July 10th 2023.
A new era is dawning for the U.S. women's national soccer team. As the World Cup kicks off this month in Australia and New Zealand, they will pursue an unprecedented third consecutive title with the most diverse squad the program has ever produced.
This team represents a major shift from its early days and even more recent USA teams that were overwhelmingly white. Trinity Rodman and Crystal Dunn will lead the way, with seven Black players joining the squad.
Jon Solomon, editorial director of the Aspen Institute Sports & Society Program, explains that this shift is largely due to economic and social changes. He says, “It’s partly about economics and partly about how hard it is to eliminate stereotypes people have about who can succeed at what sports.”
Retired USA goalkeeper Briana Scurry echoes this sentiment. She remembers starting on the team as the only one of color for decades. She says, “I was always going to be authentically me. I never hid that I was gay. I just was being who I am.”
Scurry made history in 1999 when she saved a penalty kick in front of 90,185 fans at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, helping the United States win the Cup. As the only openly gay player and a Black woman, she struggled to secure endorsement deals after her heroics.
It has taken 20 years for the diversity of the sport to get to the point it is today. Crystal Dunn, who helped the United States to its fourth overall title in 2019, recalls feeling like she had to “tone down who I am because I feel like there’s very few of us on this team” when she started out.
Now, Dunn is celebrated as part of the most diverse U.S. women’s squad ever.
Scurry is delighted to see the diverse soccer landscape she had wanted to be part of, and feels gratified that her pursuit likely provided some inspiration. She says, “It’s awesome because now other young girls think that they can, too.”
The increased diversity at the highest level of women’s U.S. soccer coincides with a multi-year effort to get more minority kids onto the pitch. The U.S. Soccer Foundation has provided more than half a million children from “under-resourced” communities with free programs, building more than 600 “mini-pitches” designed for the youth game across the country.
Unfortunately, the problem is not limited to soccer. Girls at predominantly white high schools typically see 82% of the athletic opportunities boys do, according to a Women’s Sports Foundation report last year. That figure falls to 67% in schools where students of color are the majority.
Karen Issokson-Silver, the research head at the Women’s Sports Foundation, says that girls of color are “short-changed” in school and club programs. She adds, “Sport is a microcosm of society, so a lot of the things that we see in society, whether that’s systemic racism or archaic gender norms… then you are likely to see them in sport.”
The Women’s Sports Foundation and espnW have collaborated on the Sports 4 Life program, which works to increase participation for girls of color. Issokson-Silver believes that seeing a World Cup team with many diverse players will play a part for the next generation. She says, “When it comes to girls having an opportunity to see what’s possible for themselves, that kind of visibility… at the elite levels of play is monumental.”
Naomi Girma, a 23-year-old defender who will make her World Cup debut, agrees. She notes, “Growing up, I don’t really feel like that was something that I saw in professional soccer and on national teams. I feel honored to be that representation.”
Crystal Dunn is also grateful for the chance to make a difference through her presence on the team. She says, “I can’t hide that I’m a Black woman. And so I think for me, just the more that I step into that space and I own it has really allowed and given other women of color the green light.”
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