ISSUE 018: USL Super League President, Amanda Vandervort

Must-follow accounts to track MLS

Author

Kyle from Pathway ⚽️
March 06, 2024

IN THIS ISSUE

  • 👋 Introduction: Positivity + Enthusiasm!

  • 👨‍🎓 Soccer Thought Leaders: USL Super League President, Amanda Vandervort

  • ⚽️ Soccer Jobs: New + interesting jobs

  • ⭐️ Featured Job: Vice President, Ticket Sales - Indy Eleven

  • 🫵 Do This Now: Must-follow accounts to track MLS

INTRODUCTION

Hello, Pathwayers! 👋

Today, we’re sharing a conversation with one of the most positive and enthusiastic people in the soccer industry: Amanda Vandervort.

After stints working for Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS), FIFA, MLS, and FIFPRO, among others, Amanda joined United Soccer League (USL) as the President of the new USL Super League, which recently received Division One sanctioning from the U.S. Soccer Federation.

Amanda’s career in the sport makes her uniquely qualified for the task of leading the build and launch of a new league (which kicks off in August, by the way!). We know you’ll enjoy hearing about Amanda’s journey and how she views the game - and the impact it can have on others.

Let us know what you think of today’s issue - drop us a line to share your feedback at [email protected].

-Kyle Sheldon, Co-Founder & CEO

PS: USL Championship and USL League One return to action this Saturday, March 9 - enjoy the matches!

SOCCER THOUGHT LEADER: AMANDA VANDERVORT, USL SUPER LEAGUE

I first got to know Amanda Vandervort over a decade ago when she was leading social media for MLS. And one of the first things you quickly notice about Amanda is her magnetic enthusiasm and positivity.

It won’t surprise you to then find out that she’s been a coach at various stages of her career - she’s got that special something many in the coaching ranks possess. It’s a leadership quality, an ability to motivate and inspire, an inherent belief in being able to solve the problem in front of you.

Whatever it is and however you define it, Amanda has “it” - and as you’ll see in examining her full career, and from our conversation below, Amanda hasn’t shied away from taking on new challenges.

And she’s been tackling a big challenge over the last 2+ years - building a new league aimed at elevating the women’s game by providing more opportunities to play at the highest level and adding an additional layer of professionalization.

I’m confident you’ll find a ton of value in our conversation. Enjoy!

-Kyle Sheldon, Co-Founder & CEO

Questions and answers have been lightly edited for length and clarity (and any emphasis below is ours).

PATHWAY: What is your true origin story in soccer? Where did you get started and what made you fall in love with it?

AMANDA: I appreciate you asking me about my origin story. I think that it connects directly into my why even today. I was actually a little bit older when I started playing soccer and I did it out of friendship. My friends were playing and I really needed an escape from my home, and I just felt like soccer gave me a community of people that I could grow with.

So as soon as I got started I scored an own goal on myself as the goalkeeper, I was like, “I can't keep doing this and not get good.” So I started going to soccer camps and that was the first step into actually being competitive in the game and then I eventually found my way to a college scholarship. But I always say my origin story, how soccer saved me, is my origin story.

And it's how I think about what I do in the game today - creating that positive experience for people and affecting their lives in a positive way through soccer - how we affect the world through soccer and through sport.

I've been involved in the coaching community my whole career. I love coaches and the idea of how we could impact and influence people's lives through leadership. I've worked in the sport of soccer at MLS and in the women's game. I've been lucky to travel the world and help people, help federations, and clubs around the world market and promote women's soccer. So for me, yeah, it's about how do we use this as a vehicle to positively impact people's lives? And it all starts from my 13-year-old self out there.

PATHWAY: You mentioned coaching - before you went and coached at New York University, you worked in real estate. We have a lot of folks who read the newsletter who classify themselves as potential career pivots into soccer - can you talk about how that experience shaped things for you?

AMANDA: I was a licensed real estate agent in New Jersey and absolutely loved it, but it was concurrent with me earning my graduate degree and coaching at the College of New Jersey.

I was doing real estate on the side, but to be fair, I actually thought that I would build a career in real estate and not soccer. Soccer at that point was not going to be my career. Soccer was hard. Being a college athlete, it's all consuming. And I wanted to be more well-rounded. And so I loved this idea of having a career outside of soccer, but then still coaching or doing some soccer on the side and leveraging it as a tool to get my master's degree.

So, actually after I graduated, I went and interviewed for a job in educational technology and quickly realized that was not the path for me. And that's when the head coaching job at NYU came up and I managed to find my way to that job luckily. So, real estate, I loved it, but the thing that is not part of my ethos and where I struggled in real estate is sales. I remember opening up that local phone book and just cold calling people in the phone book. I was like, this is not a career for me. This is not aligned with my idea of positively impacting people's lives through soccer.

PATHWAY: When did you know that you wanted to pursue soccer as your full-time career?

AMANDA: Well, even when I took the job at NYU - I was there four years as the head coach - I still didn't see soccer as my long-term career because I don't think I realized that there was so much more than coaching. So, I left NYU in 2007 and I moved to California. I didn't know what I was going to do. I knew I wanted to live in San Francisco.

I don't talk about this part of my career much, but I'm going to share with you. I met Colin Schmidt who runs Bay Area SCORES. He and I built out an online database for coach tactical plans for practice sessions called Coach Smart. And we built this super robust, really cool business in 2007 and 2008 for helping coaches with their practice sessions. But, I think we were ahead of the industry because people weren't downloading practice sessions online - databases of content wasn't a thing back then. Now it would fly, but at that point, it would've been shifting behaviors, human behaviors, in order to be a successful business. And we were just ahead of our time. 

So, I left that and then went to the Chicago Red Stars and got my start in professional women's soccer. But it was only then that I realized that there were career opportunities outside of coaching, and I started to see I could work in a professional women's soccer club. I didn't know that it was even possible to build a career in the sport until Marcia McDermott and Peter Wilt in Chicago brought me in and said, “listen, there's an entire world of professional soccer here.” I was grateful to them for the opportunity. 

PATHWAY: How do you articulate where the women's game was when you first got started in to where it is now? And how does USL Super League contribute to that growth?

AMANDA: I think it's a rocket ship right now. It's wild what you see, even the past three years, the investment that we're seeing in professional women's soccer, it's like nothing we've ever seen before - in women's sports certainly, but in all of sports. The growth has been amazing to watch and be a part of. I feel like I've been in the mix of it the whole time. I think it's allowed me, to me as a professional, it's allowed me to move into new and different roles.

I've been lucky; I've seen the growth of the game both in the United States and around the world and perspective is everything. I've consulted for FIFA, I've done a lot of work in the Caribbean, India and Africa, and across Europe. So what we've seen here [in the United States] and where we're at today, I think is reflective of a global movement in women's soccer. But there's still the haves and the have nots.

I think as we look at the Super League there is opportunity to shape and shift the global dialogue around women's soccer and what professionalization of the game really looks like or can look like. I think that is the opportunity that lies ahead. So, it's been growth and investment to this point, but my point of view is it's time for professionalization.

PATHWAY: You have hired a number of roles to focus on the women's game. What specific tactical advice would you give to someone who is reading this, seeing the opportunities ahead, and wants to break in?

AMANDA: I think my experience, how I've managed to find those roles in the game or build my career, is to be in the spaces and places where people doing the role you want are. I left MLS in 2019 and I loved my experience at MLS, but I just felt like I really wanted to be in international soccer and in the women's game. Well, in 2019, there was no more natural place to be than in France for the Women's World Cup. So, I was in a fortunate position that I could get an Airbnb in Paris and spend some time there networking and getting to know the people who are working in and around the game in different capacities and try and figure out what was the right step in that direction. And then shortly thereafter, that's where I met the FIFPro team, which is the Global Players Union in Amsterdam. And that ultimately, that led to my new role as the Chief Women's Football Officer at FIFPro. A real far cry from my [earlier] career.

That to me is more of the career pivot - going from executive management as a Vice President of Fan Engagement at Major League Soccer to being the Chief Women's Football Officer at a global players union.

I've been lucky to get the breadth of those experiences certainly, and labor relations are a lot different than executive management. But for me now as the president, I can understand the perspective of the executive management team, the managing against a P&L of a club, versus players and what their needs are, and labor and why their needs are important and their perspective is important to have at the table in decision making. So, that to me as a president of the league, is now a fortunate position I've been in. 

PATHWAY: As you consider hiring talent to your team, what are the characteristics that you look for that lead to success?

AMANDA: I look for honesty and authenticity when we have a conversation because when you're building a team, I think of my role a lot of times like a coach, and you need people who are willing and knowledgeable and confident and honest enough to give you their point of view, but can also take the feedback or take no as an answer. Because as a coach, you’ve got to take in all these different opinions and then as the leader make the decision that you believe is in the best interest of your team. So, I apply that to how I think about the dynamics of hiring people. So when I think of hiring, I think about the broader team and the personalities and dynamics that exist within that. So there's no one thing to look for other than people who can be part of a team, give feedback, accept criticism, and understand their role within that team, that everyone's purpose is valued and important and being the best in that position because it's going to make the whole team successful.

PATHWAY: We'll end with the question we always end with, which is simply, what's your favorite thing about working in soccer?

AMANDA: There's two things. One, the friendships and the connections that we make along the way. Because even playing in soccer, I think I remember more about the parties I threw and the friends I made than the games I won or lost. So there's that, but also genuinely, when we started talking about my origin story and the ability to positively impact people's lives through soccer, I genuinely feel so passionate when people share with me how soccer - or even small things I did that I didn't even realize became big things in their lives. And that's what drives me.

Ed. note: You can connect with Amanda on LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter).

Go work with Amanda! If you’re interested in contributing to what Amanda and team are building, here’s your chance:

SOCCER JOBS: THE MOST INTERESTING NEW JOBS IN SOCCER

Here are a few of the new soccer jobs that caught our eye this week. Why not throw your hat in the ring if one of them strikes your fancy? 🎩

Want to see all the soccer jobs in one place? Sign up for our weekly “Pathway Jobs Newsletter” where we aggregate as many as 100 new soccer job listings - and drop it into your inbox every Friday.

FEATURED JOB: VICE PRESIDENT, TICKET SALES - INDY ELEVEN

If you’ve not yet heard, Indy Eleven broke ground on a state-of-the-art soccer specific stadium in 2023. With a completion date set for 2026, the club is staffing up to fill that 20,000 seat beauty.

This leadership position is responsible for maximizing game day crowds and building the best in-stadium environment within USL. If you’ve not yet had the opportunity, it is hard to find a cooler experience than opening a new stadium.

You can read the full job description and apply here.

[If you want to have your job featured in a future issue, you can book it now]

DO THIS NOW: FOLLOW THESE ACCOUNTS [MLS EDITION]

It’s a wonderful time to be a fan of domestic soccer in the United States of America - and greater North America, too.

MLS is entering its third week of the season, USL Championship and USL League One kickoff this weekend, NWSL’s regular season begins next weekend - and there’s so much more to come.

If you’re someone who wants to work in soccer - or even if you already are - it’s important that you’re plugged in to the people who are reporting on and covering the sport. For the next few issues of the newsletter, we’re going to share the must-follow accounts that will ensure you’re staying up to speed.

Today, the focus is on MLS.

DO THIS NOW: Follow these accounts to stay up to date with all things MLS.

BONUS: Here are a handful of folks who work at MLS clubs and do an awesome job sharing about life in the league:

There are, of course, dozens of other accounts worth following but this list will give you a great start to closely tracking the happenings around MLS.

One other pro tip: Look at who the above individuals are following on their accounts to find other folks you might want to follow. 👍

-Kyle Sheldon, Founder & CEO

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The 2024 MLS season is upon us. The USL Championship season begins in just over a week. And NWSL fires up in less than three weeks.

Yes, it really is one of our favorite times of the year!