CEHD News

Tucker Center and US Club Soccer launch groundbreaking partnership

September 5, 2024
three stylized ponytails, one a solid orange light to dark gradient, one outlined orange with transparent center, one black outlined with transparent center, each superimposed over the other and each slightly rotated in the group swooping from left to right all over the words COACHING and HER, both in capital letters, with the word coaching in black, the word her in orange with the undulating outlines of the stylized ponytails group, now all in lighter orange, superimposed across the word her

The Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport is excited to announce the signing of the first Coaching HER™ Champion license with US Club Soccer. This strategic partnership represents a significant step forward in the commitment to fostering inclusivity, empowerment, and gender equity in US Club Soccer coaching by integrating Coaching HER® into their educational platforms.

Coaches are powerful role models who can impact girls’ self-perceptions, experiences, and development and are one of the most important factors determining whether she keeps playing sports. Yet coaches often lack the education and training needed to address concerns specific to girls and women. Coaching HER™ is a toolkit that is grounded in research and proven to improve coaching strategies specifically for girls. 

For US Club Soccer, Missy Price, VP of Education and Development, shares, “We’re thrilled to be the first major youth sport organization to join Coaching HER™ in their mission. Girls between the ages of 11 and 17 dropout of soccer at alarming rates and we’re joining forces with Coaching HER™ to change this pattern. Girls experience the world differently than boys and Coaching HER™ is here to help our coaches, parents, and clubs learn how to coach differently to help girls reach their full potential and maintain a positive relationship with sport for a lifetime.”

Nicole M. LaVoi, PhD, director of the Tucker Center, shares the excitement: “We are thrilled to welcome US Club Soccer as our first organizational partner of Coaching HER™. All athletes deserve coaches that understand how to create an environment to help all girls thrive and reach their full potential and this is an important first step.”

This collaboration will equip coaches with specialized training and resources, empowering them to better understand and address the unique challenges female athletes encounter. Through this initiative, US Club Soccer is dedicated to inspiring a new generation of female athletes to excel both on and off the field.

For more information about Coaching HER™ and the new partnerships, please visit www.CoachingHER.com, download the press release here, or contact Alicia Pelton, Program Director, at apelton@umn.edu.