Stoppage Time Special: A Girl's Right to Play

Check out this Stoppage Time special from Ep. 41 - Her Game Too: Fighting for Equality in Soccer - Part 2!

Gender equality in soccer remains an uphill battle, especially in communities where women's participation is still considered unusual. "I don't know many women my age who watch soccer... it's me and my dad, that's all I know about soccer fans," shares Jenn Ramczyk, one of the co-founders of Her Game Too USA, highlighting how isolating the experience can be for female enthusiasts in certain regions of the country.

The Her Game Too movement is confronting these challenges head-on with strategic priorities for 2025. Education stands as their foremost mission—creating awareness that soccer truly belongs to everyone, regardless of gender. This need becomes painfully evident when we hear about an eight-year-old girl being told by a boy her same age that "she wasn't allowed to play the game." Such early manifestations of gender exclusion demonstrate why education must target both girls and boys from the youngest ages.

Funding grassroots programs forms the second pillar of their strategy, recognizing that early positive experiences are where children develop their love for soccer before societal barriers intervene. The third initiative focuses on forging partnerships with clubs at every level—from local recreational leagues to professional organizations—without financial barriers to participation. These partnerships manifest through visible symbols like the Her Game Too patch on jerseys and dedicated fixtures that elevate women's matches.

Perhaps most powerful is the conversation around female coaching representation. When young girls see themselves reflected in leadership positions, they're more likely to believe soccer is truly their game too. Unfortunately, female coaches continue facing skepticism about their abilities solely based on gender, with comments like "I don't want my child coached by a girl" still pervasive in youth soccer. Changing this mentality forms a critical component of creating truly inclusive soccer environments where all participants can thrive.

Want to support the movement for gender equality in soccer? Tune in to our full episodes and discover how you can become part of creating positive change in your local soccer community!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to the Stoppage Time edition of the
Pitch to Pro podcast.
This is a highlight reel ofsome of the best moments from
the show so far, and every otherweek we will be bringing you a
special five to seven minutesegment featuring the best
stories, tales and moments ofthe podcast.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Yeah, I don't know many women my age who watch
soccer.
I think of a rarity in my area,my hometown, which is a little
town.
It's me and my dad, that's allI know about soccer fans.
So it is trying to get thecommunity or women to feel like,
hey, this is for me.

Speaker 3 (00:40):
I can watch this sport and it's different across
the country.
It's very different what weexperience in Arkansas.
We're very lucky in our littlepocket of Arkansas where we've
got quite a lot of socceropportunities.
Now it wasn't always that wayfor the girls.
One of the things I think totalk about with the education
side is we had points over thelast five years where we

(01:01):
couldn't form an age group teamfor the girls and that makes
things really difficult, andthat is that's adding to the
attrition rate and the dropoutrate before they get to junior
high, because if they're havingto scrape around trying to find
girls from other teams combiningteams, combining age groups
that's hard, that they're goingto stop getting despondent and

(01:22):
then not want to play.
So I feel you know educationand just getting more interest
in the game is that's asimportant as the sexist.
yeah, honestly absolutelyfalling in love with the game.
Yeah, that's that's what wewant, and wanting to love it as
much as we do.
And so, yeah, getting some more, getting more ambassadors
across the country and also, um,you know, people willing to

(01:46):
help with all these the wheelsand cogs in the background.
There's a lot and there is,yeah, hoping for visibility and
more like-minded people outthere to really get this message
and hit the grassroots teams,make these girls feel valued
yeah.

Speaker 4 (02:05):
So what's?
You started talking about it alittle bit, but as you look
forward, you know there'sthere's so much to chew off and
and and and chew on.
I should say to you know, youbite off more than you chew,
whatever the saying is, butthere's so much to be done.
Yeah, and at some level that'sa little bit disheartening, but

(02:30):
also speaks to the need to thework and, on the positive side,
the opportunities of completingthat work and bringing the
culture and the populace to abetter place collectively.
But what are you guys lookingfor?

(02:51):
What's next?
What's on the immediate horizonfor you guys?

Speaker 2 (02:55):
So in 2025, we actually had our meeting with
our high-level people and a dealof our ambassadors who happened
to get on the call and our goalfor 2025 is going to be
education, education, education,because we believe that's where
it starts.
We've got to start educating andtry to get into the schools and

(03:17):
get the young ones it's notjust educating the girls, it's
educating the boys as well,educating them that this game is
for everyone.
Because a little side note story, but it's relevant is an
eight-year-old girl was told byan eight-year-old boy that she
wasn't allowed to play the game.

(03:38):
Now, that should not happen atthat age, and that's where
education is going to come in,not, like I said, not just for
the girls, for the boys torealize this is for everybody.
So that's our, that's ournumber one focus is education.
I think the number two focus isgetting that funding.
Um, however, we may need to getthat, uh, we're gonna, next

(04:01):
couple months, we're gonna behaving a found funding page
right on our website so peoplecan fund to write to us and now
we can help the grassroots,because that's where it starts,
that's where the kid falls inlove with the game, and just for
the love of the game and notanything else, so that for me
that's what we mainly talkedabout was those two things

(04:23):
grassroots education.

Speaker 3 (04:25):
And then I think, thirdly, on that is more this
podcast, for example, gettingvisibility out there to hoping
that some of these clubs willsee and they'll want to stand
alongside us.
So a partnership we have a clubpartnership packet that we can
get out.
We can talk to club owners andexplain to them what that means

(04:47):
for the club to stand by hergame too and be aligned with us.
It costs no money to be apartner.
It costs no money.
It's as expensive or cheap asthe club wants it to, as you
want it to be.
So it's manageable for agrassroots club.
It's manageable for a recleague.
It's manageable for a stateassociation, a USL team, it
doesn't matter.

(05:07):
An academy you can buy stuff touse, you don't have to.
But just having a girls teambeing able to have our badge,
the Her Game 2 patch on theirjerseys, have dedicated fixtures
for their games, when a clubaligns with her game too, that

(05:28):
it's, it's important, and itstarts at those grassroots, yeah
, ages and I think, um, and youguys would be able to speak more
to this too and there's andyou'll probably just say yes,
there's so much to do, andthat's one of them is more

(05:51):
female coaches and opportunitiesfor female coaches.

Speaker 2 (05:54):
When there are coaches, they're not questioned
about their coaching abilitybecause of their sex.
Because even in our video ifyou've watched our video one of
them is I don't want my childcoached by a girl.
That is one of the comments.

Speaker 4 (06:10):
So you're right, that is another because I think too
and I think that this, just this, is a in general statement
around coaching education in theyouth game today that there's
so much opportunity there, um,and it's.
It's not necessarily because,yeah, people don't know what

(06:32):
they're doing per se and theywant to just jump out there and
help and like that's great, um,so bringing some level of
consistency as to what are themain tenets of the game that
we're trying to get across andand do.
But I think the other piece ofit is when kids have a good
experience with their coach andthat coach.
It's much more for me,especially at the grassroots

(06:52):
level, less about teaching thegame the right way, but more
around providing an environmentwhere kids can fall in love with
the game.
And they're much more likely todo that when they have a role
model coach.
That is, oh, I see myself inthat.

(07:15):
Yeah right, representationmatters so much, um, and so that
is something just in general.
But then, even more important,uh, on the girl's side, within
the attrition and the, theparticipation rates and all of
those things that I think, uh,you guys can be a big advocate
for and I know you are alreadybut, um, one of the things that

(07:40):
uh, again, as a father ofdaughters, I, I, you know I
jumped in to help uh, coach mydaughter's team because there
were, there wasn't a yeah shewas not enough coaches.
Um, and I was actually hopingthat, not because I I don't want
to coach my daughter, but Iactually I was the opposite.

(08:02):
I would have preferred for herto have an amazing female coach
and have that for her and bethat her experience.

Speaker 1 (08:10):
Thank you for joining us for this stoppage time
special of the Pitch to Propodcast.
If you've enjoyed theconversation, you can click
watch the full episode here.
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