The W-League

I wrote in a comment that I had never heard of the W-League until May. That is completely true. Meghan Nanfeldt is the person who told me about it. Without Meghan I never would have found out about it and my job would never be sending out press releases about one of the schools successful players. Meghan is the reason why there has been four press releases about the W-League sent out...and papers such as the Boston Globe have atleast received the release...although I haven't seen anything published yet.

Someone commented about the Rochester Ravens and were talking about how it was great for the women soccer players to get some expierence over the summer. It is great for many different reasons. It gives players a chance to learn something new from different coaches. Maybe they will learn how to play a different position. They get to play competitve high level soccer outside of just the college season. They will come back better players because of the summer league.

It's also nice to know that those women who love the game of soccer can get the opportunity to play it at high levels over the summer and after they graduate college. It's a great opportunity for them and I know that if I was a great athlete and great at my sport that I'd get really restless if I couldn't have live game competition. I'd also probably get really mad if I trained really hard for most of my life and found out that I had to stop playing because there was no next level for me to get to.

The W-League also helps grow the game of soccer and women's sports. It brings women's soccer to smaller communities around the country. It exposes the game to more and more young girls. (I'd assume...wrongly or rightly ...that most college womens soccer players who were alive in 1999 were inspired to play by the 1999 World Cup team.)

It's likely that a young girl who attends a W-League game will be inspired to be like someone on that field. When you are really young you look up to a lot of people. I can't tell you the amount of no-name autographs I have, but at the time it meant the world to me to have a Bridgeport Bluefish autograph, or an NBA Summer League Autograph.

On top of that, more leagues and more competition will lead to better players and a better game. The National team and WPS will be made better because players will get to play the game more.

The W-League can have the same impact as the Cape Cod League if it gets more publicity. Like the Cape League it gives college players the opportunity to play and improve over the summer.

Like the Cape Cod League, The W-League exposes people at the grassroots level to the sport of soccer. (That is so important...developing fans of soccer in general will ensure that more and more people will play and watch the game...I never liked soccer when I saw it on TV [Premeier League, World Cup, MLS never did it for me]), but I did like it when I went to UConn and saw our teams play and met some of the players. You can trace my appreciation for soccer back to Goal Patrol, the 2007 Men's team and the 5-0 win over USF...and the big games that womens soccer won this year..vs Yale, St. Johns and WVU Tournament game)

Since the UConn teams exposed me to high level soccer for the first time I now enjoy watching some soccer on TV. For the first time in my life I respected the sport. I actually watched the Arsenal play against Manchester United...and was dissapointed with the result. (Go Arsenal...Bacary Sagna (a defender) making a bicycle kick save in the first Premier League game I saw also made me like soccer..and the Arsenal) I actually have tuned in to part of an MLS, WPS and other tournaments because of the stuff I saw in Storrs.

Some coaches and players don't like to grow the game because they get so worried about recruiting and training but it's really important and shouldn't be overlooked. If you truly love your sport you should want to teach others about it and leave an impact on the game that transcends your personal accomplishments. You should get others excited about the game so that your sport has more people who enjoy watching and playing it.

The one thing the W-League does need is more publicity. It could have a greater impact on soccer if more people knew about it. A lot of schools do press releases on their baseball and basketball players activities over the summer. Only some do it for soccer. People know that you can see the great centerfielder at your school or alma mater playing on the Cape. They don't know that you can watch your school or alma mater's great goalie down the street.

Also....I could say the same thing about the WPSL...it's exactly like the W-League...just called something different. I'd actually read something about the WPSL in a media guide so I became aware of it during the winter.