Over the 3 short years of the NWSL, players have retired for a multitude of reasons. Some have retired to follow their goals/dreams in other walks of life outside of Professional Soccer. Some have left due to the low pay and thus have had to find other means to provide for themselves. I didn't really follow the WUSA or WPS so don't know if this is something new or has followed women's soccer leagues in the USA (and in all honesty the same thing could be happening abroad). Figured I'd start a discussion, and list a few of the players over the years that have moved on, though I'll highlight the ones that seemingly retired early. And while early retirements do occur in men's sports, it seems to be a more rare occasion, so it has caught my attention the rate at which players under the age of 30 have decided to call it a day in WOSO. Most recently Melissa Henderson. http://www.dynamotheory.com/2015/10/2/9443901/dash-forward-melissa-henderson-retires Courtney Jones, retired for a business opportunity. http://equalizersoccer.com/2015/01/28/the-lowdown-jones-retirement-highlights-nwsl-realities/ Jazmine Reeves, retired to work for Amazon. http://equalizersoccer.com/2014/11/06/jazmine-reeves-retires-boston-breakers/ Mariah Bullock, retiring to complete her PH.D in Psychology. http://www.nwslsoccer.com/home/896566.html Nikki Washington, coaching at TCU. http://www.nwslsoccer.com/News/2015Q1/863994.html Marissa Diggs http://orangeintheoven.com/2015/01/29/nwsl-marissa-diggs-retires-houston-dash/ Nikki Marshall http://www.oregonlive.com/portland-thorns/2015/02/nikki_marshall_says_it_was_tim.html Kate Deines http://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/?id=4944957 Lauren Holiday http://www.sunherald.com/sports/soccer/world-soccer/article37520514.html Colleen Williams, retire due to injury http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/the9...es-next-for-womens-soccer-players/#more-37540 CoCo Goodson: Now unretired. http://www.skybluefc.com/defender-coco-goodson-announces-retirement/ http://www.jgsportstalk.com/goodson-unretires/ Madeleine Thompson http://www.nwslsoccer.com/News/2014Q3/839326.html Jackie Santacaterina http://www.nwslsoccer.com/News/2014Q4/848722.html I venture there are some I may have missed, so feel free to post them.
I can't speak to WUSA, but I was there to see WPS from cradle to grave, and I don't remember hearing about all that many retirements. Of course, we know that WPS' pay scale was far ahead of what NWSL's is, so that's probably not surprising. I'm guessing that WUSA, being even above WPS in terms of salaries, probably didn't see that many early retirements either. Abroad, you have a different paradigm. You have many, many players abroad that we in the states would call "amateurs" because they simply aren't paid to begin with - their soccer lives exist around their everyday lives. Since they have non-soccer salaries already, I'd guess there's not much incentive to retire from soccer except for exhaustion.
Colleen Williams. Not a big name, but read her articulate and eloquent story here; http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/the9...es-next-for-womens-soccer-players/#more-37540
From what I remember, WUSA didn't have nearly the same number of early retirements either. The few retirements that I do remember were clearly because of age, injury, etc. rather than an athlete at her physical peak retiring to pursue a better job/financial opportunity.
WPS also got smaller, so there was a dropoff in available roster spots. Some people just got forced out. Some of this happened in the early days of MLS as well. One early first-round pick opted for medical school. One guy left abruptly to go to dental school. Another got a big real-estate gig and left.
And to be honest, I think the NWSL just gets more coverage, in general WOSO is probably at it most popular point, so more stories are written, and get attention.
Woops, I put this in wrong thread: As news comes out today or tomorrow with the news for next season I simply want to say thank you ... #honorwasmine pic.twitter.com/dvP1BGwVm6— Ella Masar (@emasar3) October 13, 2015 Looks like a pre-announcement announcement.
I remember very few retirements in the WUSA era. The most notable one was All-Star defender Erica Iverson, who said she would retire from Philadelphia if they didn't trade her to Boston to be with her fiance/significant other. They didn't, and she did.
Maybe Sherrill Kester? I remember a few players said they wouldn't play if they weren't with their spouses/S.O.s
I was an Beat fan, so I remember Kelly Cagle retiring as she was 29(?) at the time, and she got a head coaching job at VA Tech. Venturini also retired in 2003, but then the league folded so it was pretty much rendered moot. Kelly Lindsey is the one I could think of that was for injury reasons; she was still in her early 20s but had had numerous knee injuries. Had forgotten about that...yep, I think she gave the similar ultimatum of playing near her husband or not at all.
One went into the priesthood: http://deadspin.com/5025540/mls-player-leaves-soccer-headed-to-priesthood
There's some talk/rumors going on around this where Ella is expected to be on the waiver list which doesn't make sense if she's simply retiring. The waiver delay caused her pre-announcement to be a bit preemptive as now we'll be waiting a week+ 655091318255779840 is not a valid tweet id (there's a whole back and forth between them and Hal Kaiser who covers the Dash)
I can't speak directly to Ella or even the NWSL, but in MLS, it's pretty common to see names appear in a waiver draft even if they've said they're done. In some cases, it's merely procedural. In other cases ... hey, you never know if someone might change her mind.
Saw this coming and now I feel sad. She was one of my favorites to watch play the game as she played with an understated gracefulness. She will be missed. Hopefully she joins the Reign organization as a coach in the coming years.
She had a terrific final year. Can't say for certain that she should've been on the national team, given how well that defense played in the WWC, but she was her old self again. Going out on a high note.
I thought Cox should have been the left back on the U.S. World Cup team -- but I admit happily that Klingenberg did a good job. I think I recall reading that she's taken a job as a high school soccer coach in Gig Harbor, an idyllic community on a peninsula in Puget Sound west of Tacoma. There are worse places to live and work.
I saw her this weekend at UP's championship 10th anniversary celebration dinner. She's happy with her child and doing well. She got knocked over during the Santa Clara game with a ball while watching from the sidelines. Got up and was laughing it off a couple minutes later. Great career. Great person. Happy for her.if you have ever spent time in gig harbor, you'd see it wasn't a tough decision.
http://equalizersoccer.com/2015/10/29/leigh-ann-brown-robinson-retires-fc-kansas-city-nwsl/ Kansas City defender Brown retires after title repeat Leigh Ann Robinson Brown
Another legend leaves the game... Chicago Red Stars' Lori Chalupny announces retirement from professional soccer.— Chris Henderson (@chris_awk) December 8, 2015