As the National Women’s Soccer League heads into its postseason, this week’s bombshell report on player abuse by coaches should have everyone asking how we can do better by the players, and the sport.
The report published Monday outlines the findings from a US Soccer-commissioned investigation into allegations of abuse in the National Women’s Soccer League and details systemic failures in professional women’s soccer. Of the shocking details laid out in the more than 300 pages of the report — and there are many — one of the most ominous footnotes is this: The failures run deep, all the way to youth soccer.
“The culture of tolerating verbal abuse of players goes beyond the NWSL,” Sally Yates, lead investigator and a former US deputy attorney general, writes in the report. “While the scope of our investigation was limited to allegations of misconduct in the League, some of the coaches whose conduct we examined has significant connections to youth soccer.”
Several coaches at the highest level of women’s soccer have ties to the game at the youth level. It’s common for successful coaches to simultaneously be involved in successful youth organizations. One of the coaches specified in the report, Rory Dames, was also reported to have been abusive at the youth level.
But this isn’t about any singular coach. It’s about so much more.
It’s about a culture that enabled predatory coaches not only to exist, but thrive; not only to coach one team, but rise to the highest level of the games.
“During the course of our investigation, we confronted multiple historical reports of verbal and sexual abuse of youth soccer players,” writes Yates. “Players also told us that their experiences of verbal abuse and blurred relationships with coaches in youth soccer impacted their inability to discern what was out of bounds in the NWSL.”
The fact that the systemic failures run as deep as youth soccer is huge. These findings deserve to be taken seriously — not only because youth athletes are most vulnerable, but because addressing the issue from the jump can help pave the way for change at large.
In the Yates report, several recommendations on how to move forward were made. One specifically tackles the issue of how to foster change in youth soccer.
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Because investigators were limited to addressing allegations of misconduct in the NWSL, their investigations fell short of looking too deep into misconduct at the youth level. In its recommendations, they say that the US Soccer Federation “should collaborate with its youth member organizations and other stakeholders to examine whether additional measures are necessary to protect youth players.”
That’s a start. An important one.
The culture of women’s sports, in general, is such that athletes are often expected to be grateful for even having the opportunity to play a sport. That, coupled with a history of lackluster management, little investment, and zero infrastructure created the perfect storm for abuse to occur.
Things are changing, of course, and women’s sports at the professional level are thriving — and that trickles down the ranks to college, high school and youth. But more needs to be done, and the Yates report outlines very specific and concrete ways so US Soccer can take those first steps to do better.
For soccer fans, this week has been heavy. And it’s likely to get worse once the NWSL and NWLS Players Associations’ joint investigation concludes. Here in New Jersey, there are still so many unanswered questions about what our local NWSL team, Gotham FC, will do after years of abuse at the hands of one of the team’s former coaches is now public.
So many questions remain. What is so clear, though, is that the players deserve more. So much more.
Women & Sport is a NorthJersey.com column devoted to female athletes from the rec league level to those in college and the pros. If you’ve got a tip on an athlete from North Jersey who should be noted in the column, no matter how young they are or how old, please drop me a line at [email protected].
Melanie Anzidei is a reporter for NorthJersey.com. To get unlimited access to the latest news, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.