Here are some photos from the WPS All-Star Game week in Atlanta, Ga. on Monday June 28 and Tuesday, June 29. Tune in to the WPS All-Star Game on Fox Soccer Channel on Wednesday, June 30th, at 7:30pm ET to catch teams Abby XI and Marta XI in action!

WPS Sunday on FSC announcer Jenn Hildreth and WPS Commissioner Tonya Antonucci prepare for the All-Star Pick ‘Em Event on June 28, 2010.

The WPS All-Star Coaches Paul Riley (left) and Albertin Montoya (right) discuss a potential player swap. In the end, though, no trades were made.

Abby XI (L to R) (back row) Lauren Cheney, Abby Wambach, Laura Kalmari, Jillian Loyden, Tasha Kai, Amy LePeilbet, head coach Paul Riley, (middle row) Tina Ellertson, Hope Solo, Shannon Boxx, Karen Carney, Kelley O’Hara, Angie Kerr, Heather O’Reilly, Lori Lindsey, (front row) Cat Whitehill, Lori Chalupny, Eniola Aluko during the WPS All-Star Pick ‘em Event at Stats in Atlanta, GA, on June 28, 2010.

Marta XI (L to R) (back row) Brittany Taylor, Karen Bardsley, Cristiane, Erin McLeod, Christine Sinclair, Becky Sauerbrunn, Allison Falk, (middle row) Kelly Smith, Marta, Amy Rodriguez, Alex Scott, Ramona Bachmann, head coach Albertin Montoya, (front row) Aya Miyama, Sonia Bompastor, Rachel Buehler, Christie Rampone during the WPS All-Star Pick ‘em Event at Stats in Atlanta, GA, on June 28, 2010.

Fox Soccer Channel’s Jenn Hildreth interviews Abby Wambach for the All-Star Game preview show. Tune in Wednesday, June 30th at 7:30pm ET to watch!

WPS Sunday on FSC producer Bill Cullin (left), WPS Director of Communications Rob Penner (center), and WPS Director of Marketing Rachel Epstein.

Fox Soccer Channel’s Mark Rogondino stops a tough shot from Washington Freedom forward, Abby Wambach.

Bloggers/journalists who made the trip to the WPS All-Star Game in Atlanta. Front row (left to right): Jeff Kassouf of EqualizerSoccer.com, Giovanni Albanese, Jr. of Goal.com, Jenna Pel of AllWhiteKit.com. Back row: Christa Mann of the Atlanta Beat, Rob Penner of womensprosoccer.com, Kat Galsim of BleacherReport.com.

Every day, the WPS Director of Communications, Rob Penner (in the pic above with me), sends out the Daily Clips to the league office staff. Today’s clips included a story called, Continued apathy by sports media toward women’s sports a bigger problem than first meets the eye.

The article references a study from researchers at the University of Southern California and Purdue University titled, “Gender in Televised Sports: News and Highlight Shows 1989 to 2009″. Their findings, the latest installment of a 20-year tracking effort, finds coverage of women’s sports lower than ever in 2009, down to 1.6 percent of airtime on local TV stations and ESPN’s SportsCenter.

According to the article, the study unearths a litany of depressing numbers:

• 100 percent of the shows surveyed started with a story on men’s sports.
• 72 percent of all coverage focused on just three sports, men’s basketball, football and baseball.
• The highest proportion of coverage occurred ten years ago, when local TV stations spent 8.7 percent of airtime on women’s sports (SportsCenter was still at 2.2 percent).
• Reporting on the most popular women’s sport, basketball, was often shunted to the rolling “ticker” at the bottom of the TV screen.

But what may be most surprising is the reaction to the study: Apathy. A handful of media outlets reported on the study when it was released last week, and comments on various blogs and Internet message boards offered the same insulting rationalizations:

• This is what the sports audience wants.
• Broadcasters are focusing on the most interesting sports.
• Most female-centered sports are no good, anyway.

According to the study, as the gap closes between numbers of girls and boys participating in high school and college sports, the gap in coverage has widened. At the college level, the average number of women’s athletic teams per NCAA school has risen 4 times since 1972, to 8.64 teams.

The article concludes by suggesting that “the gap won’t really improve until sports journalists see the disparity as an essential journalism failure – a continuing and worsening inequality that is distorting how sports fans see female athletes and women in general, continuing a cycle that intensifies their marginalization in a vibrant marketplace”.

Click here to read the full article >>

Jockeying for Position

I work at Women’s Professional Soccer, a female sports league vying for market share in the aforementioned grim media marketplace, and I can definitely attest to the fact that we struggle to get placement in major media outlets. Rob Penner is an absolute rock star, and gets us plugs all the time, but where we may get a graphic or side-bar mention in USA Today, most headlining stories are about men’s sports – it really is just a sad fact.

However, at WPS we have developed a digital strategy that targets our unique audience, with the longtail hope/intention that the metrics demonstrate a value proposition to major media, especially as they begin to turn their attention/focus online. The WPS digital strategy is a unique combination of TV (WPS Sunday on FSC every week), Social Media (our Twitter followers top 240,000), Search Engine Optimization (to rank in search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo), and multi-media content creation with a heavy focus on video.

To provide you with some context, the New York Times recently referred to WPS as The iLeague, Goal.com says WPS Dominates MLS In Online Media Strategy, and SI.com says the Twitter craze is rapidly changing the face of sports.

Dr. Marie Hardin, PHD, the associate director for research in the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State University, recently wrote an article titled, Does ‘New Media’ Bring New Attitudes Toward Women’s Sports?. She states:

We have new tools and platforms for our advocacy. Social media, such as blogs, Twitter, Facebook, have changed the way sports news and commentary is presented and consumed by fans. The “transmission model” for sports coverage, where media professionals were the gatekeepers for what did (and did not) get ink or airtime, has disintegrated. Coverage and commentary is now much more user-driven and community-oriented.

The Tucker Center, an interdisciplinary research center leading a pioneering effort to examine how sport and physical activity affect the lives of girls and women, their families, and communities, has created the following video to demonstrate the change in communications for female athletics:

Who’s to say what all this non-traditional media coverage will entail? Despite how the current facts and observations in the research at the beginning of this article trend, I don’t believe all our efforts at Women’s Professional Soccer are without hope.

On April 18, I participated on a Conference Call with other Women Talk Sports bloggers called, The State of Women’s Professional Soccer, but more specifically it was about the state of media coverage for women’s soccer – in America and around the world. In general, we agreed that media coverage of men’s sports far outweighed that of women’s sports, but non-traditional media outlets (blogs, social media, etc.) are creating opportunities for women’s sports to get more exposure, and perhaps go mainstream.

With Commissioner Tonya Antonucci placing a huge emphasis on digital media from the launch of the league, we got an early jump on the new media marketplace. We’ll see where this lands us in the years to come. Truthfully, if anybody can break through, I believe we can.

Sidenote: My ultimate goal would be for http://www.womensprosoccer.com to rank #1 in a Google search query for the keyword “soccer”. (Nerd.)

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.

We’re one week into the WPS season, and It’s been super-busy at the league office, as you can imagine. I thought I’d take a moment to put a pen to paper and discuss what’s been happening on the inside – well from the web department at least. This post offers a brief overview of three content-driven initiatives at the WPS league office.

WPS Fantasy Challenge

We launched the WPS Fantasy Challenge, which has gotten off to a pretty rockin’ start. This was really the brain child of the Commissioner and brought to life by Karyn Lush in the league office with STATS, our stats agency. If you haven’t had a chance to make your team yet, that’s cool. You can still sign up at fantasy.womensprosoccer.com, although your chances of winning the any of the leagues you’re in get slimmer by the week because you’ll have fewer opportunities to amass points as the season ticks away. Personally, I think the fantasy game is really fun, and it’s been cool to see my less-than-obsessive-WPS-friends (aka the ones who don’t actually manage the stats on a weekly basis) kick my butt. Sad but true.

Defend Your Turf

Next up, Defend Your Turf. Rachel Epstein at the league office brought on Pereira & O’Dell as the league’s marketing agency and together they’ve really built a rock star marketing campaign that brings together TV, web, text, social and print elements that work across the league. They’ve described it as “the attack of the 50-foot Women’s Professional Soccer player,” ha! Basically, they’ve put up these awesome building-side projections featuring Abby Wambach (Washington Freedom), Tasha Kai (Sky Blue FC) and Megan Rapinoe (Chicago Red Stars) in each of their team hometowns. The projections are interactive, and when they’re up, passers-by can text in their #DYT message and see it in real time.

Here’s Abby Wambach’s projection as an example:

I think this campaign has been especially fun, because it’s enabled fans to have a voice in a way that women’s sports fans aren’t necessarily accustomed to: “Talk some trash”. See what people are saying on Twitter right now: http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23dyt. Here are a couple of my favorite tweets so far:

@triscutbiscut Rocky < #KL13 #DYT
@maire_ryan @athleticasoccer is going to ruin @chicagoredstars home opener like #CRS did last year. It’s time for revenge #athletica #wps #DYT
@zapwater Defend your turf, Defend Chicago #DYT http://www.twitvid.com/P1OON
@AreYouOnTheBall RT @The_Riptide: Prompt for next Sunday (directed at Mittsy and AROD) “Give Back Our Scarves” “Give Back Our Scarves” “Give Back Our Scarves” #DYT #BOSwps

A couple Chicago Red Stars players have gotten into it too:

Here is a video of the projections in Hoboken, NJ.

Player Interviews

We held a Social Media Round Table at the WPS League Office a couple weeks ago (full blog post still to follow), and one of the no-brainers/awesome ideas that came out of it was to link our WPS Sunday on Fox Soccer Channel preview stories with a player and video interview that gets shared across the interwebs. So, you’ll probably notice that the FSC preview for the Sky Blue FC vs. Chicago Red Stars story featured an interview with the one and only Carly Lloyd. Tomorrow morning, we’ll be posting the FSC preview for Boston Breakers vs. Philadelphia Independence game with an interview of Amy Rodriguez. Mad props due to our in-house journalist Abby LePeilbet for taking on this new challenge and executing so well! And big thanks to John Archibald in New Jersey and Dani Collins in Philadelphia for conducting these interviews.

Of course, this is just a brief glimpse of all the stuff we’ve put together in the last couple weeks; I’ll get more posted soon I promise. In the meantime, feel free to drop me a note or a comment if you have questions, ideas or especially WPS feedback… We’re listening!

This was originally posted as a forum discussion on the WPS Fan Corner. Pop on over there to weigh in :-)

So you guys may know this about me, but for those that don’t, in a addition to being a total web geek, I’m also a soccer coach. And because of that, I get to work with the WPS coaches a lot here at the League office. Anyway, I can’t believe preseason is finally here, and all I can think about is how nervous/excited I am for my coaching buddies. They’ve been working their socks off since the end of the season last year. All the time that WPS fans are bored… sittin’, waitin’, wishin’ for their favorite players to get back on the pitch… the coaches are busy at work making trades, setting up schedules, scouting games, drafting players, etc.

But now is where all that work pays off (or not!). At this level, the coaches’ work is much different than in the youth game. During the season in the pro game, as the coaches will tell you, it’s more about player management and tactical team development. And for those who did their homework in the off-season, this is where the rubber meets the road.

So head on over to the Fan Corner post for the full preseason schedule. What I’d love to hear from you is which coach’s off-season work will shine in these early stages of 2010?

All photos from http://www.isiphotos.net

My YouTube search for “Be Prepared” brought this Lion King video up. I decided to post it b/c there’s definitely a connection – it’s a bit of a stretch though :-) but worth a giggle if u think it through.
Cheers.

Since September, I know I’ve tried to fill the void that is the WPS off-season with Champions League, EPL matches, the MLS Championship or even National Team games – but it’s just not the same :-( And I’d venture to bet my fellow die-hard WPSers have been feeling the same way. But guess what guys, the 2010 Pre-Season is finally here… And nothing beats the excitement of knowing YOUR CLUB is back on the pitch!

The league put out a press release earlier today with some key information, but I thought the rosters and pre-season schedule of scrimmages would be of most interest for ya’all. Enjoy!

2010 Preseason Rosters

Atlanta Beat
Boston Breakers
Chicago Red Stars
FC Gold Pride (Bay Area)
Philadelphia Independence
Saint Louis Athletica
Sky Blue FC (NJ/NY)
Washington Freedom

2010 WPS Preseason Schedule

Tuesday, March 9
Washington Freedom vs. U-23 US Women’s National Team (Vero Beach, FL) Closed Scrimmage

Wednesday, March 10
Atlanta Beat vs. Auburn University (Auburn, AL) Scrimmage
Boston Breakers vs. Boston College (Newton, Mass.) Scrimmage

Friday, March 12
Chicago Red Stars vs. Washington Freedom (Vero Beach, FL) Exhibition

Saturday, March 13
FC Gold Pride vs. TEPCO Mareeze (Danville, CA) Exhibition
Saint Louis Athletica vs. Illinois (Fenton, MO) Closed Scrimmage

Wednesday, March 17
Boston Breakers vs. U-20 Women’s National Team (Gainesville, FL) Exhibition
Chicago Red Stars vs. South Florida (Tampa, FL) Exhibition
Sky Blue FC vs. Florida State (Tallahassee, FL) Scrimmage

Friday, March 19
Atlanta Beat vs. U-20 US Women’s National Team (St. Augustine, FL) Scrimmage

Saturday, March 20
Boston Breakers vs. Sky Blue FC (Gainesville, FL) Exhibition
Philadelphia Independence vs. North Carolina (Downingtown, PA) Exhibition
Washington Freedom vs. University of Virginia (Richmond, VA) Scrimmage
Saint Louis Athletica vs. University of Missouri (Columbia, MO)

Sunday, March 21
Atlanta Beat vs. University of Florida (Gainesville, FL) Scrimmage

Tuesday, March 23
Atlanta Beat vs. Boston Breakers (St. Augustine, FL) Exhibition
Sky Blue FC vs. University of Florida (Gainesville, Fla.) Scrimmage

Wednesday, March 24
Boston Breakers vs. University of Florida (Gainesville, Fla.) Scrimmage

Thursday, March 25
Atlanta Beat vs. Florida State University (Tallahassee, FL) Scrimmage
FC Gold Pride vs. Univ. of San Francisco (San Francisco, CA) Exhibition

Saturday, March 27
Philadelphia Independence vs. Washington Freedom (Boyds, MD) Exhibition
Sky Blue FC vs. Rutgers University (New Brunswick, NJ) Scrimmage

Sunday, March 28
Atlanta Beat vs. North Carolina (Kennesaw, GA) Exhibition

Thursday, April 1
FC Gold Pride vs. Santa Clara Broncos (Santa Clara, CA) Exhibition
Philadelphia Independence vs. Penn State (Downingtown, PA) Exhibition

Saturday, April 3
Atlanta Beat vs. Saint Louis Athletica (Tulsa, OK) Exhibition
Washington Freedom vs. North Carolina (Boyds, MD) Exhibition

Hey everybody,

Amanda here – Web Coordinator at the WPS league office. As you probably know by now, WPS has discontinued operations of the Los Angeles Sol, so I’m posting this to let you know the online plans for the Dispersal Draft and the future of the LA website and social media outlets.

The Dispersal Draft begins at 1pm ET / 10am PT tomorrow, Thu Feb 4, 2010. Here are the details: http://fancorner.womensprosoccer.com/profiles/blogs/dispersal-draft-details. We’ll be tweeting the results out via Twitter @womensprosoccer immediately following the conclusion of the Draft. Teams will then be promoting their new draftees in their local markets. An official League press release will be drafted and sent out tomorrow afternoon.

As soon as possible after the Draft has concluded, we plan to move all the players profiles to their new teams’ websites/rosters. It will probably take a bit for each team’s web managers to get the pages updated with info, layout and pics, so please if you could be patient with this process it would be much appreciated.

The LA Sol website (which can be accessed at http://www.womensprosoccer.com/la or http://www.losangelessol.com) will continue to stay up through the middle of next week sometime (probably the 10th), so if you’d like to save or archive any of that information please note your time frame to do so. When we push the button, all the Sol content will be taken down so I just want to make sure you know that. All pages that previously existed at http://www.womensprosoccer/la will redirect to the league’s press release here: WPS discontinues operations of Los Angeles Sol.

In terms of the Sol’s social media sites, here’s the scoop. For now, we want to keep a place where fans can find other supporters with whom they can express their feelings, support their favorite players as they join new rosters, and perhaps rally to support another ownership group in LA for 2011 and beyond. I’m not saying this social media solution is permanent, but for now we’re playing it by ear to see if and how people are using Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube and decide from there.

The two social media pages that will be deactivated in short order, however, are MySpace and the LA Sol Fan Corner profile, so if you used these pages to get your Sol news, I recommend migrating over to Facebook or Twitter pretty quickly. We do maintain a group page here at the WPS Fan Corner, http://fancorner.womensprosoccer.com/group/losangeles, where I’ll do my best to continue posting any pertinent updates and information.

If there’s an online space that I haven’t addressed here, please feel free to let me know here in the comments or send me an email or message on Fan Corner. Believe me, this is a tough blog post to have to write. But I’d rather be as up front as possible with you all and let you know what’s happening – you’ve been incredibly respectful and supportive through this process, which I know is not easy, so a sincere thank you for that.

Best,
Amanda
WPS Web Coordinator

I’m pretty sure this is the first WPS Press Release I’ve posted on my website, but, well…. this one’s at least worth a quickee cuz I’m stinkin’ proud!

WPS Surpasses 200,000 Followers on Twitter

League to Provide Behind the Scenes 2010 WPS Draft Coverage on www.twitter.com/womensprosoccer

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (January 8, 2009) – Women’s Professional Soccer, since its inception a strong proponent of social media as a powerful fan-engagement platform, surpassed 200,000 Twitter followers on its www.twitter.com/womensprosoccer account last week to start the New Year. The benchmark continues the impressive growth that WPS has seen in its social media platforms. Recently, WPS was listed in USA Today Snapshots® stat of the day in the December 3 sports section as fifth among sports leagues for Twitter followers behind the NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL.

“We are proud of the growth of our social media initiatives and continue to use it as an important and efficient medium to engage with our fan base in meaningful, compelling ways,” said Head of New Media Karyn Lush. “We expect to have more in store for the 2010 season for WPS fans.”

For the 2010 WPS Draft, WPS will offer immediate behind-the-scenes draft news and a variety of updates by posting TwitPics and TwitVids to its account. “We don’t have the benefit of live television coverage that other leagues might at the draft,” said Lush. “So this is a great way for fans to get immediate results, interviews, color and reactions from draft day.”

WPS was an early adopter of Twitter and became one of the first leagues to integrate it as a medium to deliver news when WPS announced the allocation of the U.S. National Team players to its teams via Twitter in September 2008. The league then used Twitter for fans to follow the 2009 WPS Draft in real-time. In March 2009, the league integrated Twitter with sideline “tweets” coming from select players on the gameday roster during its WPS Inaugural Match on March 29, 2009 and continued to use Twitter during games on a trial basis throughout the season.

WPS incorporates other social media platforms as well, and will integrate its Fan Corner into the 2010 WPS Draft. The league will run a unique giveaway promotion in which the first person to correctly predict all 11 names of the first round draft picks with correct teams will win a prize. Contestants must enter by submitting a comment on the Fan Corner at fancorner.womensprosoccer.com. The contest will be promoted on WPS’s Facebook account at facebook.com/womensprosoccer.

About Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS)

Headquartered in San Francisco, Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) is the world’s premier soccer league for women with nine teams across the United States featuring the best players from around the world. WPS completed its inaugural season in August 2009 as Sky Blue FC of New Jersey became the first-ever WPS Champions. In 2009, WPS consisted of seven teams each playing 20-game schedules from March-August including the Boston Breakers, Chicago Red Stars, FC Gold Pride (Bay Area), Los Angeles Sol, Saint Louis Athletica, Sky Blue FC (NJ/NY) and Washington Freedom. For 2010, expansion teams Atlanta Beat and Philadelphia Independence will bring the league to nine teams with the WPS opening weekend scheduled for April 10-11. For more information, visit the WPS official website at www.womensprosoccer.com or follow all the news at www.twitter.com/womensprosoccer.

As yu may know, I’m the Web Coordinator at Women’s Professional Soccer – So I wanted to give quick update here from my department at the league office. First off, the 2010 WPS Draft will be held on Friday, January 15th at 10am in Philadelphia, PA, in conjunction with the NSCAA Convention. Here’s more information: http://www.womensprosoccer.com/Home/schedule/2010-wps-draft.aspx.

Importantly, to get all the draft selections in real time, you can follow @womensprosoccer on Twitter! I’ll be providing the Color Commentary in the Draft Room (TwitPics, etc.), while another League employee will be posting the draft selections.

Yesterday was officially the last day for players to register for the 2010 WPS draft, so we’re kicking the final planning into high gear. In case you’ve been away from your computer over the holidays, I wanted to keep you in the loop on a couple series of articles on the league website leading up to the big event.

Our content team, lead by the one and only Karyn Lush (@klush17 on Twitter) has worked to create this series of “Getting to Know” articles so you’ll have better insight into the players if/when they’re drafted. Here are the ones we’ve posted so far:
- Kelly O’Hara, Stanford
- Lauren Cheney, UCLA
- Alyssa Naher, Penn State
- Casey Noguiera, North Carolina

Rob Penner (@rdpenner on Twitter) our PR Director, has also been working with various soccer reporters to Rank the Top Prospective Picks by Position coming out of the NCAA, and we’ve started discussion forums to complement each article. Have your say in the Forums – Do you think the reporters are correct? Think you can make better predictions?
- Top Rated Midfielders | Forum
- Top Rated Defenders | Forum
- Top Rated Goalkeepers | Forum

Here’s a discussion forum that brings it all together:
Top 5 Prospects for the WPS Draft

There is certainly more to follow, so stay tuned to @womensprosoccer on Twitter.

We’re working hard at the League office, gearing up for what promises to be a very exciting 2010 season – With fresh faces and amazing new places (ahem, did you see the Pride’s stadium announcement on Tuesday, wahoo!). But we’re never too busy to take a moment to wish our fans, friends and soccer family a very happy holiday!

Top gifts at the WPS holiday party White Elephant Gift Exchange:

The Commish draws the #1 Card… She opens a framed photo of herself from her playing days at Stanford. Nobody can believe it – awesome.

Rob Penner, Director of PR, selects the Gingerbread House. Nobody’s touching that one Rob, enjoy.

Jill Coy, WPS Marketing Manager, steals the Snuggie from her boss/Marketing Director, Rachel Epstein. Good move? Personally, I think it was risky, professionally speaking that is ;-) especially considering that Jalila Sparks, Tonya’s Assistant, stole it from Jill only moments later. (notice who’s wearing the Snuggie in the main photo above). Storyline to be continued I’m sure…

Anyway, HAPPY HOLIDAYS everybody! We can’ wait to see you in the stands in 2010!!!!!

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.

Last night I attended Alex Kotler’s Football Partnerships panel, “Tweet: Blowing the Whistle on Social Media.” Greg Lalas, Chris Schlosser, Chris Toy and myself were the panelists, and there were some seriously smart people in the room, all with incredible perspectives. It was humbling and insightful to be included among this group to discuss and share information on how we are each using social media to achieve our business objectives. Big shout out to Alex Kotler, Adrian Melville and Jonathan Bennett of Football Partnerships for all their work putting this event together.

What I thought was especially evident is how each organization is so different in their approaches to social media. Here’s in initial run-down of the panelists, another post to follow with personal observations, post-event networking and quotes.

The Panelists

Greg Lalas – Editor of Goal.com – @goalcom. This guy’s got great insight and a cool demeanor. Goal.com is a leader in online soccer news (certainly one of the few outlets that covers Women’s Professional Soccer with regularity). As a panelist, I thought he provided an educated look at how content creators like his company are using Social Media to drive readership, increase page views and build community. He was also the only panelist to ask me a question directly, which I really appreciated, about how WPS encourages their players to use Twitter. My answer: Twitter is definitely encouraged but is not a league requirement for players. We believe it’s important to maintain authenticity within the social space, and social media education is the first priority. Players will make their own choices about how they choose to engage.

Chris Schlosser – Director of Digital Strategy at Major League Soccer – @cschlossed. Chris brought social media perspective from a established league that’s in the middle of a digital strategy shift. MLS, a single-entity sports league that’s managed to great extent at the league-level, is looking to approach social media by targeting local team markets and connecting influencers (GMs, players, owners, coaches, etc) directly with the community, while also providing a platform for like-minded fans to engage with one another. In a powerful discussion between Chris Schlosser and Greg Lalas, Chris said that mlsnet.com must think and act like a digital media company and measure success against others in that space. Interesting.

Chris Toy, who referred to himself as the “wild card” panelist, owner and creator of Studs-up.com – @christoy. Basically, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Chris writes a new Studs Up comic for his site. He’s a super stats-oriented guy whose targeted approach to marketing his site is driven by social media. Chris shared that he puts 100% of his marketing budget into Facebook, and uses the segmenting features to reach his audience. His ability to capture traffic from these outlets is amazing.

And then there was yours truly, Web Coordinator at Women’s Professional Soccer – @vandey01. I had the good fortune of sitting next to Alex, who moderated the panel, so I was the first to answer all his questions (both good and nerve-racking at the same time). WPS is definitely in a unique position compared to the other panelists’ companies. The main reasons: we’re (1) new, (2) franchise-based, and (3) female. Among all the other things that were mentioned (page views, traffic, localization, marketing, etc.) the building-block of generating basic awareness is a priority for us.

After the event, I went to dinner with Alex Kotler, Tim Horton and Ryan Knapp and did an impromptu audio interview while gushing over the apps on my iPhone… Stay on the lookout, personal observations, post-event networking and quotes to follow.

This blog post takes a brief look at how Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) and its teams have used Twitter. We’ll look at the early days of Twitter integration and how it’s evolved as a sports marketing tool. Then, we’ll discuss a couple ideas for utilizing Twitter’s new List feature. Keep in mind this is a very short post on a topic I could describe for days. More follow-up posts to follow for sure.

The Early Days

WPS was a pretty early Twitter adopter. The Chicago Red Stars started using Twitter (@chicagoredstars) actively in the summer of 2008 and in September, Karyn Lush (@klush17) at the League office used Twitter to announce the teams’ U.S. Women’s National Team allocations (Check out @the_real_nash – left, WPS owner/investor and basketball legend – at the USWNT Allocation above). I love that Karyn posted a thorough explanation/recommednation to receive text messages via Twitter back in September 2008 :-)

While I always felt extremely supported by those around me, I do remember there were a number of people who were resistant to using a social media tool like Twitter as a “live feed” for information. Folks couldn’t understand, if we only had 150 people following us, what good could this tool possibly be as a communication device? I’m just making this reference to remind us that may seem like a no-brainer to use Twitter today, but it wasn’t all easy going at the beginning. And when the next useful communication tool comes along, I’m sure there will be a period of resistance before adoption actually makes sense.

Growth

After the USWNT Allocation, most WPS teams and a number of staff members started Twitter accounts, but at that time we were all still a little hazy on exactly how we could best utilize it. Teams started using Twitter as a way to link to “external” news stories, like The New York Times Soccer Blog stories or Pitch Invasion columns. Over the course of 2008-2009, team strategies evolved to also include link-building, live game coverage, holiday specials, community development, ticket offers, and more. The league originally used Twitter to make major announcements, host live feeds and drive traffic back to our homepage. In-season, we included live game-coverage, and now as the off-season we’ve been working to retweet important and interesting team news and engage more with fans. What I love about social media marketing is that it’s an constantly evolving marketplace.

Growth has been steady and consistent. To demonstrate the relative growth of our teams’ Twitter accounts, here’s a snapshot look at Chicago Red Stars, Boston Breakers and Saint Louis Athletica twitter accounts over the past three months (check out TwitterCounter.com – a very cool tool for Twitter stats):

Now, every WPS team has a Twitter page, and I’ve listed out the accounts below (keep in mind these are stats that will have already changed by the time you’re reading this). Even though I feel like I’ve been Tweeting forever, I look at these statistics and am reminded that Twitter is still very young.

• Atlanta Beat @atlbeat (Not quite active yet as they’re using @atlantabeatGM for team information until the Draft)
• Boston Breakers @bostonbreakers (Following: 289; Followers: 1,202; Listed: 25)
• Chicago Red Stars @chicagoredstars (Following: 2,719; Followers: 2,495; Listed: 30)
• Los Angeles Sol @losangelessol (Following: 111; Followers: 1,283; Listed: 20)
• Philadelphia Independence @wpsphilly2010 (Following:214 ; Followers: 485; Listed: 13)
• Sky Blue FC @skybluefc (Following: 26; Followers: 789; Listed: 22)
• Saint Louis Athletica @athleticasoccer (Following: 1996; Followers: 1621; Listed: 23)
• Washington Freedom @dcfreedom (Following: 63; Followers: 1,141; Listed: 22)
• Women’s Professional Soccer @womensprosoccer (Following: 479; Followers: 40,500; Listed: 105)

I’ll leave team Twitter strategies to our web managers to describe, perhaps a future interview/post? ;-)

Suggested User List

Three weeks ago, the @womensprosoccer profile was listed on the Suggested Users List. And as I’m writing this post, we’ve already gone from 7,000 to 50,000 followers in less than 3 weeks! I’ve had a ton of questions as to how we got onto the list, and here’s what Twitter says:

We’ve explained that the Suggested Users list is a bit like your local book store’s staff picks but there’s a little more to it than that. Our Chief Scientist developed a program that scans active Twitter accounts for a bunch of key ingredients such as how much of the profile is filled out, certain indications that the account is interesting to others in some respects, and a few other signals. For example, is the account a good introduction to Twittering for a new user? Does the person or organization running the account have a fairly wide or mainstream appeal? If they are a celebrity or business, have we confirmed it’s really them? Finally, we’ll do a gut check internally with a couple folks before adding them to the Suggested Users list. The list continues to grow and change although only a subset of twenty accounts are randomly displayed as suggestions during the new user signup process. Twitter is not paid to include accounts in this list. The Suggested Users feature exists to do a job—it makes Twitter more relevant and valuable to users. All that being said, when we find out Oprah starts Twittering for real we may very well put her on the list.

So, a BIG shout out and HUGE thank you to Twitter for adding us to your list!!! And another HOO-RAH to our FANS for their consistent engagement and retweeting. We would have never gotten on this list without you – and because of you, the WPS message is already reaching 500% more people. Wow, that’s seriously amazing.

Twitter Lists

Of note, since we launched our new web platform at womensprosoccer.com back in April 2009, WPS has kept an updated list of league and team owners, staff and players on the website here: http://www.womensprosoccer.com/Home/connect/wps-twitter-list.aspx. We do our best to keep this list up-to-date and accurate, so if you see anything that needs to be changed, or you know of more people who should be listed, please let me know.

In a magnificent move I’m convinced Twitter accomplished to help me personally manage this project, Twitter launched “Lists”. We’re super-excited about this feature and have incorporated the top two lists below into our Twitter strategy. I’m still trying to think of other useful/creative ways we can utilize them. These ideas aren’t quite flushed out yet either, which is exactly why I’m posting it here… YOU are our best resource, so please share your ideas! Also, here’s a great Mashable resource you may want to reference: 10 Ways You Can Use Twitter Lists.

• Already created: @womensprosoccer/teams – Follow each of the WPS teams (I’ve listed all the accounts above in this post). Use this list to learn about team news, promotions, updates, player transactions, and more.
• Already created: @womensprosoccer/players – Follow the WPS players. That this will be your most reliable source for actual WPS players on Twitter. I personally guarantee ;-) it will be kept up-to-date and players twitter accounts will be added and dropped as transactions come through the league office.
• Idea: @womensprosoccer on Game Day – Follow the game you’re specifically in. For example, if Chicago Red Stars are playing Los Angeles Sol, we could make a list @womensprosoccer/chi-la and include the players, staff, and teams that are all involved in that game. What do you think?
• Idea: @womensprosoccer/reporters – Follow all the people who write about WPS. Jacqueline Purdy, Steven Goff, Beau Dure, Jack Bell, Jaff Kassouf, AreYouOnTheBall, Tom Dunmore, Nicole Hack and more! (Did I miss you? Let me know in the Comments!)
• Idea: @womensprosoccer/staff – Follow WPS and Team employees. Could include Owners, General Managers, front office staff and more. Or perhaps we could just make a list of WPS League employees and let each team manage their own employee list. I have a created a personal list of these folks, but I’m not convinved our WPS fans would be generally interested in having it linked from the womensprosoccer account – what do you think?

Tell me, Twitter

Of course wouldn’t expect all these features to be available at launch, but I do have a couple questions for Twitter regarding the list feature, and its future development, because I think the answers to these questions will impact how we use the List Feature.

1. Will users be able to write Descriptions for their lists?
2. Will followers be able to send List Updates to their Mobile Devices?
3. Will RSS feeds of Lists be available?

The Future

Who knows what the future holds for Twitter in general, much less as a sports marketing tool. There are already people out there trying to develop the next big Social “thing”. But one important point remains: Led by Commissioner Tonya Antonucci’s innovative and forward-thinking vision, Women’s Professional Soccer will be at the forefront of whatever useful communications technology comes along.

Hey guys, Amanda here from the social media/website department at the League office. Just thought I’d check in, say hello and share some of the online resources we’re working on here in the off-season for you.

First, I wanted to make sure you know that we update our Delicious account every day – http://delicious.com/womensprosoccer. Delicious is an online/social bookmarking tool where users can access all the news articles published about WPS and the teams since February 2009. They’re organized by date, source, content, players and teams. Personally, I think it’s interesting to see what bloggers/news outlets write about us the most, and what the main topics of interest are. It’s a lot of work, but we think it’s important to keep track of our news, so I hope fans know to take advantage of this service.

Second, we’re in the process of updating the WPS Twitter list – http://www.womensprosoccer.com/Home/connect/wps-twitter-list.aspx. This is a page on our website that lists all the players, coaches, general managers, some front office staff, and owners who are currently Tweeting. Sometimes people unintentionally fly under the radar, or start new accounts without telling us, so if you know of any Tweeters that I don’t, please post their Twitter accounts in the comments below and I’ll be sure to add them to the master list.

Third, we’re revamping the e-newsletter design. You can sign up for the newsletter here: http://www.womensprosoccer.com/news/league-insider. Our goal remains to bring you the latest and greatest WPS news to your Inbox every other week (in the off-season, every week in-season), but we’re expanding on that to bring more player interest stories from the teams to the forefront. Hopefully you’ll see that the redesign reflects that, check out the “Around the League” section at the bottom.

Finally, Twitter. You may have noticed that twitter.com/womensprosoccer has gone from 7,000 -> 26,000 followers in the past week. We’re excited that we were added to the “Suggested Users” list. I just wanted to share the news because I’m super pumped. We were a very early adopter of Twitter, using it to Tweet the results of the 2009 WPS Draft back in January, and our commitment to growing and developing this community has never ceased. Thanks to everybody for your tweets and retweets, comments and direct messages.

Okay, that’s a quick update from my end. I’ll be posting more frequent updates from our department so if you have any questions, ideas, suggestions I’m all ears. Thanks for keeping the WPS Fan Corner alive and vibrant in the off-season!

Red Stars Head Coach Emma Hayes is in San Francisco this week watching Stanford, UCLA, USC, USF, and Santa Clara women’s soccer teams play. I thought it would be fun to ask her the WPS series of “Off the Field” questions we collect from the players. Hey, coaches have favorite TV shows and i-pod apps, too!

1. What are the three things you can never be without while traveling?

- My i-phone (Follow up: Q: Favorite App. A: At the moment, Air Hockey)
- A good read (Follow up: Q: Best Book you’ve read recently. A: White Tiger by Aravind Adiga)
- My i-pod (Follow up: Q: Recent artist. A: Crazy P, I can’t stop listening to it – and MGMT)

2. If you didn’t coach professional soccer, what other profession would you want to try and why?

- I’d like to be working in international relations. More specifically, I think I’d like to be working MI5 and MI6, England’s secret service agency. And if I told you any more about that, I’d have to kill you.

3. What’s your perfect day off?

- Get up, work out, Skype with family back home, do something cultural. (Follow up: Q: What cultural activity have you done recently that you enjoyed? A: We went to California Academy of Science, it was spectacular. I really enjoyed the planetarium show, and particularly like the Sea Dragons)

4. What famous person most inspires you and why?

- Hmmm. Good question. There are so many…. I’m not sure!

5. If you had a dinner party, who are the three people you would invite (can be living or dead)?

- I would invite Noam Chomsky, Hunter S. Thompson and my favorite footballer, Diego Maradona. That’s an interesting table, right?

QUICK HITS – List your top three favorites:

6. TV Shows:

1. Sex and the City
2. Grey’s Anatomy
3. Heroes

7. Places to Shop:

1. Any sort of bargain basement store, like Marshalll’s or TJ Maxx. I love rummaging.
2. All Saints in London
3. Bloomingdales

8. Restaurants:

1. Netta in Ravello, Amalfi Coast, Italy
2. DEFINITELY my mum’s kitchen. That’s a freaking restaurant to me.
3. The Cliff in Barbados

9. Professional Athletes:

1. David Beckham
2. LeBron James
3. And I’m really in awe of Michael Phelps – he blows my brains away, that guy.

10. Cities (in any country):

1. Barcelona, Spain
2. San Francisco, Calif.
3. Prague, Czech Republic

Before I get started, yes that really is a living albino alligator. Lisa Cole of the Boston Breakers is in San Francisco this weekend watching games, so last night we took a jaunt to the California Academy of Sciences to take in a little NiteLife. This place is AWESOME. Basically, the Academy is a museum/planetarium/aquarium in Golden Gate Park. Every Thursday, the Academy is transformed into a lively venue filled with music, provocative science, mingling, and cocktails, for visitors 21 and older. Science and alcohol? Whoever thought up this idea is absolutely brilliant. (I’ll drop a few more pics at the bottom of this post)

So I thought I’d also give a brief update on the happenings in the web department at the WPS League Office. The WPS news coverage may be starting to cool off a bit since we’re in the post-season, and the day-to-day workload here at the league office has changed a bit, but make no mistake it’s still fast and furious. One of the projects we’ve been working on is that Karyn Lush and I helped the Atlanta Beat launch their new website. It was really exciting to announce that at the final hour on Monday (which was our deadline – the draft was the next day!) we got it up and running. Christa Mann, Atlanta’s Media Manager really put in the hours to make it happen. Great work Christa!!! Of course I have to mention that if you’re on the site, and you see any weird images or see that links aren’t working properly, send me a message here.

The Expansion Draft was on Tuesday – Check out the results. Working on the website that day was intense. After the call ended (the Commissioner, Our Legal Counselors, and Chief Operating Officer managed the call via a secure conference line here at the League Office along with the Team Representatives dialing in from each of their cities), we had a two-hour window to get the website ready to announce the picks – Creating stories, moving player profiles from old teams to the new ones, and even creating a mock-up roster page for Philly until we have them on the WPS network. The amount of hits we got on the website at that moment was crazy, so things were running a bit slow (sorry folks!) but in the end this is a good thing to have so much interest, right? (haha maybe not if you were sweating bullets like me trying to get the story published.)

Wednesday afternoon brought a multi-hour staff meeting, including a debrief of challenges faced in 2009, and we began our general overview discussion for 2010. Of note, Karyn and I have spent a great deal of time combing through all fan suggestions across our social networks (BigSoccer, Fan Corner, Facebook, Twitter), and those written into the Commissioner herself (If you have suggestions, please feel free to send them to the Commissioner at feedback@womensprosoccer.com She wrote a blog last week asking for input). We made a comprehensive list and discussed it in the staff meeting. Big thanks to everybody for sending in your thoughts – I think it’s pretty cool how seriously WPS takes suggestions from fans and followers.

On the NSCAA front, I know it’s hard to believe, but we’re already gearing up for the 2010 Convention in Philly January 14th-17th. I’ve been working on nailing down the presenter for the Women’s Committee – we’re VERY close, I can’t wait to make the announcement :-) Stay tuned to the NSCAA Women’s Committee page for that, or make it easy – follow the Women’s Committee on Twitter. The NSCAA has also started a Social Media Campaign that I’m uber-excited about. Become a fan on Facebook or follow the NSCAA on Twitter. They’re also beefing up the content on YouTube so I’m sure you’ll start to see promotional videos, informational videos, coaching videos… all that! Are you a member of the NSCAA? Join today!

And of course the NCAA college season is in full swing. I’m always checking in on all the teams I’ve been a part of, and BIG PROPS to Head Coach Danny Sanchez at Wyoming (my alma mater) for starting a Wyo soccer twitter feed. College coaches: I’m convinced this is the BEST way to grow and develop your alumni network. If you want ideas or help, let me know. Seriously.

All righty. Here are a few more photos from the trip to California Academy of Sciences last night, as promised. Cheers.

Above Left: Ethan sits in this big cone thing at the end of the night with the docents, listening to the sounds of the rainforest.
Above Right: The Academy of Sciences is apparently the greenest building in the world. The roof is alive, literally, covered with grass and plants. This part sits above the rainforest.

Above Left: Is that the biggest Sea Bass you’ve ever seen, Lisa?
Above Right: Look closely, that’s one bad-ass Sea Dragon!

Other WPS All-Star blog posts on Soccer Science:
WPS All-Star Weekend Begins
WPS All-Star Weekend II: WPS Awards Ceremony through Kick-Off

We’ve just finished editing the videos from the WPS Awards Celebration and thought it would be nice to post links to all of them here so you can see the acceptance speeches. Click on any of the images below to go to the WPS YouTube page. Note: All these photos were taken by Jeff Curry, isiphotos.net, and are available for purchase. Let me know if you’re interested in any of them and I’ll give you the link.

Full Highlight Video (14 minutes) from the WPS Awards Ceremony
Tonya Antonucci is recognized at WPS All-Star awards dinner
Christie Rampone named Hint Water Sportswoman of the Year
Marta wins 2009 Michelle Akers Player of the Year Award
Amy LePeilbet wins MedImmune Defender of the Year Award
Abner Rogers named Advocare Coach of the Year
Hope Solo wins U.S. Coast Guard Goalkeeper of the Year Award
Marta is presented with the PUMA Golden Boot Award
Joe Cummings is presented with the #1 WPS All-Star jersey

I’ve just arrived home in San Francisco and am about to start working on some video footage from the All-Star Awards dinner. But before I do, I thought it would be nice to pick up where I ended my blog yesterday and share a bit more from the WPS All-Star weekend.

Saturday night, we held the First Annual WPS Awards Dinner in the Versailles Ballroom at the Chalet Hotel in St. Louis. Rachel Epstein and Jill Coy, the WPS Marketing Team, did an amazing job putting it all together!!! There were banners hanging – floor to ceiling – with photos of various players. All the team’s logos were posted on the wall. There were special little touches all around the room, from table tents with a collage of the All-Stars, to a white WPS logo projected onto the wall (very cool). The trophies that were presented were absolutely beautiful – you can see them in this photo gallery.

The event itself was great. Rob Penner (PR Director) and Rachel Epstein (Marketing Director) put together an amazing run-of-show. Jen Hildreth and Mark Rogondino (Fox Soccer personalities) were entertaining announcers, Tonya Antonucci (the Commish) gave a touching speech, and Jeff Cooper (Athletica’s owner) was a gracious host. Of special note, Joe Cummings was honored as the FIrst WPS All-Star. He’s recently left his position as the GM of the Boston Breakers to become the NSCAA’s CEO and Executive Director. His speech brought tears to my eyes. Follow Joe on Twitter.

I’ll be working on the highlight video shortly so you can probably expect it online tomorrow afternoon. Check out the power point in the background :-) That & the music were my small contributions to the night. I have more photos to share from the event, but they’re on K-Lush’s camera so I’ll post them as soon as I’ve downloaded them.

After the event, the WPS staff went up to “the office” for a work-night. It was basically just a chance to kick our feet up but still work. Even though we were thrilled with the WPS All-Star Awards Dinner, there was a TON more to do with the actual game the next day!!! So with a couple 100-calorie packs of doughnuts (thanks Commish!), some Chex Mix (thanks Momma Coy!) and a glass of pinot noir (thanks Rachel!), we prepped.

An 8am meeting on Sunday. Game Day.

After I nearly burnt down the hotel at breakfast (remember never to try to toast a croissant in one of those restaurant-toasters), I sat down with All-Star Head Coach/WPS Coach of the Year Abner Rogers. We had a great chat about his season, and the experience he’s had working with players with so many different styles, backgrounds, languages and cultures. We talked about his line-up for the All-Star Game, too, and what shape he was planning to play. Gareth O’Sullivan, the Head Coach for the Atlanta Beat, came over to our table to chat as well. We spoke about a few international players, talked about some super-stars that will be graduating in 2010 (ahem, UNC, I’m just saying Anson Dorrance you’re amazing). It was good to get to know these coaches better.

One really cool thing that came out of our chat was Abner asked me how the coaches could get involved and help promote the league more. Boy oh boy are the Social Media flood gates open now ;-) Any WPS coaches reading this: Hit me on Twitter!

Worked with Elly and Carrie (AMAZING Chi-Town Red Stars buddies that came down to help the League Staff work the game), Aaron Burch, Jalila Sparks and Abby LePeilbet (WPS Office Staff) in the Alpine Room for a bit before I headed over to The Anheuser-Busch Soccer Park to meet up with Cathie Shaver and her dad. Cathie was the Grand Prize Winner for a trip-for-two to the WPS All-Star Game in St. Louis from our Whose Side Are You On contest. I didn’t get a chance to meet Hilary, the winner of our Father’s Day contest, but I’ve asked both of the girls, if they have a chance (school is in session now so who knows?!), to write a blog about their trips. The trip package is awesome, so maybe next time WPS puts on a competition, even more fans will enter.

On my way out of the hotel, I ran into a couple friends of mine who made mid-western road trips to see the game: George Perry, Head Coach at Monmouth College and fellow NSCAA Board Member, and Jeff Tipping, the NSCAA Director of Coaching Education, and his lovely wife Chris. Wish I had more time to hang with them but I was in a rush to get to the stadium and see the awesome Puma Cube in All-Star Village. I hope you guys had a great time!!!

Met up with Jill Coy and headed over to set up my computer in the Press Box. The Anheuser-Busch Soccer Park is a ROCKIN’ facility… but the press box is a bit tight. Big thanks to Tony Hubert, PR for Athletica, for getting Karyn and I seats in the room. It was awesome to be in mission-control during the match.

Just prior to kick-off, I was able to grab a quick snack in the WPS VIP room, where I ran into Jorge Barcellos, the Head Coach for both Athletica …and of course Brazil. He’s such a sweet, sweet man. And since the NSCAA Convention in St. Louis last year, his English has improved SOOOO much. Jorge is so full of heart and love for the game that just being around him makes me smile.

I also ran into Super Fan, Carmela Lopriore, and introduced her to Jorge Barcellos, Mary Harvey, and the Commissioner. I think she found Peter Wilt a bit later so hopefully she had a great weekend! Then I went up to the Press Box to get comfy in my seat – which I would hold down for the next 6 hours. More to follow…

WPS stars, execs and staff have all arrived in St. Louis for the WPS All-Star game this weekend. Thought I’d drop a note to share the events of the weekend. (Karina LeBlanc is my inspiration for posting something — she blogged late last night after the All-Star Awards Dinner. Check out www.karinaleblanc.com for insight from the players themselves and some cool pics :-)

The WPS staff arrived on Thursday (we all took the same flight), and got right to work. Elevators needed wrapping, signs needed posting, and bags needed stuffed. Plus, websites needed updated – Karyn Lush (http://www.twitter.com/klush17) and I put this photo gallery together as the players arrived.

The next morning, we were up early for a staff meeting to go over the day’s run down… At 10am we hopped in a van and followed the WPS All-Star bus over to the arch for a press event. Elly (aka http://www.twitter.com/deutche) and I collected some great footage from the players to make video content throughout the off-season, so keep your bookmarks dialed-in to the WPS video page. Then we headed to The Anheuser-Busch Soccer Park to do Live interviews with the WPS All-Stars. Nick Ammazzalorso – you’re a rock star. Watch the archived video here (you have to click through to the archived webcast.)

Was also great to see Abner Rogers, the coach of the Los Angeles Sol and WPS All-Star Head Coach, and the Umea IK coach – Mika Sankala – at the Stadium. Check out this video with some bold works Mika chose to say to the room of WPS players and media (I took this video, didn’t know he was going to speak actually so sorry about the choppy footage… it was pretty amazing I had my camera in hand actually. Elly did the editing – thanks girl!!!!).

Then back to the hotel to post some more photos to the My WPS All-Star page. We’ve set this page up so that no matter where you’re watching the WPS All-Star game you can post your photos and videos… really connect with the event and share it with your fellow fans. With the help of Miss Elly and http://www.twitter.com/justjen, we got two rockin’ photo galleries up — Saturday 1, Saturday 2.

Finally, we got ready for the WPS All-Star Events Dinner with a Run-Down of the power point presentation and music. At 6:30pm Doors opened and we celebrated the 2009 Season in style. Photos and another blog to follow – but I’ve got to get to The Anheuser-Busch Soccer Park right now to get ready for the WPS All-Star game presented by Coast Guard (webcast LIVE! at 5pm ET / 4pm CT)! Check out the photo of our entire WPS League office below. L –> R:PR Director Rob Penner, Amanda Vandervort (Web Coordinator — me), Chief Operating Officer Mary Harvey, Commissioner Tonya Antonucci, Director of Marketing Rachel Epstein, Marketing Manager Jill Coy, Head of New Media Karyn Lush, Operations Manager Aaron Burch, Office Administrator Jalila Sparks, Office Administrator/PR Coordinator Abby LePeilbet and General Counsel Vicki Veenker.

Chicago Red Stars player Cristiane battles 9 year old soccer player Renae Blevins to see who is the ultimate soccer juggler. This is simply too amazing not to post…. Seriously Peter Wilt: Where did you find this girl?