Necib started playing in Division 1 feminine in 2004/05 played 20 games that year and got her first France call-up that season. That's 12 seasons at the highest level in France.
If you're hanging up on the definition of what make a career "long", then I agree you're definitely delving into very subjective territory. Whether a career is "long" or not depends entirely on the field you're looking at. And, in WoSo, excepting players good enough to make their respective NTs and get paid by their federations, "long" is not going to be as long as other careers. And there are still plenty of other careers, particularly in sports and especially women's sports, where a "long run" is even shorter than what we're seeing in WoSo.
And that's exactly the rub. I'm comparing NWSL players to the USWNT players (there's no need to compare them to other sports or to men's leagues even, straight up WoSo to WoSo). There's no reason from a physical standpoint why players should be retiring in the 24-28 range. Now, I'm not saying everyone has to play into their 40s like Rampone. But surely the 30-34 range should be doable. And of course the problem is monetary (well except Farelly's retirement), I'm not denying that. And shouldn't we be pushing the NWSL towards supporting players enough that they'll want to play into their early 30s? Or are we gonna be content with players having 4-6 year careers and retiring in their mid to late 20s?
Well, if you really want to compare the average NWSL player to a USWNT player, you have to still remember that the USWNT player will have the longer career not only because of money but also because of talent. The average NWSL is more likely to be bumped from a roster earlier than a WNT-quality player will be. So is the 30-34 range doable? maybe, but I would say that's a stretch until the league grows to have enough total roster slots to hold those calibur of players. With only 10 team and only 20 players per team, you're going to have a relatively high level of turnover even if monetary issues weren't a problem. Second, while I agree the players should want to play into their 30, your "players having 4-6 year careers" comment is still a misinterpretation of what is happening. Go back to my list. Now, I had said 1-4 and 6+ as my two "career length" bins, but it you want to say 1-3, 4-6, and 7+ as your bins, the 7+ career bin STILL is the largest of those three. The "normal" career length for everyone we've seen retire recently is still longer than you're trying to make it seem.
I said nothing about what is the most common. I simply asked if we're gonna be content with players having 4-6 year careers and retiring in their mid to late 20s as there are sill many who do. I picked 4-6 because most players graduate at 21-22, so 4-6 years gets you to the 25-28 age range (you know, mid to late 20s). Let's look at that list of players you posted again... so 8/15 were in the 25-28 age range when they retired. That's more than half. And 11/15 were 28 and under. So I don't think I'm so crazy for asking if we're going to be content with 4-6 year careers. One of the reasons I'm focusing on age more than career length, is because of this whole college thing in the US. So, for example, it's not fair to compare the number of years someone from France played in the D1 Feminine with the number of years someone from the US who went to college played after graduation. So age of retirement is a much better comparison.
But, since the Euro players start with their club teams, maybe you should add four college years to each of our US-based pro players. Then you would have more of an apples-to-apples comparison. Plus, those women probably are on college scholarships, so they're actually receiving in-kind value for playing that has a future net worth, just not cash.
And that's why I didn't want to discount it. Age serves the same basic purpose as adding 4 years to their pro career.
So, I guess Engen isn't a retirement, per se, but she seems to be very seriously considering other options. Bummer. I liked her. But NWSL on its own doesn't pay as well as some "real" jobs.
I wonder why she does not consider going to Europe again ? She is a very valuable player and would make good money.
NEWS: Caroline Kastor has announced her retirement. Thank you Caroline for all that you have done for the club! 📰: https://t.co/LEfvasxOM4 pic.twitter.com/CVFc3X9ovd— FC Kansas City (@FCKansasCity) March 9, 2017
Bumping this up. Article regarding Sinead Farrelly's injuries that lead to retirement http://www.excellesports.com/news/soccer-sinead-farrelly-retirement-breton/
NEWS: Houston Dash forward Melissa Henderson announces retirement READ: https://t.co/lrSzKPapYM pic.twitter.com/TI14SJf24e— Houston Dash (@HoustonDash) June 14, 2017
After averaging better than half a goal a game at Notre Dame, I don't believe she's scored a professional goal in 5+ years of trying. Can't say this is too shocking. EDIT: Just pulled up her Wikipedia page. Apparently she retired two years ago, but got pulled back in.
And with Randy Waldrum gone, probably not too surprising. Her glory days were playing for him at Notre Dame.
I'll always remember her as the player whose ITC was mysteriously held by some Russian club, resulting in the Breakers having to forfeit a WPSL Elite match.
By coincidence, I just noticed that Melissa Henderson was the first person listed in this retirement thread on Oct 12, 2015.
As Notre Dame women's soccer fan since Shannon Boxx played there, Melissa Henderson was one of the best to come out of that program. I'll never forget the 2010 National Championship in Cary, NC against Christen Press and Stanford where she takes the ball to the end of the touch line passes it back across the box to a charging Adriana Leon who rips it over Emily Oliver's head to give ND 1-0 lead and eventual NCAA Championship win. It's the last scene in this video I pretty much figured she would retire but I thought at the end of the season. She actually did well in U-23 games in years past. Sarah Hagen is another one who I was high on but hasn't done much in NWSL. Unless her performance improves dramatically, I can see her retiring as well.
I did not follow Henderson's college career and only knew she had a good reputation when she joined the Dash. Compared to the college footage in the video, it seems she shed quite a bit of weight between college and the pros. Generally, one would think slimmer would be better for speed, endurance, and agility; perhaps, however, she also lost some strength and her center of gravity was not as low, which negatively affected her game.