Interviews with Emma Part 7: A Conversation with Atlanta’s Keeley Dowling
Emma with Keeley Dowling
By David Bayer
When Keeley signed with the Beat in the off-season, the only thing I heard about her was that she has an incredible vertical leap. After meeting her, we found there are many incredible things about her. She’s warm, friendly, unassuming, and has a smile that leaps out at you. (more…)
Interviews with Emma Part 6: A Conversation with Atlanta’s Lauren Sesselmann
Emma with Lauren Sesselmann
By David Bayer
We’re back to the Beat, but not just any Beat player…an original Beat player. In fact, the only original Beat player still with the team. (Lori Chalupny joined mid-season in 2010) As such, we’ve had many occasions to meet Lauren ( Emma must have a couple hundred of her autographs), but this was our first “real” conversation. (more…)
Interviews with Emma Part 5: A Conversation with Philadelphia’s Leigh Ann Robinson
Emma with Leigh Ann Robinson
By David Bayer
It was old home week as Philly (our old hometown) came to Atlanta with two former Beat players, Kia McNeill and Leigh Ann Robinson, both favorites of ours. Our interview was scheduled with Leigh Ann, so we waited … and waited … and waited some more. But we did so patiently because she was busy talking to the many fans who wanted to see her; some even had signs for her. When I think of Leigh Ann, two main things come to mind: the funny way she holds her hands when she has the ball, and the fact that after every game – win or lose – she always made her way to both sides of the stadium to greet the fans. (more…)
McCall and Emma – The Journey Continues
By David Bayer
As I mentioned at the end of my March 23rd article, our Bayer family and McCall Zerboni have not let a few miles (873 to be exact) get in the way of our relationship. We also won’t let that distance get in the way of teaming up to help others. Breast cancer awareness is very important to McCall, having lost a relative to this terrible disease. Our family has lost two friends, and we have another who has battled through it. Last fall, we participated in a local awareness festival to help raise funds. This year, we are again doing our part, but on a more widespread level. (more…)
Interviews with Emma Part 4: A Conversation with Atlanta Beat’s Megan Jesolva
Emma with Megan Jesolva
By David Bayer
No game in Atlanta this week? No problem. It was time to talk to a Beat player anyway. Unlike our first three interviews, we went with a rookie this time. I had a couple of brief interactions with Megan, even before the season began, and it was easy to see that she is definitely a “people person.” And, judging
from the amount of cheering that Emma has been doing for her at Beat games, she’s also a “little people’s person.” We caught up with Megan away from the stadium. (more…)
Interviews with Emma Part 3: A conversation with WNY Flash’s Caroline Seger
Emma with Caroline Seger
By David Bayer
I realize it’s still early in this series, but Emma and I decided to take a big step. We went … international! Our guest this week was Caroline Seger. Caroline is not only from Sweden, but she is the captain of the Swedish National Team! I’ll admit that I went into the interview feeling a bit intimidated. Luckily, Emma kept her composure. She broke the ice with her discussions about mosquitoes, her injury in the jumpie, and the 47 eggs she found on her Easter egg hunt. We then moved on to our questions. (more…)
Interviews with Emma Part 2: A conversation with Sky Blue FC’s Carolyn Blank
Emma with Carolyn Blank
By David Bayer
We were excited when we heard that we would be interviewing Carolyn Blank this week. She was a favorite of ours when she played with the Beat last season. For me, watching her play was very enjoyable because she always seemed to be in the middle of everything…always hustling. And when there was a “discussion” with a referee, you could always count on Carolyn to be there voicing her opinion…”strongly.” For Emma, Carolyn was a fun teacher at last season’s players’ clinic. She got her to dribble with the inside of her foot, rather than the outside.
After a tough loss, Carolyn came over to us, gave us a big smile and hugs and settled in for her interview. Here’s our report: (more…)
Interviews with Emma Part 1: A conversation with Boston Breaker Jordan Angeli
Emma with Jordan Angeli
By David Bayer
When I was a kid (a thousand years ago), my first favorite athlete was Cookie Rojas. I’d be willing to bet that 99.9 percent of you have never heard of Cookie. Cookie was a second baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies. I can’t remember why I chose him. If you look him up, you’ll see that he was far from the coolest looking guy. He had a decent career, but his statistics weren’t stellar and the team he played on was pretty terrible. Nonetheless, he was my guy.
Soccer players, like baseball players or any athletes, are much more than numbers, especially to kids. Kids don’t care how many goals a player has scored, how many “caps” they have or how many different “U” teams they’ve been on. They want to connect personally somehow, whether it be a uniform number, hometown, etc. (more…)
Soccer Dad – Spring Edition
By David Bayer
In February, the usual highlight for me is when pitchers and catchers report for baseball spring training. This year, I was more excited for midfielders and backs to report for YMCA soccer practice. After our successful initiation into soccer in the fall, my wife Carey and I signed our daughter Emma up
for the spring session. Emma was in U5 in the fall and even though she’s only 4 and a half years old, we entered her in U6. Now before you label me as one of those parents who try to push their child through a sport to be a star, I’ll have to stop you. Emma’s U5 coach is the one who suggested the move up. I also checked with two WPS players (thanks Kia & Sess) for their opinions. Neither of them thought there would be a big difference between U5 and U6. (more…)
The Wright Stuff – New Dream Home
By David Bayer
When we last left Kylie Wright, she had signed a contract with the Atlanta Beat and was waiting for training camp to begin. In the meantime, her plans were to continue training on her own, and finish her education at UCLA. (Wow! A professional athlete with a college degree … What a concept!) She has held true to those plans. Coach Jim Galanis of the Beat has not put her on any training program yet, so she has continued her basic “touching the ball” routine. She told me, “When you have a soccer ball at your feet, anything is better than just running.” Her professors have cut her some slack time-wise, but she’s still had to finish up three papers prior to the end of school on March 16. There was one “minor” addition to Kylie’s plans. She’ll be participating in the U-23 Four Nations Tournament in Spain. Her U.S. squad will face England, Sweden and Norway. She made sure to get Coach Galanis’ blessing before accepting the roster spot. (more…)
The Wright Stuff
Kylie Wright and her Grandma Peggy
By David Bayer
Okay, I’m sure many of you are referring to me as a draft genius. Of all the 900 eligible draftees I could have chosen for my “Chasing the Dream” article, I picked one who was drafted in the first round AND ended up with my local team, the Atlanta Beat…Kylie Wright. (more…)
Four Games … 33 minutes … one shot … priceless
Nikki Weiss and Kerri Butler at the recent Atlanta Beat tryouts
By David Bayer
In my article “So Much Competition, So Few Spots,” I asked if it was really worth it for undrafted players to attend a team tryout. In the words of Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) star Kia McNeill, “There is a lot of great talent out there who underestimate themselves and automatically think they don’t have a chance at the professional level. Those players who tryout and do well attest to the fact that there is a lot of opportunity in this league … as long as they have the heart, work rate and skill.” (more…)
Happy Anniversary, Cat!
Written by David Bayer
Happy Anniversary, Cat!
February 1st marks the five year anniversary of the “Testimony of Catherine Anne Reddick Before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.”
You may know Catherine better as Cat Whitehill, 2003 Hermann Trophy winner as college soccer’s top female player, World Cup participant, 2004 Gold Medal Olympian, two-year Washington Freedom pro, animal enthusiast, and current member of the Atlanta Beat.
Four years ago, a bill was introduced which would have drastically damaged Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. Title IX is a federal statute which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in education programs. Athletics-wise, women athletes are required to get their fair share of scholarship dollars and sports programs. (more…)
Chasing the Dream
Chasing the Dream
By David Bayer
When I started out writing this article, part of my intention was to point out the disparity between men’s and women’s soccer programs, and the lack of opportunities for women. However, after doing some research, I discovered that I couldn’t totally go with that approach. (more…)
Business as Usual? No
By David Bayer
The sports world was transformed with the advent of free agency in Major League Baseball in the ’70s. As a fan, the player movements from team to team provided an interesting new twist. Eventually though, as a supporter of teams that weren’t spending money, frustration set in … and then anger. The rich got richer and the poor got poorer. The reoccurring themes for players leaving their teams were: a “business decision” or “best thing for my family” or “want to play on a winner.”
As millions of dollars piled up, those reasons were hard to swallow, and my tolerance of pro athletes waned. Mad at the teams and players, I decided to curtail my support of pro sports at the box office. And they haven’t missed me. And now, free agency is rearing its ugly head in the WPS. A friend (Carolyn Blank) and a pseudo family member (McCall Zerboni) have already departed from our Atlanta Beat. And there will be more changes to come. The “FA” designation still looms over more of our favorites.
So, now what? Same old story? Is it time to depart? NO! (more…)
Positive role models keep the game fun
By David Bayer
We didn’t experience the “terrible twos” with our daughter Emma. No, she saved exerting her independence for her “threes” and “fours.” The days of performing on command were over. A new strong-minded (to put it PC) child emerged. It was impossible to predict when she would or would not decide to participate in activities. And when I say “would not,” I don’t mean a polite “no thank you,” I mean a vehement “NOOOO!!!!” So, when the time for her first soccer league sign-ups neared, we were very hesitant. We didn’t want to shell out the registration fee if she was going to pitch (no pun intended) a fit when it came time to play. (more…)
