It started with lunch. In December 2022, three professional women’s soccer players sat around a table after some offseason training at ap2t in New Jersey, wondering why it was so hard for them to find opportunities to play.
They were Brianne Reed, a Rutgers University alum and member of the Dominican Republic national team; Samantha Rosette, a Bronx native and captain of Brooklyn FC; and Gabriella Cuevas, who spent time as a national team replacement player with Gotham FC as well as being a captain on the Dominican Republic national team.
As they discussed their experiences with international clubs, agents and more, it dawned on the trio—the only way to make this easier for them and other players like them, the ones that weren’t necessarily being recruited by the National Women’s Soccer Leagues or Women’s Super Leagues of the world, was to combine their gained knowledge and be the support system that they wished they had in the first place.
“At that moment, we were just kind of looking at each other like, are we about to go into business together?” Rosette recalls. “We just kind of ran with it.”
And that is how The Players Network (TPN) was born.
The Power of the Network
Immediately, the cofounders got to work, putting together a network of their friends and teammates.
“I just felt like there were no resources out there, and I guess it really came out of a source of frustration,” Cuevas, who currently plays for Alajuelense in Costa Rica, says of TPN’s founding. “The more that we built it, the more I realized that there is so much power in numbers.”
Through this created community, the original cofounders, along with new members, were able to learn from each other, ensuring that everyone could learn from each other’s experiences in a niche industry that, as Cuevas puts it, cannot be navigated by asking ChatGPT.
“In my time at Kansas City when I was in the NWSL, I met a player while I was there who I call now my guardian agent, because she was looking out for me and my career,” Reed says. “She told me, ‘You can stay here and be in a great training environment or you can go abroad, play, build your résumé, and if you want to come back you can.’ It was then that I realized the power of networking in the game.”
Through this teammate, who had played all around the world, including Brazil, Sweden and Norway, Reed was able to connect with global teams and, with a good word in, find an opportunity in Sweden. The 31-year-old has gone on to play professionally in seven different countries.
“Her word helped power me getting to this team, and when it comes to The Players Network, I wanted us to be able to do that for players,” Reed says.
Since its founding in 2023, TPN has not only helped players find opportunities, but provide them with guidance on how to handle mistreatment or unprofessionalism from agents and clubs, information on what playing abroad entails and support and community resources for their professional career.
“Some players are Alex Morgan or Naomi Girma, but not everyone is, but that doesn’t mean we can’t justify the importance of continuing to build up the women’s game and the professionalism of the leagues outside of the top five countries,” Rosette says. “When the whole game grows in professionalism, it pushes everything. That is what we’re trying to do.”
With 560 aspiring, current or retired players across 40 countries and over 150 clubs, the network has rapidly grown year over year as women’s soccer continues to thrive globally.
“TPN has helped me in so many ways,” says Rosette. “It led to more opportunities to play, like my first opportunities in France. I had support and felt more connected while I was traveling around France doing trials. Without TPN, I don’t think I would have felt as empowered to do that.”
With 35% of their players currently without a contract, TPN decided to take an unprecedented step in the world of women’s soccer—organizing a combine to showcase the diverse talent of players who might be just off the radars of teams looking to recruit.
“There are tangible ways that we will see success from this event,” Rosette said in the lead up to the combine. “Whether it’s a player signing a contract, providing a competitive environment for our members, players feeling like they learned something in the process, or even making a new friend, something even that small we would consider a success.”
Planning for the Combine
While a typical American combine is connected to a college draft, TPN took a different approach. In what the group calls a hybrid between an ID camp and a showcase, the weekend event held at UNKNWN (UK FC) Elite Training Facility in Richmond, Va., combined educational seminars, position training, group training and two 90-minute games.
TPN saw an immediate influx of applications, surpassing the number of about 50 available spots. Interested players submitted their CV, position, film, and most importantly, their why.
“A lot of the stories of players in our network are that of overcoming adversity, or being great players who haven’t found the right opportunities, or fighting through injuries,” Rosette says.
From that applicant pool, TPN selected a group of players who spanned rookie to veteran at every position, ensuring that there was diversity in representation. The cost to attend was $150, with the rest offset by sponsors and donations to cover the fees associated with the facility, coaches, jerseys, equipment and more.
On June 21 and 22, the players in attendance, spanning recent college graduates to established free agents, showcased their talents to over 40 recruiters who attended both in-person and virtually. Even more coaches and agents were provided with highlight reels and résumés of players that were produced after the event. Training sessions were led by coaches and former players, including coaches from VCU and Richmond University.
“I feel like it would have been so beneficial for me,” says Cuevas of the combine. “There were so many times where I didn’t know what else to do—I was training hard, sending out film, reaching out to everyone I know to make a connection. This would have been a perfect opportunity, a chance to show what you can do. I would have given anything for an opportunity like that. I always felt like I just needed one chance to prove to someone I could do this.”
Coaches and representatives from USL Super League, A-League in Australia, and a few from Iceland, Sweden, and France quickly signed up both in-person and virtually to watch the first-of-its-kind event, along with a slew of agents.
“It’s not just teams, because many times girls are looking for representation to get to those teams, so players coming to the combine can find themselves an agent or a contract,” Reed says.
Along the way, the trio of cofounders relied on the network’s players and their unique abilities to help out.
“The coolest part is how our players in the network look out for other players in the network,” Reed says. “Like for the combine, our flyer was made by a player in our network who also does graphic design. Beyond just on the field, our own business network has expanded.”
The Big Weekend
In the lead up to the event, uncertainty swirled. Would TPN be able to pull off this unprecedented event? Would the attendees have a good time? Would players leave with a contract or an agent?
“It was a bigger success than we could have ever imagined,” Rosette says. “It was so fulfilling to finally have an in-person experience of this community of what we’ve been building virtually all over the world.”
For the 53 players who attended, they were able to not only get the opportunity for recruitment, but meet and connect with other people who are experiencing the same roadblocks to a pro career, and soak in the educational sessions on navigating finding a team, signing contracts and the realities of going pro.
“On top of getting a playing opportunity, it’s also bringing the community together,” Cuevas says. “Hopefully the players were able to connect in a way that in the future, maybe if they end up on the same team or in the same country, they have someone there for support.”
The feedback from the event was so positive that it moved the trio of cofounders to tears. In a post-event survey, 100% of participant respondents indicated that the combine met or exceeded their expectations.
“I had a great day, the energy was really high, the intensity was great, it was really competitive and everyone just loved being out here,” said recent UCF grad Taylor Jacobson. “I thought I performed well. We started out with some technical work and then went into positional and functional work. We did some 4v4s and ended with 9v9, so it was really good to get out there, compete, have fun, and work with each other in an awesome environment.”
One of TPN’s slogans is: There’s a team for everyone. That credo has helped members of the network find opportunities throughout the world, and the combine was the group’s biggest step yet in working towards increased professionalism for leagues across the globe as players seek out the best places for their careers.
“I just want to leave the game better than I found it, and I think this is a long-lasting way to do that,” Rosette says. “Players will always need each other, and this is our way of driving the game forward in a way that centers players.”
Professional soccer is a business, and the players are seeking not only to live out their dreams but also to make a living in fair conditions with the support needed to thrive. This is the ethos of TPN, and it’s something that its co-founders believe will endure even after they hang up their boots.
“We’re trying to reimagine and recreate the process of getting professional opportunities in women’s soccer because we believe the way it’s been working has left a lot of room for exploitation of players,” Rosette says. “We strongly believe we deserve the best, and the only way we’re going to get that is if we create those opportunities ourselves.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Founded on Community, The Players Network Hosts Groundbreaking Women’s Soccer Combine.