So it is easier to manage all your social sites from one URL. Of note, I’m seeing much less engagement in the content that gets published via these channels than if I just post to individual networks.

Who are the key influencers in social media?

Tough question, since the beautiful thing about social media is that the influencers are actually the users themselves. The more people the subscribe and engage through Twitter, the more powerful the tool becomes. So I guess you could say that key influencers are the technologies that people find useful – among the Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and more.

Google has demonstrated that social media is clearly causing a riff in the world of organic ranking, by indexing Twitter posts and public Facebook status updates. This is generally referred to as social search. Importantly, Google recently announced that their #1 goal in search quality is to deliver the best locally relevant results, served globally. If Google, the biggest player in the Internet, is scrambling to integrate organic search into their results it must be of value.

If you want a good recommendation on social media people, check out Dan Zarella, The Social Media Scientist http://danzarrella.com. He studies social media behavior from a data-backed position and teach marketers scientifically grounded best practices. Personally, I think the guy’s genius and offers valuable insight into data and trends with which we can make decisions moving forward.

A couple others l like:

- Jeremiah Owyang, http://www.web-strategist.com/blog
- Robert Scoble – http://scobleizer.com
- Charlene Li – http://www.altimetergroup.com/blog

Do you have recommendations for designing a social media strategy for a small to medium size business?

Start by asking yourself these key questions:

- What are your business objectives?
- What are your goals with social media?
- How will you measure those goals?

Then, listen. You’ll really should listen to the social conversation in each community before marketing to the folks in there. Sign up for a Twitter account and learn how and why people are Tweeting. Sign up for Facebook Fan Page to see what people have to say about your brand.

What are some tactical things small business owners can do to get started?

#1 – Set clear goals for your social media marketing efforts, and determine out how you’ll measure success.
#2 – Purchase/secure your domain name across the Internet. This is extremely important for brand management! For example, Women’s Professional Soccer owns:

- http://womensprosoccer.com
- http://facebook.com/womensprosoccer
- http://twitter.com/womensprosoccer
- http://myspace.com/womensprosoccer
- http://delicious.com/womensprosoccer
- http://youtube.com/womensprosoccer

#3 – Listen – It’s important to learn how and why people communicate within different communities. Plus, social communities are savvy and will reject your efforts if you just try to push marketing messages on them.

Get your hands dirty. Pick a site, find a spare hour, sign up. Experience it as a user, and observe how others are using it and engaging with one another through it. Only in doing that can you come to understand not only how it works, but how it might relate to your company.

#4 – Develop a plan. For example: When I started at the Chicago Red Stars, Elly Deutch (who at the time was my intern but is now the Marketing / New Media manager – note the hiring trend) posted a huge dry erase board in our office. We made a chart – along the left hand side, we listed all the social sites we had. Twitter, FB, Yelp, YouTube… Then along the top we posted every event. Every event, we went through the checklist to make sure we had all the outlets covered. We also created a schedule for checking sites and answering questions. Like, Monday = Facebook, Tuesday = MySpace, Wednesday = YouTube, so forth and so on.

What do you think about the saturation effect. Is there too much out there and not enough differentiation?

Let’s take this one back to the birth of the World Wide Web. When you first heard of a “website” you probably thought you’d never have any use for it. Now of course some of the tiniest shops in the world have online presence. Then, you probably had the same reaction when you first discovered blogs, text messaging, or perhaps even email. Many of today’s social networking sites will certainly fail, but the medium is here to stay.

To tie this in – Back then, an Internet search would return search results that took you pages and pages to tab through to find the result you want. But as the internet evolved, and companies like Google figured out how to sort information more effectively, these troubles became less substantial. The same thing is happening with social media. As this medium evolves, we’re seeing more and more organization of content. Who know what this will look like in the future…

That’s pretty much it for my Part 1 notes – Hopefully the conversation it more colorful and insightful than my notes here. All the details for Parts 2 and 3 can be heard on the actual podcast. Apparently that’s due out sometime next week… I’ll let you know!

On the last day of the 2010 NSCAA Algarve Cup Symposium, I asked some of the participants what they thought about their experience. Thanks to everybody for sharing your thoughts so openly!

Transcript:

Erin Aubry, Head Coach at the University of Arkansas
“We talk about the four pillars of soccer, but they really embraced every single aspect of it. And so it wasn’t just a trip about the soccer, and of course being in this amazing environment, but you know, just everything. And you realize how much bigger your role can be.”

Sam Laity, Coach at Dos FC in Seattle, WA – NSCAA Master Coach Candidate
“The access that we had to the players and to the coaching staff, and just the relaxed nature of the whole thing was fantastic. There’s no other experience really like it – available in the U.S. or probably in the anywhere in the world. So thanks to the NSCAA for putting it together.”

Gabe Massine – Coach at Broomfield United in Denver, CO
“Yeah definitely. It’s the best soccer coaching thing the NSCAA does, in my opinion. Favorite part? I don’t know – there’s too many. Access to watching national team trainings, speaking to coaches from other national teams. Colleen Hacker and April Heinrichs obviously are two of the best in the world and having them in small groups and being able to talk with them for a week and learn from them is pretty amazing.”

Erin DeMarco, Head Coach at Bryn Mawr College in Philadelphia, PA
“This is a great place to be. You get to do a lot while you’re here, it’s not in the classroom all the time. There really hasn’t been a wasted moment. Everything has been quality and planned very well.”

Erica Destache, Assistant Coach at University of Wisconsin, Osh Kosh
“Going to the training sessions and seeing the level of soccer we’re seeing. You usually don’t have that anywhere in the world, and it’s wonderful. And also meeting all these great people, and seeing the sites of Portugal has been fun.”

Paula White – Professional Hair Stylist in Dallas, TX Note of interest: Paula’s sister, Kat Connor, is the Head Coach at Texas State University and was on the trip for her second year in a row
“It’s a lot of psychology and team-building and ways to encourage any team, or any staff… I work for a salon so the staff I educate, and the information I’ve learned from Colleen can really help me with my education, too.”

Ted Anderson, Assistant Coach at University of Nebraska, Omaha
“Being able to see the best teams in the world train, and having the opportunity to watch them play against each other is going to be exciting.”

Laura Flynn, Front Office Staff at the WPS Philadelphia Independence
“I was concerned that, because I don’t have any coaching experience, I wasn’t sure if this was the trip for me. If someone needed to have lots of experience coaching. I would say this trip is good for anybody. I have learned so much that I can take away just when I’m starting at the youth level. And I’ve made a lot of great connections.”

Kristina Kiss, Retired Canadian Women’s National Team Player and youth coach in Ontario, Canada
“I love the lectures and seminars we’ve been having with Dr. Colleen Hacker. Watching international soccer is always amazing, especially at this level. I think anyone who wants to be a coach, anyone involved in coaching, even players, it would be an excellent opportunity to see things from the other side…. the dark side.”

Erin Aubry, Head Coach at the University of Arkansas
“Obviously the group that we have here is a wide, wide diversity of people and their soccer backgrounds. Everybody fit in and everybody had something to contribute. Nobody was out of place or didn’t have anything to say, and I think everybody brought something to the table to make the trip great. So I think the more diverse the group can be, the better it is.”

To those who’s Q&A didn’t make the cut, I’m sorry – I must confess that there were some technical difficulties with the recording on my computer so I didn’t get it all.

I’m currently in the Portugal for the 2010 NSCAA Algarve Cup Symposium, and I’m posting insights and info as we get to matches and training sessions- I hope you enjoy the updates!

Today began with a little drive to see the German Women’s National Team train. The trip from our hotel was about 15 minutes through some very scenic spots. There were rolling green hills with orange trees dotting the countryside – gorgeous. (We may have pulled over and snuck an orange. Not ripe, but totally worth it).

We arrived at the pitch just as the goalkeepers were beginning their session. Nadine Angerer, one of the very top goalkeepers in the world, really went through the paces. (Her team did defeat Finland 7-0 yesterday, I can imagine she probably needed the workout.) Here’s a little insight from April Heinrichs (P.S. I’m posting this blog before the video has finished processing and heading to bed. If it doesn’t render properly for some reason, I’ll sort it out tomorrow.):

We were extremely lucky to have Doris Fitschen speak with us about the German Women’s National Team program. Doris is considered one of the most successful German women’s soccer players in history, having won seven national titles and six DFB trophies. Fitschen competed for Germany at the 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympics. She now works with the National Team program in multiple capacities – from team operations to marketing.

After Doris spoke, we watched the rest of the German practice, and at the end we went down onto the pitch to gather signatures from Birgit Prinz, Nadine Angerer and a few other players. I also met Uli Ballweg, the Assistant German coach. As you might recall, Uli was originally scheduled to present at the 2010 NSCAA Convention in Philadelphia, but unfortunately had to reschedule due to a medical emergency. The good news is that Maybe she’ll reschedule for next year? We’ll see ;-)

We were able to watch the Finnish goalkeeper train for about 30 minutes – she worked on crossed balls into the box. And then we headed down to the beach to snap a group photo.

Tomorrow morning, we’re headed over to Montechoro to see the Norwegian National Team train for about 30 minutes. Then, we’ll head over to the U.S. Women’s National Team training session in Guia. I’ll have photos and updates from that afterward.

Here’s a list of WPS players I’ll see tomorrow

USA
Nicole Barnhart (FC Gold Pride)
Jill Loyden (Chicago Red Stars)
Hope Solo (Saint Louis Athletica)
Rachel Buehler (FC Gold Pride)
Stephanie Cox (Boston Breakers)
Amy LePeilbet (Boston Breakers)
Heather Mitts (Philadelphia Independence)
Meghan Schnur (Sky Blue FC)
Cat Whitehill (Washington Freedom)
Yael Averbuch (Sky Blue FC)
Shannon Boxx (Saint Louis Athletica)
Megan Rapinoe (Chicago Red Stars)
Lori Lindsey (Philadelphia Independence)
Carli Lloyd (Sky Blue FC)
Heather O’Reilly (Sky Blue FC)
Lauren Cheney (Boston Breakers)
Casey Nogueira (Chicago Red Stars)
Amy Rodriguez (Philadelphia Independence)
Abby Wambach (Washington Freedom)

Norway
Solveig Gulbrandsen (FC Gold Pride)
Lene Mykjaland (Washington Freedom)

Oh, and I forgot to mention that when we went to Denmark v. China, I left an Atlanta Beat scarf for Johanna Rasmussen with the Danish FA representatives in the Press Box. I didn’t get a photo of her with it, so let’s hope she brings it to the Final Day of matches. 

It was a great day of Algarve Cup action, and our first opportunity to see the games. First, we traveled to Lagos to see Denmark play China. I interviewed Sam Laity at halftime, who I believe summed up the game better than I could ever write (1:30):

Transcript:

Amanda: I’m here with Sam Leity, for the second time, because for the first time my audio had issues uploading to the internet. So, Sam, would you mind telling us, where do you coach?

Sam: I coach for Doss FC in Seattle, Washington.

Amanda: And Sam’s been gracious enough to give the listeners back home in the states a halftime report on China vs. Denmark. Sam, would you give us a little insight into the shape of the teams in the match so far.

Sam: Absolutely yeah. China currently wining 2-0, playing a 4-4-2 system. The Danish are playing a 4-3-3 system. They started off the game with 2 defensive mids and 1 attacking mid, and 3 flat forwards. And they switched it up in the last 15 minutes to 1 defensive mid and 2 offensive mids.

Amanda: So the score is currently 2-0. Can you tell us a little bit about the goals that were scored.

Sam: Yeah, the first goal was a good piece of individual play by the attacking midfield player for China. She created a bit of space for herself on the edge of the box and cracked one in from about 22 yards. It was a very good goal.

Amanda: And the second goal?

Sam: The second goal was a good team goal. Started off with the left back, into a checking center mid. Center mid released to the outside fullback, fullback did a little combination with the outside midfield player, then played a though ball into the forward, who did a quick combination with the attacking mid, and left the player 1 v 1 with the goalkeeper. So both great goals from the China perspective.

Amanda: Thank you Sam.

Sam: You’re welcome, for the second time ;-)

Following halftime, the score remained knotted at 2-2 for some time. After about 20 minutes, the pace started to slow. With Germany being such a tempting prospect just 30 minutes away from kick-off (with a 20-minute drive to get there), we left and headed to Parchal.

Upon arrival, it was apparent that this match was the one to be at. The stadium was packed with fans, mostly German, and action from Germany front line was exciting from the moment we arrived. Credit to the Finnish goalkeeper for a great opening stanza.

Seven minutes in, NSCAA Master Coach candidate, Ted Anderson, gave us his opening impression (0:40):

Transcript:

Amanda: I’m here with Ted Anderson at the NSCAA Algarve Cup Symposium. Ted, how would you say play is so far, Germany vs. Finland.

Ted: It’s taken a couple minutes, I think all of seven and the Germans have dominated. Just put a ball off the post, and had another opportunity with a 1 on 1 with the goalkeeper. And I think, at this point it’s only a matter of time until they get the first one in. The crowd is electric here, as you may be able to hear with the noise-makers and everything else. I think it’s a pro-German group, so they have a little backing even though they’re on the road.

Amanda: Thanks for that Ted.

Germany lead 1-0 at the half. Here’s April Heinrichs, former USWNT coach and current FIFA consultant, with a first-half recap:

Transcript to follow.

The match ended 8-0 in favor of the Germans. As both coaches predicted, it became incredible one-sided and Germany proved their stuff.

Tomorrow morning we are going to the German WNT training session – it begins at 10:00am local time, and begins with GK training! I’m not sure what the schedule looks like after that, but I’ll fill you in as details become more clear. You can follow along on Twitter as well at http://www.twitter.com/nscaawomen.

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All of Today’s Match Results
Sorry for not doing a full-write up here, but my battery is down to 2% and it’s 1am here right now. Check out Jeff Kassouf’s site, The Equalizer, as he’ll likely have some info/analysis for you :-)

Group A match reports (.pdf):
http://www.fpf.pt/portal/page/portal/PORTAL_FUTEBOL/Comunicados2009/DIVERSOS/Group%20A%20-%20Day%202.pdf

Group B match reports (.pdf):
http://www.fpf.pt/portal/page/portal/PORTAL_FUTEBOL/Comunicados2009/DIVERSOS/Group%20B%20-%20Day%202.pdf

Group C match reports (.pdf):
http://www.fpf.pt/portal/page/portal/PORTAL_FUTEBOL/Comunicados2009/DIVERSOS/Group%20C%20-%20Day%202.pdf

Fairplay standings (.pdf):
http://www.fpf.pt/portal/page/portal/PORTAL_FUTEBOL/Comunicados2009/DIVERSOS/Fair%20Play%20-%20Day%202.pdf

Results and standings (.pdf)
http://www.fpf.pt/portal/page/portal/PORTAL_FUTEBOL/Comunicados2009/DIVERSOS/Results%20and%20standings%20-%20Day%202.pdf

Now that I have an iPhone, I refuse to go anyplace without it. It’s become particularly central to the work I do at WPS, the NSCAA, and in my personal endeavors in social media. Below, I’ve detailed how I use the Voice Memos application to record audio interviews. In my experience, it’s been both easy and reliable. The best part is that even in a crowded bar, the audio is still super clear. Here are two examples.

Audio Interview with Tiffeny Milbrett

We took this interview outside of a restaurant in San Carlos, Calif, where it was pretty quiet. I did hold the iPhone up to my mouth as I spoke. And when Tiffeny spoke, I held it in the air about a foot away from her. I had the questions scripted out beforehand, so the interview was super smooth. Plus, Tiffeny – a former USWNT super star and current member of the FC Gold Pride – has obviously been in front of a camera many, many times so she was cool as a cucumber. View the original post here, where I actually put the audio into a slideshow format, or listen here:

Audio Interview following “Tweet – Blowing the Whistle on Social Media”

After participating on a panel about soccer and social media, (read more about the panel here), I went to dinner with Tim Horton (Soccer Interactive), Alex Kotler (Football Partnerships) and Ryan Knapp (FC Buffalo). This was definitely an impromptu interview in a noisy bar. I wasn’t even sure that it would come out okay, but the secret really was having each person hold the iPhone themselves close to their mouth as the spoke. At one point I don’t think I could hear Tim across the table, but the iPhone picked everything up just fine :-) View the orignial post or check out the audio:

After the Interview

So how much work goes into post-production? Well, after conducting these audio interviews, I hook my iPhone up to my computer and sync. Note that the checkbox to sync Voice Notes is located under the Music tab. Then, all my audio files are on my computer in an .mp3 format.

Technically you could use that file in it’s raw form, but luckily I have the Adobe Master Collection, which includes Soundbooth – So I can drop my .mp3 file into there and edit out all the bad jokes, cursing, and awkward pauses, not that there’s very much of that in an impromptu interview in a really loud bar over a couple beers ;-) Then, I export the .mp3 to my desktop and voila! *Interview*.

I upload the .mp3 to my own hosting folder at http://www.amandavandervort.com/audio, and then I use a flash player to embed it in my website. Here’s the site where I found the code for the flash player: http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2006/07/embed-mp3-files-into-your-website.html.

Finish the Job

While at this point I’m always a little tempted to pat myself on the back and walk away, I don’t. Instead, I transcribe everything. Yes, this means I slog through the entire audio and type out, word for word, exactly what is said. But this extra effort is super important for three main reasons:

First, with a Flash application as my primary “play” method, I always face the challenge of iPhone viewers not being able to access it. I never want to limit who can and can’t access my interview due to a technical function.

Second, search engine ranking drastically improves when you add the written content to a blog post or webpage. You’ve got to TELL the search engine what your audio recording is actually about, and transcribing the audio – at this point in the life cycle of the wide, wide world of web – is the only way to do that.

Finally, some people just don’t want to take the time to listen to the audio… by scripting it out you can catch the passers-by, and hopefully convert them into returning visitors.

Another Example

Here is another post with interviews you might be interested in, that demonstrate my use of all the above. Dorrance’s Pressure Stumps the Stanford Cardinal. These were recorded at the post-game press conference following the NCAA National Championship:

• Anson Dorrance, Head Coach of University of North Carolina.
• Paul Ratcliff, Head Coach of Stanford University
• Whitney Engen, Senior Defender at North Carolina

Summary

Journalists rejoice! The Voice Memos application puts the ability to conduct an audio interview in the palm of your hands. You no longer the need to carry around heavy interview equipment (lol, like a notepad and paper). And you can be assured that you get the right quote, the first time. But with this new freedom also comes the responsibility on the back end to put the time into doing it correctly. Tips for success: edit the audio appropriately and take the time to transcribe everything.

So the next time you find yourself side-by-side with a top coach or a famous athlete… or in a particularly unique setting where you think you might someday say, “You had to be there,” pull out your iPhone and say, “May I ask you a question or two?” And see what happens!!!

Two of the most experienced, and humble, women’s soccer coaches in the world shared their views on today’s tactics during the post-game press conference following the 2009 Women’s College Cup. North Carolina coach, Anson Dorrance, says it’s tough to play against UNC for the first time due to the high pressure his players apply throughout the match. Not surprisingly, Stanford’s Paul Ratcliff says the same thing. Have a listen below.

Anson Dorrance, UNC Head Coach

Transcript:

Obviously we have a unique style, and we try to bring that to bear against every team we play. Our philosophy isn’t horribly profound, it’s just basically a work ethic. Our team doesn’t put up with any divas. If you’re going to be on the field for the Tar Heels, you going to put your hard hat on and you go to work. We sprint to close down people and make it difficult for any team to play. Stanford is a remarkable team – you can look at their record coming in – with talent at every position and extraordinary talent coming off the bench. We’ve tried to design a system that’s difficuly to play against that’s predicated on work ethic and high pressure. I think it’s hard for other teams to replicate that in practice. So often times, even when a quality team plays us for the first time, it’s a bit of a shock.

I think the teams that we play against – the players are getting better and better, and I think the coaches are too. But there’s something interesting about pressure in our game. Mike Tyson has a great statement. He says, “Everyone has a plan until the first punch.” So, if you’re looking at our system, and you’re looking at it on paper, it’s very easy to beat. Knock it over the top, run onto it, etc. Hold it in the back, because we’ve only got three forwards pressurizing four backs. There are all these different ways to solve it on paper. But there’s a completely different issue when you’re out there trying to play against it, and we’re forcing you to play at a speed you’re not comfortable with. So all of a sudden a player that is incredibly skillful at one speed – you take the notch of the game up a degree or two – and all of a sudden their game breaks down. So what we try to do, we try to make the other team play faster than their capable of playing. What we try to do, and the girls know this, we try to play absolutely as fast as possible. We try to play like the Arsenal. Wenger, he is my role model in soccer coaching. His teams play the game faster than any team in the world. And we try to play the game absolutely as fast as we can offensively, and we try to force our opponents to play faster than they can offensively. That’s our fundamental game plan going into every single game. Now obviously, what makes this work is the players sitting around me.

Paul Ratcliff, Stanford Head Coach

Transcript:

It was a disappointing way to end the season, but overall I’m really proud of this team and what they’ve accomplished throughout the entire season. I think it’s just getting used to the swarming around the ball. North Carolina does great job of pressuring and swarming the ball. It’s easy to talk about as a coach, what you need to do, but it’s difficult in there, especially with slick conditions. It was hard for us to get into a rhythm and really play our type of soccer. It wasn’t a fantastic game for us, we can play better, but you have to give North Carolina a lot of credit. They played, they put you under pressure, and they make it difficult for you to get into a rhythm.

UNC senior defender, Whitney Engen

I also wanted to share with you a special quote from Whitney Engen of North Carolina, as she shared her thoughts on Women’s Professional Soccer in the post-game press conference.

Find more videos like this on Women’s Professional Soccer

Transcript:

I think we’re all really fortunate that there is a women’s professional league, and I think we were all really encouraged last year watching a couple of our teammates actually complete and play. It is great to know that there is a next step, and this doesn’t have to be our last competitive game. That there are a lot of people on our team that have a lot of careers in soccer. I think that it’s great. It’s awesome for the women’s sport, and I hope that this league is able to continue to sustain itself because it’s fun to watch…. and I’m hoping it’s going to be fun to play in.

Tiffeny Milbrett will be giving a field demonstration at the NSCAA Convention in January in Philly. On Tuesday, November 10, 2009, I met up with the FC Gold Pride forward in San Carlos, California, to help her plan for the event.

We talked about how the Convention is set up, and what to expect when delivering a session in front of a room full of information-hungry coaches. I listened to her coaching philosophy, we brainstormed a ton of different ideas, and I think we really worked out a solid topic – in broad strokes: Team attacking for youth players. More specifics/details will follow after Tiffeny has had some time to write out her session.

After going through the 101s, we sat outside the restaurant – iPhone in hand – and Tiffeny let me ask her a couple questions. I asked her about her playing history, coaching experience, and what advice she would give fellow collegiate and professional players who are interested in coaching. You can watch the six minute slide show here, or read the transcript below. Enjoy!

More about Tiffeny

I’ve searched for a bit more info and stories about Tiffeny and thought I’d share them with you. I think they really do help tell her interesting story.

Sports Illustrated, “Mighty Mite”:

Her name is Tiffeny Milbrett, and her fame, like her 5’2″ frame, is remarkably undersized. How many people know that Milbrett led the U.S. in goals (three) at last year’s World Cup, or that she scored the gold medal winner against China at the 1996 Olympics, or that, at age 27, her 80 career goals rank her No. 7 (with a bullet) on the alltime international list? A shifty, skittering dynamo, Milbrett was far and away the Americans’ most dangerous player last week Against Norway she scored the first goal and slammed shots off the right post, the left post and the crossbar—a rare shooter’s cycle. Then on Sunday, Milbrett’s unexpected 35-yard blast won the corner kick mat led to the lone U.S. goal against China, a header by co-captain Julie Foudy. The 1-1 tie left the U.S. needing only a draw against winless Nigeria on Wednesday to reach Sunday’s semifinals.

Sports Illustrated, Q+a [tiffeny Milbrett]

The 30-year-old national team striker is the U.S.’s third-leading career scorer and the star of the WUSA’s New York Power.
SI: Is there any feeling better than hitting the back of the net?
Milbrett: Yeah, but we want this to be G-rated.

Video – Soccer clinic coaches wow players (Tiffeny appears at 2:15):

About 450 youth soccer players took part in the River City Soccer Clinic held this week at Plantes Ferry Park in the Spokane Valley. The clinic featured instruction from four veteran U.S. National players including Brandi Chastain, Tiffeny Milbrett, Danielle Fotopoulos, and Jenni Branam. Chastain, who kicked the now famous match winning penalty kick against China in the 1999 Woman’s World Cup Final, was a clinic favorite.

Sports Illustrated, Kicking Butt

Yet Milbrett might not be starting for the U.S. were it not for her tour in the Japanese L-League from 1995 through ’97. Unable to earn a living playing in her own country, the Portland graduate signed a $33,000-a-year contract with Shiroki Serena, a club owned by a solar-panel manufacturer in Toyokawa, a farm town five hours south of Tokyo. “My dream was to keep playing soccer and make money doing it,” Milbrett says. “If that meant going overseas, that’s what it meant.”

Wikipedia, Tiffeny Milbrett

She attended Hillsboro High School in Hillsboro, Oregon from 1987 to 1990, where she graduated holding Oregon’s state record for goals in a season with 54; and in a career with 131. She was a three-time Oregonian 4A Player of The Year and a two-time Parade All-American. She also was a talented basketball player and Track and Field participant, and she was offered college scholarships at those two sports too.

U.S. Soccer, Remembering ’99: Tiffeny Milbrett

Seems that everyone has a story about where they were on the day of the final. One person said they were on a family camping trip and stopped into a bar in the “middle of nowhere” to watch. Another said that they were with their team huddled around the TV. Others have said that they were the luckiest people alive because they were in that Rose Bowl stadium. For me, and my teammates, it was just another day at the office. You know, driving to the stadium through throngs of people. Warming up in the tunnel in running shoes because the 3rd place game was going on. Getting ready to play in front of 90,000 people. Having military jets fly by during while Hanson (singing group) sang the anthem, and then, simply winning a soccer game.

My Interview Transcript

For all you folks who don’t have the patience to sit through a 6-minute interview (consider it a podcast?), here’s the transcript for your reading pleasure. I do recommend viewing the video if you have the time, though, I dug up some pretty cool pics for this.

Amanda: Amanda Vandervort here from the NSCAA Women’s Committee. I’m happy to be here with Tiffeny Milbrett of the WPS FC Gold Pride. Tiffeny, thank you for joining me.

Tiffeny: Thank you so much, great to be here.

Amanda: Tiffeny, I’ve got a couple questions for you. You’re going to be an NSCAA Women’s Committee Featured Presenter at the Convention, we’re thrilled to have you. You’ve had a tremendous career as a player… Can you give us synopsis of your experience?

Tiffeny: Yeah, I think it’s been phenomenal. I think the biggest thing for me is that I always grew up wanting to be a professional athlete, wanting to be an Olympian, and I had the chance to do that through the National Team, playing at the highest level. And I have just felt very fortunate to be able to live out my dreams.

Amanda: And tell us a little bit about your college career, and then where you went after that.

Tiffeny: I played at the University of Portland, and then right at that time Women’s World Cup ’95 for National Team took over, so I went straight into residency training. Then the Olympics in ’96, World Cup in ’99, Sydney Olympics 2000, World Cup 2003, and just many, many, many games in between all those major tournaments. So it’s just been a long career, but exciting.

Amanda: Tell us about your experience with the FC Gold Pride this year.

Tiffeny: You know, what a challenging season for us. I think you know, we came in last, but toward the end of that season, the last quarter of that season, I think we were one of the most impressive teams in the whole league. So I think, you know, a little too late that we gelled as a team, came together, coach making some great decisions. So the last 5 games we have to be proud of ourselves because we really came on strong and played so well.

Amanda: And so in the off-season you’re doing a lot of coaching. Can you tell me about your experiences coaching girls and women’s soccer?

Tiffeny: Yeah, you know, because I do both. I coach a U-9 team that I have been coaching for almost 7 months, and also I do women’s clinics. I’ve been doing women’s clinics for years. So I truly enjoy coaching. I think even as a player in my younger youth, I would say, that I always dreamt of being a coach, so I think that it’s phenomenal. As I get older, the torch is being passed from my playing career into coaching. And as a young coach, I’m building my foundations. I think that’s why I’m very excited to have played for FC Gold Pride in WPS, because in this off-season it has allowed me the chance to still be a player – because, you know, preseason is around the corner – but also allowed me to continue to build a foundation of becoming a coach after I am done playing.

Amanda: So as I mentioned earlier, you’re going to be the NSCAA Women’s Committee Featured Presenter at the Convention, which we’re super excited about. What influenced you to present at the Convention this year?

Tiffeny: Just exactly what I’ve been saying, that I take coaching very seriously. It’s the next career that I’m going to move into. What an opportunity. Sometimes they say opportunities sometimes just fall into your lap, and I think this one just did. But it makes sense. I would never so something like this if I wasn’t planning to be a coach. I have already taken my “B” license, so I’ve done a bit of education on that side of things. But, again, what a great opportunity to get in front of people and continue to hone my craft as a coach.

Amanda: Well, we’re thrilled to have you.

Tiffeny: Thank you.

Amanda: Have there been any special coaches who have had an impact in your life, Tiffeny?

Tiffeny: Absolutely. I mean I think there’s been a few, but obviously the biggest name here that I’m just going to throw out is Clive Charles. He passed away just over 6 years ago, and I watched him when he was a Portland Timber in the NSL, and was able to be under his influence since probably about age 8. I played for him on a women’s team from age 15, then the youth teams, and then went to college for him.

But for me, again you talk about why people are influential to you, is just that you just click. You speak the same language. I think for me, not only was he the greatest mentor for me on the soccer side of things, but it just seemed like he understood me as a person and that was even more important than anything.

Amanda: What advice would you give other college and professional players who want to continue coaching as a profession?

Tiffeny: I would say that I think we need more true players that have played the game at the highest levels – the highest levels of college, highest levels of professional soccer – to move into the ranks. I think we truly are missing out on that demographic in coaching. And I think it just takes its time, it’s going to catch up with itself. And I think more will move into that.

But I think you can’t stop being a part of the game. And it’s a great way for you to continue to give back to the game. Give back to the generations and continue to influence the game. Just because you’re not on the field, you can greatly influence players and move the game forward, and that’s what we need.

Amanda: Tiffeny, we’re looking forward to having you help us learn how to influence players and coach. Having been such an experienced player and with all your tremendous background, bringing that to the NSCAA Convention this coming January. We’re thrilled to have you and thank you so much for taking the time.

Tiffeny: Thank you so much, I don’t feel any pressure at all.

Amanda: Haha, thank you.