Tag Archive for: National Women’s Soccer League

You are here: / National Women's Soccer League

Posts

Thorns and Thistles

From the Touchline

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 35:00 — 48.1MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Amazon Music | Android | Pandora | iHeartRadio | Email | Youtube Music | RSS | More

In such uncertain times, there are certainly many difficult spaces for football/soccer athletes, coaches, and teams to navigate. Whether issues stemming from COVID-19 and lockdown, to sequestering for a month-long tournament to get back to soccer, or the racial tensions and strife that are rippling throughout US cities and around the world — just a normal day can be overwhelming — before adding all these things into the mix.

Where does a chaplain fit into the mix of that? And where and how does a chaplain to an elite women’s soccer team serve? Listen to today’s podcast to get special insight into the women’s game of soccer in the US and the work of a chaplain to help a team remember to find joy and care for one another..

In today’s From the Touchline episode, special guest, Portland Thorns Chaplain and Soccer Chaplains United’s own Christina Garber joins me to talk about the Thorns, the upcoming NWSL Challenge Cup tournament this weekend, and some of the unique challenges facing women in professional soccer.

From the Touchline is a short-feature (usually 10-15 min) podcast with Rev Brad Kenney, Founder and Executive Director of Soccer Chaplains United and Volunteer Chaplain to the Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer. Rev Brad and occasional guests touch on various issues around the topics of faith, family, and football (soccer).

Also, don’t forget that you can listen in our app, SoccrChapUtd, in the Apple and Google store.

Coming Back

two women playing soccer on field

Recently, Major League Soccer (MLS), National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) and United Soccer Leagues (USL) have all announced plans for returning to play. MLS has yet to declare or confirm actual dates, but the reported plan is to have a league-wide, 30-day tournament in Orlando, FL to re-start the season. NWSL have already revealed a schedule for the 2020 NWSL Challenge Cup, a 25-game tournament beginning June 27. The USL Championship has announced July 11 as the provisional “return to play” date, though many more logistics need to be confirmed and factored.

This week I have been in contact with Soccer Chaplains United chaplains throughout the U.S., and we are also seeing most of the college and high school teams (in varying capacities) readying to come back in the fall and resume collegiate and HS athletic programs, albeit with some likely changes and guidelines with the novel Coronavirus pandemic.

So what about chaplains? How have chaplains been serving during this time when sports and soccer, specifically, have been so significantly altered?

Well, there have been Zoom Bible studies, grocery store runs to help get toilet paper or diapers for athletes without a car and unable to make it to a store, hospital visits, phone call check-ins and much more.

If you were to have asked me at the beginning, how busy do you think you will be? I don’t think that I would have known how much time would actually be given to supporting people in the midst of the pandemic and now in the face of the protests that are happening around the U.S. and around the world.

For some, chaplains and those we serve, the time has been difficult. The suspension of sports and uncertainty of the future (some of which the uncertainty still exists) had been challenging. For many, the requisite lockdown and shut down of “normal” life has created a stress and strain on vocational life and marriages and on people’s faith.

But now, there seems to be some glimmer of hope — at least that things might begin to come back. Start to grow back. It reminded me of earlier this year when I pruned our rose bushes (see below). To be honest, it seemed to many that I had likely killed them cutting them back so far. It all seemed dead and lifeless.

March 18, 2020

But in due time (and with some proper water and sunlight) the roses are coming back. They are just now starting to bud out, so there won’t be as many roses this year, as in years past, but they are coming back. And sometimes simply coming back and flourishing, even in the midst of a difficult winter or heavy pruning season, can give us hope and room to breathe and believe. I know that I, for one, am glad to see new life beginning to emerge, again.

June 5, 2020

Soccer Chaplains United Invited to Speak on Panel about Character

,

I am excited to announce that I’ve been invited to take part in a panel presentation at the annual United Soccer Coaches Convention. United Soccer Coaches, which rebranded last year, has the largest soccer coach membership base in the world. Coaches from across all levels of the sport gather each year at its annual convention. The convention, in January, usually sees thousands of  coaches gather for education, training, networking, and other soccer-related activities.

Major League Soccer typically holds  its annual draft in conjunction with the convention. The draft and convention have also been the location for annual meetings hosted by Athletes in Action of those involved in chaplaincy amongst MLS, the United Soccer League (USL), and National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL).

This January, the convention is being held in Chicago and the panel on character will take place on Friday, January 11.

For me, this is an exciting opportunity — it’s an opportunity to represent Soccer Chaplains United on a much bigger stage and to a much broader membership group. It will also provide an opportunity to share about the issue of character and character formation and development within soccer.

Within the current state of the game, often times coaches are seen as primary teachers and builders of character into our young boys and girls. While it is true that coaches often help shape and mold character, part of what we will be talking about is the difficulties and challenges that are often present in that kind of task and pressure.

The panel is still being formed, but it looks as though we will have a representative from the Positive Coaching Alliance, a head coach in the USL, and a few other panelists that will round out the session.

Please be praying about this neat opportunity to speak into the lives of the coaches that attend the panel and to talk about the topic of character from the chaplain viewpoint.

Community Projects

Contact Us

Chaplain Login

Privacy Policy

© 2024 Soccer Chaplains United

Donate via PushPay or Every.org.