Alumni

PLANO, Texas (May 27, 2026) — As the United States Men’s National Team (USMNT) prepares for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the roster set to represent the host country has been officially announced.

The 26-man team — headlined by 13 players returning for their second straight World Cup — will face off against Paraguay (June 12 at 8 p.m. CT), Australia (June 19 at 2 p.m. CT), and Turkey (June 25 at 9 p.m. CT) in its three group stage matches.

Many of the players on the roster have ties to US Youth Soccer (USYS), with most starting their playing careers in one of USYS’ longstanding programs.

Six members of the USMNT — Weston McKennie, Tim Ream, Chris Richards, Joe Scally, Auston Trusty, and Haji Wright — played in the US Youth Soccer Olympic Development Program (ODP), which has served as a pipeline for the national team since 1977. Wright and Trusty both competed at the 2011 ODP Thanksgiving Interregionals, while Scally attended four years later and was named an All-Star at the event — earning him a spot on the ODP team selected to compete against Argentinian clubs on an international trip in early 2016.

Ream, the oldest player on the World Cup squad, is a veteran of the USYS National Championship Series. He competed with St. Louis Scott Gallagher and was later followed by several others, including Scally, Matt Freese, McKennie, and Richards, who competed in their respective USYS Regional Championships. Meanwhile, Tyler Adams and Gio Reyna played in their local State Cup competitions. Adams, with the Town of Poughkeepsie Soccer Club, and Scally, with the Sachem Destoyers, won Eastern New York (ENY) State Cup Championships, while Tim Weah played in local ENY competitions with the Rosedale Rockets Soccer Club.

Freese is the lone member of the team to play in The National League and won a division title with Penn Fusion (PA-E) in 2014-15.

Full U.S. Men’s National Team Roster by Position:

GOALKEEPERS (3)

• Chris Brady
• Matt Freese
• Matt Turner

DEFENDERS (10)

• Max Arfsten
• Sergińo Dest
• Alex Freeman
• Mark McKenzie
• Tim Ream
• Chris Richards
• Antonee Robinson
• Miles Robinson
• Joe Scally
• Auston Trusty

MIDFIELDERS (4)

• Tyler Adams
• Sebastian Berhalter
• Weston McKennie
• Cristian Roldan

ATTACKING MIDFIELDERS/WINGERS (6)

• Brenden Aaronson
• Christian Pulisic
• Gio Reyna
• Malik Tillman
• Tim Weah
• Alejandro Zendejas

STRIKERS (3)

• Folarin Balogun
• Ricardo Pepi
• Haji Wright

From the field to films, Jessi Sheldon is combining her loves during dream job

In her words, Jessi Sheldon is right where she’s meant to be. Early days as a youth soccer player kicked off a chain of events and experiences that have led Sheldon to a dream project — working on the production of “The 99’ers,” an upcoming Netflix film that tells the story of the U.S. Women’s National Team that claimed the 1999 World Cup.

We spoke to Sheldon about how Game Changing Films — the company she co-founded with Aimee McDaniel — is contributing to “The 99’ers,” along with a dive into her past as a youth and Division I soccer player, and her journey into TV and film.

What moments stick out from your youth soccer days?

Soccer was just so great and such a huge part of my life growing up. I was born in Tulsa and lived there until I was 12. I actually played for the Tulsa Hurricane Soccer Club in the first year it started for my U-12 year. Randy Waldrum, who is at Pitt [and a former NWSL and international manager), he was the head of the whole club. I had gone to his Tulsa soccer camp whenever I was growing up. When I was 8 years old, he told me, “You’re going to play for me one day.”

Then, I moved to the Dallas-Fort Worth area and was fortunate enough to join up with Sting SC and started playing for Sting at U-13. I played basically all the way up until my senior year, when I switched over to D’Feeters.

With Sting, I did that 45-minute to an hour drive for practices during rush hour. I think about that now, with my parents just loading me up and saying, “Okay, let’s go to practice.” And it’s just wild to kind of think about how much support that they gave me to try to help those dreams come true. Soccer was such a huge part of my life, and I absolutely loved it.

How successful were your teams when you played with Sting?

We won North Texas State Cup, for sure, my U-14, U-15 and U-17 years. Then, we won Regionals all those years, as well. I think, starting in U-16, you could start going to Nationals. So, my U-17 year, we went to Nationals, and that was pretty amazing.

What do you remember from going to Nationals?

For Nationals, that year we were at the Wide World of Sports at Disney. So that was pretty incredible. We did the opening ceremonies. We did it at like Animal Kingdom and walked around. It was just so cool. And it was so cool to meet the other teams, like from the other parts of the country and just to get to get to know them, knowing that eventually we’d be playing in college against each other and that kind of thing.

And you did go on to play Division I college soccer?

Yeah, I played two seasons at Mississippi State. Then, I actually wanted to major in film — in radio, TV and film, specifically — so I transferred to TCU. They had a really good film program, so then I played soccer there, too.

What was that experience like for you at both schools?

It was incredible, especially when I started at Mississippi State. I think we had nine freshmen on the team, and eight of us were starting at an SEC school. And we had a really great coach, Neil McGuire. He’s now been at Cal for years. He recruited a bunch of us, and we were from all over the country. There were four or five of us from the North Texas area. One was from Colorado, Florida, Portland. We were from all over the place, and we ended up in Starkville, Miss., together, and we had a great freshman year. We ended up winning the SEC West that year, and it was a really, really great experience.

After my freshman year — though I absolutely loved soccer — I knew that I really wanted to get into the entertainment industry. So, I felt like it was time to probably make a move somewhere else just for my career purposes. And I was fortunate that Neil gave me my full release and said, “Yeah, I’ll call any coach that you want. Just keep soccer as part of your life. Let that pay for school and keep going with that.” And I’m very grateful he did because then I was able to go to TCU and continued my career and had an incredible time. And it’s so great. I’m actually working on this project now. One of the other girls on our team — Angie Shotzberger — is part of our crew. We played together at TCU. It’s a really kind of full circle moment for us.

Pursuing your film degree was clearly a big part of your college journey. If speaking to current young players, maybe those committed to play college soccer, how important would you say it is to find a passion outside the game that can turn into a possible career option when playing days come to an end?

That’s a fantastic question because I think that a lot of soccer players — and collegiate athletes, in general, or professional athletes — they have a hard time really transitioning after their career is done and really trying to make that leap into the next thing. And it’s so important to be well-rounded because eventually you are going to play in your last game. And you don’t always get to have it end on your terms, either.

So, it’s so important that, just for mentally, emotionally, physically, everything, that you have other things that you can look to and other things that are part of your life. Yes, soccer is so important, and it’s opened up so many doors for me. But it’s also been so huge to have other avenues of my life, where I still find the skills that I love about soccer can translate into other areas. That’s something that’s really great. There are a lot of really good tools that you learn from being a youth soccer player, as far as the dedication and all these great skills that can take you in other places in your life.

Once you graduated, what was your career path like prior to your work with Game Changing Films?

I graduated and finished up in the summer. I think I had my last class on Friday, and on Monday, I was packed up in my car and drove to Los Angeles. I didn’t really have a specific job or even apartment or anything like that. It just kind of like, “All right, I’m going to take this degree, take what I’ve learned, and go figure it out.”

I did a lot of the normal LA jobs. I waited tables. I worked at Starbucks. I even coached a private high school girls soccer team for a couple seasons. And then I did a commercial, as well. I was able to do some special ability background work. I got to play a basketball player on the TV show Monk. I thought that was cool, and it was super fun.

Eventually, I met up with some people that did sports in movies and TV shows. And I was like, “Well, I didn’t even know something like this existed. This is absolutely perfect. How did I not know about this?” Then, I met my business partner, Aimee, in 2008. She played basketball at Pepperdine. We started working together and continued to do so. And in 2012, we launched Game Changing Films. The rest is history after that.

What does Game Changing Films do, and what is your role?

I tend to try to be a little bit more behind the scenes. I love the casting aspect of it and the logistics of trying to help make sure everybody’s where they’re supposed to be. I do some of the on-field stuff, but a lot of my duties are more of the behind the scenes. And we also have a company called Game Changing Gear, where we do uniforms and equipment for movies and TV shows. That’s a big part of my job, as well, to help with the uniforms and making sure that they’re accurate and that we’re helping make those.

For this soccer project, I found myself kind of helping out on the field a lot more than what I normally do, which has been fun. It’s different for me. And my husband also works with us, and he does a lot of the on-field coordination, football coordination and basketball coordination, and baseball and all kinds of that stuff.

Every project is different, but for this one particular, we started training with the actors and that’s been a big part of it — really kind of helping them, teaching them not only some of the basic soccer skills, but also then teaching the choreography for the actual plays we’re trying to recreate.

We’ve also held a big casting call, like a big on-field tryout. We saw probably almost 200 female soccer players and put them through drills and identified them as like, “Okay, this person could be a great opponent player. This person could be great for the 99 team. She could play Tiffany Milbrett.”  Just different things and trying help identify who these players could be.

And then we get them all together and teach them the choreography. So, once we go to actual filming and cameras are ready to roll… Let’s just say it is the Denmark game of 1999, and we’re going to Play 1, and everybody knows exactly where they’re supposed to go. They know that the ball comes around here and it goes around the back, and then we go back up to the left mid and then we cross it over. So, everybody knows exactly what they’re doing because we’ve rehearsed it and we’ve practiced it over and over again. So, it looks like it’s real when we actually get to film it. Then the camera also knows where the ball is going to go, and we know exactly how to help shoot the action, as well.

We’ve seen some of our other former players pop up on social media in photos with the actors in The 99’ers cast. How important are those college athletes or recent graduates with their role in the production?

In our opinion, they’re invaluable. It’s such a huge part of the production. Some people may refer to them as background, but they’re not, they’re so much more than that. And we’re fortunate that this project has really dove in and really like appreciates the level of play that they’re bringing and how important it is to the movie. These women have just been so great to work with.

For a lot of them who have just finished college and maybe they’re not continuing on with their career, it’s just a great way to get back out on the field and get back in the locker room and get back with teammates and friends. And it’s something that you don’t realize how much you missed until you’re back with it. And I think for them, that’s been a huge part in being in something really special that they’ll never forget. It really kind of becomes a once-in-a-lifetime thing. They’ll make friends from this movie, and they’ll be lifelong friends because they’ve experienced something really special together.

What other shows or movies has Game Changing Films worked on?

I’m always so bad at remembering what all we’ve done. Running Point is about to premiere Season 2 on Netflix. That one’s super fun. We just finished up Chad Powers, and that’s another really fun one with Glen Powell and football. The premise is so ridiculous, but we have a good time with that one. And we did about seven seasons of All American, so that was some more football we shot out in LA.

A long time ago, I did Uncle Drew, where we had a bunch of former or current NBA players, like Kyrie Irving and Shaquille O’Neal. Trying to find a basketball double for Shaquille O’Neal was a little tough.

I haven’t traveled as much overseas. Aimee has gone all over the place. She did Pelé in Brazil. She did Invictus in South Africa with Matt Damon. She’s done a couple movies in India and just kind of been all over the place. I’ve got a 5-year-old and 7-year-old, so I don’t travel as much overseas anymore. But we’re very fortunate that we’ve been able to do a lot of different projects and a lot of different sports. It’s not just been focused on the sports we’ve played, but a lot of the ones that we know well and continue to learn about.

Are there any actors that stick out as being natural athletes when you worked with them?

A long time ago, we did a cross-country movie with Kevin Costner called McFarland, USA. It’s one of my favorite movies that we’ve done. He was a coach in it, but because he is an athlete — and because he is so athletic and obviously he’s been in so many iconic sports movies, as well — it was really special to see how he interacted with the actors and athletes. He just kind of came by it very naturally. And I think that showed on screen, too. It was really great to see that and to work with somebody who understood sports and was a fan of other athletes, as well.

Thinking back to 1999, do you remember watching the World Cup as a teenager?

I know exactly where I was. I was at Region III ODP camp, and we were watching it. I was 16 and just looked up to these women so much. And so the fact that I get to now work on this movie with my heroes from growing up, it’s incredible. I’m just so incredibly thankful for this opportunity because I know what it meant to me as a 16-year-old watching that and how I felt at that point. I’m like, “I can do anything. Look at these women, look at these amazing women, and look at what they just did, and look how many people are supporting them and cheering them on.”

And I think it was incredibly moving and it was something that I knew right then was going to change things. It was going to be different for women’s sports and kind of shined a light on a really big moment.

With your background in film and as a soccer player, including what you just mentioned from watching these women, does working on The 99’ers film feel like everything aligning perfectly?

Yeah, this is what I was meant to do, absolutely. I didn’t even know back when I was watching this in 1999 that something like this would even be possible. And to now sit here and being able to work on this movie, it’s all of my loves combined. It’s hard work, and it’s great work.

And it’s just such a positive set. It’s so infectious, the energy. And every person that is working on this is doing their absolute best to try to make it as real, as authentic, as moving, all the things that we want just to make it as good of a movie as we can possibly can.

What has the process or timeline been like for working with the actors? Does it start with soccer skills and then move to choreography?

We try to combine both. The first week that we were with them, we mainly just focused on training and were with the cast. And then we started bringing in just the U.S. team and the rest of their teammates, and we started focusing on some specific drills and stuff that we would see on camera.

By the third week, we started bringing in opponents. But we would still be focusing on skills and working on that. We would do an hour-and-a-half just with them working on skillsets and then bring in the opponents a little bit later and start getting into choreography and then still finishing out.

We’ve been doing fitness. We’ve been doing all kinds of stuff. Their quads hurt, their hamstrings hurt, their calves hurt, their feet hurt, just in the same way that all soccer players’ do. We were telling them, “Yeah, soccer hurts sometimes, but in the best way.” You have a feeling of accomplishment at the end of the day, too.

We always say, too, it’s like — you play a game or you have a long practice, we’re talking about maybe three hours. We’re filming for 12 or 13 hours. Nobody’s used to playing soccer or any sport for that long, each day, in and out. The crew and producers and everybody have been really helpful in trying to keep everybody as healthy as possible and give as many breaks as we can. We know, especially as we get a little bit closer into filming and it starts getting hotter and all that stuff, we’ve got a big road ahead of us — just in the same way that those 99’ers played in that 101-degree heat. I think we’re going to try to rival that, as well. It’ll be a good time.

The girls have really been working really hard and they’ve really bought in and it’s been fun to work with them.

Instagram: Behind-the-scenes look at how The 99’ers comes to life

Which actor on The 99’ers came in with the best soccer skills from the start?

I’m not sure if I should answer that, but I think that they would all probably tell you Emily Bader, who is playing Mia Hamm. She’s a legit soccer player. We were really impressed with her.

It’s something we talked about because she was getting a little frustrated one day during practice, and we’re like, “Look, girl. You can tell you’re a gamer. Like, there are some people that are practice players and there are some people that are game players, and you’re a game player.” I was like, “Our game is filming, and whenever you step on that field and you’re ready to film, we know you’re going to bring it.” And so far the first couple of days, she has done really, really well on the soccer field. So, it’s been exciting to watch.

When you see some of the actors posting photos and videos on social media, it has the feel of a real bunch of teammates. Do you sense that chemistry?

Yeah, and they built it and it’s been very natural. I don’t think many of them knew each other beforehand. So, it really has been fun to watch them kind of come together as a team and come together with the rest of the girls on the team. It’s been really special to watch.

The cast went to a USWNT game a couple months ago, and Crystal Dunn recently visited the cast. What has the interaction been like with past or current members of the USWNT?

Going to the game was super cool. The real 1999 players were already in this room that we were in, and I was in there whenever the cast arrived. So, to see them meet their counterpart in real time was really cool. A lot of them had already had conversations and had been able to text and ask questions and that kind of stuff, but to see the actual live meeting — hugs everywhere and big smiles — that was something really cool to watch. To see 1999 players in person and see them in their element was super special and feels a little surreal. I know that they’re probably going to come out and visit set, as well. And they’re just rock stars in our mind. They’re amazing and they’re the reason we’re all here and doing this job. We’re just hoping to make them proud and doing everything we can every day to make sure that happens.

If you ask her to look back on her career and choose moments that stand out, it might take Emily Spreeman (née Cressy) a few minutes. As a California native, Spreeman represented the United States on the global stage for nearly two decades before retiring in late 2025.

For most, goals and trophies would be hard to top. But for Spreeman, a two-time Deaf World Cup Champion and three-time Deaflympic Gold Medalist, the free clinics the United States Deaf Women’s National Team hosted for the deaf and hard of hearing community are what she holds most closely.

“Those experiences meant so much more than anything that showed up on a scoreboard,” Spreeman said. “Being able to give back, connect, and create opportunities for kids who might not always feel seen or included, that’s what truly sticks with me.”

Spreeman, who was born deaf herself, learned of her impairment early. Those clinics resonate so much with her because she shares a connection with the people that attend them. Deafness always has and will be a part of Spreeman’s life, but it’s never come close to stopping her on the soccer field.

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Along with her teammates throughout the years, Spreeman credits her parents for being supportive and encouraging her to work hard and chase her goals.

“They always emphasized that even though I was deaf, I belonged on that field just like everyone else,” Spreeman said. 

And she did.

Spreeman joined the Eagles Soccer Club during her early youth years as the club attempted to make its mark in a competitive Southern California landscape. She grew with her teammates as they all learned how best to play with each other. As time passed, the team started to experience more and more success. Then, in 2004, it reached the top.

Having qualified for the US Youth Soccer National Championships, the Eagles made the cross-country trip to Orlando, Fla., to compete against the best teams in the country. All that time Spreeman and her teammates spent learning how to coexist prepared them for the challenge. After winning their first two group stage games against teams from New Jersey and Michigan, the Eagles dropped the third to Oklahoma’s Edmond Soccer Club that set up a rematch for the National Championship. Even though the first meeting ended in a loss, it proved to be important. Having a chance to scout the opponent allowed the Eagles to flip the script in the final and take home the club’s first-ever national title.

Then, three years later, they did it again.

While the Eagles were able to maintain plenty of roster continuity — including Spreeman — new players like Amanda Lisberger, who would earn an invite to join the Korean Republic National Team Pool for the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup, helped strengthen a team that had already proven itself amongst its peers.

Spreeman’s role at the 2007 US Youth Soccer National Championships — the Eagles’ second triumph — earned her the Golden Boot award as the event’s top goal scorer.

“Winning two US Youth Soccer National Championships wasn’t just about the trophies, it felt like validation,” Spreeman said. “All the early mornings, long drives, tough training sessions, and sacrifices finally had something tangible attached to them. It was proof that the work we did mattered.

“The Golden Boot made it even more special. Scoring goals is always exciting, but earning that recognition on a national stage gave me confidence. It made me believe I could be a difference-maker in big moments — not just a contributor.”

In between the two titles with US Youth Soccer, Spreeman was growing her legend elsewhere. In 2005, she tried out for — and made — the U.S. Women’s Deaf National Team at just 15 years old. It was a completely different experience than what she had been used to with the Eagles Soccer Club.

“Walking into that environment, I immediately felt a sense of pride,” Spreeman said. “Not just as a player, but as a person. It was bigger than soccer. It was about identity, representation, and being part of something that meant so much to so many people.

“Communication was naturally at the center of everything. Whether through sign language, visual cues, or just heightened awareness, there was a deeper level of connection and intentionality. Everyone was fully present. It changed my perspective on the game. It reminded me that soccer can be a platform for inclusion, pride, and connection beyond just wins and losses. That first camp wasn’t just about earning a spot; it was about finding a new kind of belonging.”

Spreeman went on to start all six matches for the team during its gold medal campaign at the 2005 Summer Deaflympics in Australia — the first event of its kind for women.

She also participated in US Youth Soccer’s Olympic Development Program (ODP) with Cal South, where she was teammates with Alex Morgan. Together, the two goal scorers helped lead their team to the 2006 ODP National Championship.

ODP, which put Spreeman and Morgan up against the best players from every region, helped both players grow. It forced Spreeman to sharpen her technical skills, think quicker, and become more consistent. Competing against players of that level raised Spreeman’s standard, too.

“Training and competing with players like Alex… It showed me what was possible and gave me a clearer vision of what the next level required,” said Spreeman. “There were definitely signs that Alex Morgan had something special. Even at a young age, she had an incredible instinct around goal. She made smart runs, stayed composed in big moments, and had this quiet confidence about her. She was competitive in the best way — she wanted to improve every day and never seemed satisfied.”

Instead of returning to the Deaf National Team, Spreeman elected to step away for a few years and pursue a collegiate career at the University of Kansas in 2007. It was another welcome change.

“It felt like entering a whole new world, faster, stronger, and more demanding in every way,” Spreeman recalled. “The biggest adjustment was the pace and physicality. Everyone at that level was a standout player in their own right, so the margin for error was much smaller.”

Spreeman elected to redshirt and acclimate to the program during that first year in Lawrence. It had pushed her to mature quickly — both as an athlete and person. But after just one year on the sidelines, Spreeman was ready to be back on the field and play.

During her redshirt freshman season in 2008, she appeared in all 23 matches, scored eight goals, and was named the Big 12 Rookie of the Year. As an encore, Spreeman again featured in every match in 2009 and tallied 12 goals. She ended her career at Kansas with 23 goals and six assists in 60 matches.

After her three years with the Jayhawks, Spreeman was nearing her return to the Deaf National Team, but first won two United States Adult Soccer Association (USASA) National Championships with Eagles in 2010 and 2011 to bring her tally to four.

By the time Spreeman made it back to camp, new faces were all around her. Two — Kate Ward and Sydney Andrews — had experienced their own share of success, as both had Deaf World Cup Championships and Deaflympic gold medals to their name. Both were well aware of what Spreeman brought to the team, though.

“I heard so much about Emily — this young phenom from the 2005 Deaflympics,” Ward remembers. “She was a legend before she returned.”

Then, Spreeman did return and made an immediate impact. She helped lead the United States to the 2016 World Deaf Championship — her first — and earned both the event’s Golden Boot and Golden Ball. A few years later, Spreeman and her teammates won gold at the 2022 Deaflympics. They continued their winning ways in 2023, when the team won its third World Deaf Championship. Spreeman had again been named both the Golden Boot and Golden Ball recipient and then later that year received the inaugural U.S. Soccer Female Deaf Player of the Year Award. To Ward, those honors were deserved.

“She put our team on her back in one of our group games in Malaysia at the 2023 World Deaf Football Championships,” she said. “We were down 1-0 and just not playing very well against our biggest rival at the tournament, Poland. It was a moment where she seemed to will us to a win through sheer determination and grit — scoring two goals in the second half to lead us to a 2-1 win.”

Spreeman did a lot of scoring. The following year, against Australia, she scored a record-setting six goals in a single match, passing Carli Lloyd, Michelle Akers, and former ODP teammate Alex Morgan, who had each scored five during a game for a U.S. Women’s National Team.

Then, the Spreeman, Ward and Andrews trio decided that the 2025 Deaflympics would be the last time they put on the Stars and Stripes.

For a team that only knew how to win, it was no different. They finished off a dominant stretch with a win against host country Japan, in a match where Spreeman scored twice to reach a record 50 goals for the Deaf Women’s National Team. The last goal she scored ended up being her favorite. With the team up 2-0, Spreeman got away from her defender and headed home a cross from Gracie Fitzgerald.

“It felt like all the hard work, dedication, and years I had put into the game really paid off,” Spreeman said about the goal. “It was a special way to close that chapter of my life, and it’s a moment I’ll always remember.

“Representing the United States meant everything to me. It was an incredible honor to wear the jersey and represent not only my country, but also the deaf community. Every time I stepped on the field, I felt proud knowing I was playing for something bigger than myself.”

And Spreeman was. Many of the younger players on the Deaf National Team have followed the footsteps of her, Ward, and Andrews. Some, like Chelsey Tumey and Josephine Blazic, are involved with the Olympic Development Program. Passing the torch is important for Spreeman.

“If my journey can inspire other deaf athletes to believe in themselves and chase their goals, then that’s really special,” she said. “Growing up, opportunities and role models in the deaf sports community weren’t always as visible, so knowing that younger players can look at my path and see what’s possible means a lot.”

Ward, who remembers having to bring her own white shirt, black shorts, and soccer ball during her first few training camps, agrees.

“I hope that our impact stretches beyond our team’s achievements on the field, and that we are defined by the passion, commitment, and care we put into leaving this game in a better place for the next generation.”

While Spreeman — and Ward and Andrews — have hung up their cleats, they continue to advocate for disability soccer. There may not be anyone better suited for the job, either. The Deaf Women’s National Team has never lost — going 44-0-1 since beginning in 2005 — and that trio was part of many of those wins. Ward, who is the Executive Director of Programming & Partnerships for USA Deaf Soccer, Vice Chair of the Disability Soccer Committee, and a member of the U.S. Soccer Board of Directors, remains just as busy now as she was in her playing days.

And for Spreeman? There’s one thing she wishes more people knew about deaf athletes.

“We want people to see our ability rather than focus on our disability,” Spreeman said. “Being deaf is a part of who we are, but it doesn’t define what we can achieve on the field.”

Top image courtesy of Emily Spreeman

One would be hard-pressed to find a player with a more accomplished youth soccer career than Karlie Young (née Paschall). With a long list of accolades, both individually and with her Tennessee SC team, Young excelled at the highest levels of US Youth Soccer.

She went on to make 74 appearances for the Duke women’s soccer team. Then, in the midst of her senior season, she stepped away.

Or, more accurately, she stepped off the playing field and into a new role.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to the 2020-21 season being split and extended into the spring — a time when college seniors typically shift their focus to lining up jobs rather than lacing up cleats. Young knew her body was no longer set to sustain a professional career as a player, so she approached then-Duke coach Robbie Church with a request.

“I said, ‘Is it OK if instead I step into the sports science role for the team and that can be my focus?’” Young recalled. “… Luckily, he was amazing and said, ‘Absolutely. If that’s the next step in your career, we want to support that.’”

That moment represented a turning point in a sports journey that saw Young pivot from athlete to scientist. Now, less than five years since she graduated from Duke, the 27-year-old Young has quickly compiled an impressive resume working in sports science — helping athletes to chase their potential.

As she enjoys her early years the profession, it’s the experiences and relationships she gained in the first part of her journey — as a player who reached some of the highest levels in soccer — that set the stage for a post-playing career that now sees her impact reach athletes in a variety of sports.  

THE PLAYER

When reflecting on her memories of her youth soccer career, Young’s first thoughts go to her team. In her time with Tennessee SC, her squad won eight State Cups, five Southern Regional titles and finished with back-to-back US Youth Soccer National Championships in 2016 and 2017.

Young was a pivotal player for those teams, as she accumulated an impressive collection of individual awards — including five National Championship Best XI honors and a National Championship Golden Ball award as MVP.  

Ronnie Woodard, a director at Tennessee SC who coached Young for four years in the heart of her youth career, praised Young’s talent, understanding and technical execution — a combination of abilities that led to Young playing up a year in age.

The intangibles beyond athletic talent also pushed Young to the top, as Woodard said she was a selfless player who put the team’s needs above her own. She was dedicated to educating herself with the goal of team success as the ultimate motivator.

“She was a sponge. She loved learning,” Woodard said. “She was committed to her self-reflection and her self-training off the field. If you had conversations on the field. She would take that information, she would go home, she would reflect on it, and then she would update her individual personalized plan that she had for herself for development.

“Then she would attack those moments, and you would see a drastic improvement in every area that you would have a conversation with her.”

The commitment to learning as a player is an early example of a common theme in Young’s journey. Young credited the club’s staff and Woodard — a former Duke player, herself, who helped connect Young with her future college program — with creating an environment that encouraged learning.

Through all their winning, one of the keys to Young and the team’s success was their acceptance of the opposite: failure.

“Some of the coolest things I remember at the training grounds where we played every week was the level of freedom and creativity we had in that space,” Young said. “There was always a very safe space to fail as a player, which is a quality of training I think is severely underappreciated in the current landscape of sports. And I had that as a player, to be very free and very creative, which I’m very grateful for.”

That provided a foundation as a player that Young could lean on when she ventured on her own to participate in the US Youth Soccer Olympic Development Program (ODP). An ODP player for more than five years, she said the individuality and pressure created a far different environment for some of the U.S.’s top players than they were accustomed to in their typical club settings.

“You go into those environments, and you’re playing against the best of the best in each region across the country,” Young said. “And it’s for the stakes of being in the national team pool or getting invited to like a national team training center to eventually make the national team, so it was a very different environment.”

Her showings with ODP and her club team did help Young become part of several U.S. Soccer youth national teams, as she competed with the U-14 through U-20 teams — traveling to Europe multiple times to play.

Young’s final season with Tennessee SC proved to be a special one. After five years competing in original national format of the National League, the team claimed its first division title with a rare 7-0-0 record. That set the table for the summer, where Tennessee SC set out to defend the National Championship title it claimed the year before.

That July, the team advanced to the 2017 title game, where Young assisted the opening goal and scored the second to put her team up, 2-0. With Tennessee SC holding on to a 2-1 lead early in the second half, she was tripped from behind and sustained a shoulder injury that ended her youth career 30 minutes earlier than expected.

Set to report to Duke for her freshman preseason the next day, and with the championship game still in the balance, Young was forced to go to the hospital.

“We had literally pulled into the hospital parking lot, and my coach called me and said, ‘Hey, we just won. I got you a champions hat and all the things,’” said Young, who would later learn she also earned the Golden Ball as the championship’s top player. “I literally made my mom turn around just so I could come back for the ceremony. Afterward, I went back to the hospital to get imaging and all that, and then had to get on a plane about three hours later to fly to Duke.”

THE STUDENT

Despite a delayed start to her college career while recovering from the shoulder injury, Young appeared in 24 games as a freshman at Duke and scored her first two goals in a NCAA Tournament win. As a sophomore, she was a team leader in minutes played before a ruptured Achilles just days before the start of the 2018 NCAA Tournament presented her with the first major injury of her playing career.

Young, who studied psychology, said the dynamics that bonded her and her teammates when competing on the field proved to be just as impactful as a support system when coming back from the injury.

“Uplifting one another and just being there for each other when things get really hard is one of the testaments of Duke,” Young said. “The team culture there was just beautiful.”

Young did make her way back to the field to start the season-opener of her junior season with the Blue Devils, as she made 31 total appearances over her junior and senior seasons. But the time spent rehabbing the Achilles injury midway through her Duke playing career set the early foundations for the path she ultimately chose to take.

As she went through her rehab process, Young wore a GPS tracker that collected all kinds of data. Her curiosity in how that data was applied to her performance and return to the field led Young to reach out the Duke physical therapist Ciara Burgi.

“You can tell Karlie has an analytical brain,” said Burgi, who is now the Director of Health and Performance for the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces. “She likes solving problems. She likes putting pieces together. She’s a very curious person.

“I think she was attracted to psychology initially because she’s a relational person and cares about people a lot. That was a piece of the whole puzzle to what feeds and fuels her brain. She started getting exposed to analytics and data and math, and I think it used a larger of bandwidth of who she is and her passions.”

As Young went into her junior year at Duke, she continued asking Burgi more questions about sports science and the meaning behind the data the staff was gathering. Burgi said Young’s passion for the subject was evident very early on, as she “jumped in with all 10 toes.”

Young asked Burgi to create a syllabus for her and said she would buy her own textbook. While some college students may look for any reason to skip a class, Young actually created an extra one for herself.

“We would meet once a week and basically discuss all these sports science and physiology topics,” Young said. “And she would just teach me everything that she knew about sports science at the time. And so, my junior year, I kind of added this to my course load because I was just really interested in it.”

When Burgi left to take a job with the NFL’s Houston Texans, Young took what she had learned and began reaching out to Duke’s teams to see if she could help manage their performance data. She continued doing side projects while playing the fall portion of her senior soccer season before talking to Church and making the decision to put more focus on sports science in the spring.

As she continued in what she described as a self-created internship role in the athletics department, Young worked a lot with the Duke field hockey team in the spring of her senior year. When she graduated in May 2021, the team offered her a job as its sports scientist.

“I kind of bet on myself to try and create a role in the department,” Young said. “And Pam Bustin, the head coach of Duke field hockey, totally took a bet on me. She was like, ‘You seem really smart. You seem to want to really work hard. We’re going to take a chance on this.’

“Through that bet on me, she totally launched my career in the coolest way.”

THE PROFESSIONAL

In July 2021, Young started as the Performance Data Analyst for Duke field hockey. She said it provided a great working environment for her first full-time job, and the Blue Devils’ athletics website even featured her in an article that highlighted her transition from soccer player to sports scientist.

The satisfaction in her professional life was soon matched by a personal milestone. In October 2021, she married her husband, Zeke Young, a former member of the Blue Devil baseball team whom she dated throughout her time at Duke.

Her commitment to their relationship had helped add clarity when she stepped away from playing soccer. And when Zeke’s job required he move in 2022, the couple left Durham, N.C., and Young’s time working with the Duke field hockey team came to an end.

That fact was unknown to Ryan Alexander, Director of High Performance for MLS’s Atlanta United. Alexander knew Young from his time as a sports scientist with U.S. Soccer, when he worked with the women’s youth national teams on which Young played. He came across the Duke Athletics article on Young’s ventures into sports science, and Alexander reached out to Young on LinkedIn to see if the two could catch up.

“This was right after I’d moved to Atlanta for my husband’s job,” Young said. “I’d actually been there for a single day, and he calls me and two minutes into the phone call is like, ‘Hey, is there any chance you’d ever consider moving to Atlanta?’

“I was like, ‘Wait, this is crazy. I moved to Atlanta yesterday for my husband’s job.’ He said, ‘Great, I have a job for you. Do you want to come work at Atlanta United?’”

Coming off the positive experience with the Duke field hockey team, and being aware of the cutthroat nature of professional sports, Young didn’t immediately accept. She talked about it with Zeke and asked Alexander if she could see the environment. In her visit to the club, Young ended up chatting with Alexander for six hours and knew upon leaving that she was 100 percent committed to taking the job.

As was the case with her youth soccer club and college program, Young’s first recollections of Atlanta United focused on the culture and leadership, which she called a “diamond in the rough of pro sports.”

She started working there in the fall of 2021 as a fitness coach — doing roles similar to a strength and conditioning coach. While OK with that role, it wasn’t what she ultimately wanted to be doing. Because of her good relationship with Alexander, she was able to talk to him, and they agreed they’d tweak the role as they went along.

When more staff was added to the department, Young was freed up to do more sports science work. By March 2023, she became their Head of Developmental Performance.

In that role, she worked with Atlanta United’s second team and all the academy teams, leading all strength and conditioning, medical personnel and sports science staff. She’d eventually oversee a seven-person department.

Though she never talked about her playing background with the teams, the young players at Atlanta United found out. Young would incorporate technical work into the warm-ups she created for the teams. When demonstrating, she’d lace a low, driven ball across the turf — a display of technical ability that would generate a buzz from the boys. That would prompt some players to take to the internet to look into the team’s sport scientist to discover her impressive playing background.

“When they found out about it, obviously, it spreads like wildfire,” Young said. “And then it’s just funny because, especially with guys, that means a lot.”

Now that Young has left Atlanta United, she’s the one doing some research on the players, as she keeps tabs on the progressing careers of the young athletes she worked with in Atlanta.

As Young speaks — with an Atlanta United scarf framed between Duke plaques and her Duke degree on the shelves behind her — she proudly notes that five academy players are currently with the first team for preseason, and three or four signed first team contracts shortly after she left the club.

“I still root for the team, and I watch all their games and still keep in touch with all the staff, which is cool,” Young said. “I didn’t expect that in this transition. I expected that once I left those relationships might fall off. But I’ve kept in touch with probably 90% of the people I worked with, which has been awesome.”

Now living in Savannah, Ga., Young has settled into her current position as an account manager with PlayerData, where she’s worked for nearly a year.

Part of her job is ensuring clients have no issues with their GPS units, while the other half is providing sports science analysis. With that, she’ll produce a lot of educational content to help teach coaches how to use GPS and the benefits for their team. That includes how to properly interpret certain metrics, plan out training sessions and prevent injuries.

The client list varies and is growing. A lot of Young’s clients are youth clubs, as well as high schools and colleges at the Division II and Division III levels. Their success in those areas has opened opportunities with even more organizations.

Young listed several new PlayerData users, including U.S. Soccer and all its national teams, along with a handful of NWSL teams and MLB’s Boston Red Sox, Tampa Bay Rays and Houston Astros.

Young said her background playing soccer at a high level does help when working with all teams, but especially the soccer clubs, which remain their primary clients.

“One of the biggest gaps in sports science right now is you have really, really brilliant people who understand physiology and science, and know little about sports,” Young said. “Then, on the other side of the scale, you have coaches who understand sport and talk in that language, who know nothing about science or physiology. And then you put them in a room together, they have no clue how to communicate.”

Being able to bridge that communication gap has been “massive” for Young. Last month, she put that ability into practice when she led a field session about using GPS for return to play at the United Soccer Coaches Convention in Philadelphia.

While in town, she and a few colleagues enjoyed testing out racing simulators at an F1 Arcade. Zeke is a big racing fan, and Young thinks F1 is a “really cool sport because there’s so much math involved.”

That’s another example of Young’s tendency to dive into the “Why?” behind the actions, which Burgi saw first-hand years earlier. The passion and curiosity — combined with her ability to relate to the athletes, coaches and scientists — continue to allow Young to dig deeper into the science behind it all.

“I think that’s what Karlie really loves about data — being able to dive into the complex questions,” Burgi said. “She’s not interested in simple things. She’s interested in putting the complex web of pieces together. Because she has a background in soccer and sport, she was able to get to those complex questions, which feed her soul, a little more quickly.”

THE PERSON

In the various parts of Young’s journey, she has amassed goals, assists, championships, knowledge, experience and job titles. And each step of the way, she’s added relationships.

Connections made as a player and student are still present in her professional life today.

Burgi, who was a bridesmaid in Young’s wedding, said their relationship evolved from mentor-mentee to a true friendship that has kept them in touch even after their Duke days.

Meanwhile, Young and Woodard’s paths crossed just two months ago at the NWSL Combine, where Young worked with PlayerData and Woodard served as one of four coaches for the event.

“We were reunited for several days down there and had an opportunity to catch up,” Woodard said. “But it’s like we never lost a beat.”

Young has enjoyed the fact she and Woodard continue to have a thread connecting them through different stages of life, and she’s valued having Woodard as a mentor — in sport and in life — dating back to their time together at Tennessee SC.

Nearly 10 years after coaching Young and her teammates to the National Championship, Woodard is proud of the success Young has had, which she said is a direct result of the support system she’s built up and her makeup as a person.

“She’s going to go down as a pioneer one day,” Woodard said. “Those of us that are older and played back in Title IX, you look, and you want to pass the torch on to someone like Karlie — who can then carry it on for the future generations and just makes our sports stronger and stronger.”

Top image courtesy of Karlie Young.