In 1997, a group of teams in the USL-administered W-League broke away and formed the WPSL. Led by Jerry Zanelli, the WPSL quickly became a dominant and consistent base for amateur women’s soccer in the US, and today, is considered the largest women’s soccer league in the world, with teams all across the country.

Many of yesterday’s and today’s hottest talent has played in the league, including Brandi Chastain, Julie Foudy, Alex Morgan, Jennifer Cudjoe, Sam Mewis, and Megan Rapinoe. The USWNT team that won gold at the 2019 Women’s World Cup had 12 WPSL alumni on their 23-woman roster, and recently, 18 WPSL alumni were drafted in the 2021 NWSL Draft.

It’s safe to say, the WPSL has seen talent.

But one talent that most soccer fans don’t recognize is the talent behind the scenes, the individuals helping grow and develop soccer teams and leagues and creating new opportunities for future talent. One such talent in the WPSL’s front office is Nichole Singleton, Director of Communications for the WPSL, who since joining the league in March 2020, has helped revamp the league’s social presence and team outreach. She took time out of her very busy day, championing women’s soccer and expanding her league’s reach, to answer a few questions.

First of all, I loved the player cards the league put out during the 2021 NWSL Draft, highlighting the WPSL alumni who were picked up. What has been your strategy over the recent years in highlighting the amazing talent that has played in the league, regardless of where they go to next?

I honestly didn’t have a structured strategy for the 2021 NWSL Draft, I just knew I wanted to create content our teams and supporters haven’t seen from the WPSL and to just have fun with it. Of course, a lot of planning logistically went into it just to make sure timing and posting was effective to keep with the draft selections as the event went on, but the goal was to highlight our alumnae and the teams they played with. I knew I did not want to just share content from the NWSL and simply state which players played in the WPSL - I wanted us to have our own content specific to the WPSL dedicated to our players. I played a minor role within the league during last year's draft, so I knew going into this one, I really wanted to make a splash creatively and set the tone for what could be expected of the league moving forward.

How important is it to highlight that talent?

Highlighting our players and the talent within the WPSL is crucial. The WPSL has such a vast player pool that is full of elite, high caliber athletes and they deserve to have the spotlight on them. Each player that competes in this league plays such a huge role in our success and I want to highlight that even when they have taken the next step wherever that may be. They deserve endless recognition, and it is my goal to provide that.

18 players were drafted in the 2021 NWSL draft, an amazing accomplishment for the WPSL. Going forward, what's your strategy for harnessing that obvious talent in the WPSL to not only grow and develop your league, but the game of women's soccer itself?

As a former player, Nichole has brought that perspective to growing the WPSL.

Since the 2018 NWSL Draft, the WPSL has seen 85 former players selected – averaging 50% of selections, I think that says a lot about what the WPSL works so hard to accomplish each season which is to provide a highly competitive league with the priority on advancing the women’s game through player development and the goal of providing our players with the opportunity to further their careers. I think our teams have bought into that culture because it clearly shows in each draft class. And that’s just focusing on the NWSL Draft itself, we have an abundant number of players who have advanced to the professional or national team levels that weren’t selected in the draft.

2020 was a hard year and unfortunately, you had to cancel your season, like most leagues. What was your thought process when league leaders made that call and you realized that, without games, you needed to get creative with engaging with fans?

As a league, we took that decision very seriously and a lot went into the verdict of canceling the season but at the end of the day our players and teams come first, and we had to do our part in keeping them safe and healthy. Like many others in the sports world, we had to accept the reality of what was happening and adapt, and I knew this was the time we needed to step up creatively and really focus on the visual brand.

What were some of the communication strategies that you employed in this time?

I think the strategy was to just stay present and current with what was happening. I didn’t want to announce the canceling of the season and then go dark for the rest of the year and wait behind closed doors for what the next season would bring. I wanted to create multiple outlets of entertaining content that our fans would enjoy and really engage with and maybe even learn more about the history of the league. This was also a time to showcase our alumnae who were playing in the NWSL Challenge Cup and Fall Series as well as check in with our alumnae who were playing in Europe and seeing how they were adjusting to this.

In your opinion, how important is it to engage with your fanbase? What are some of your favorite strategies to create that engagement, and what has proven to be the most successful and meaningful?

Fan engagement is a necessity, I mean who are we without our fans and supporters of women’s soccer? With the absence of the 2020 season, it was the perfect opportunity to increase our engagement with them and show our appreciation for the support they have for this league. We have some of the best fanbases and supporter groups who are full of passion for the game. Some of my favorite content we put out during this time were things like trivia on the history of the league and content where we highlighted data that fans may not have been aware of like which teams have the all-time winning percentages or which teams have played in the league the longest or even which alumnae played for us. It was also fun to put the stats of how many former WPSL players were playing in the NWSL’s Challenge Cup and fans realizing just how much of an impact this league has on women’s soccer professionally. We even did an “Alumna of the Week” and “Best XI” during the NWSL Fall Series that only featured former players and our fans really got a kick out of that so that was enjoyable to see their engagement during those weeks. I think our teams really enjoyed it too because we not only highlighted alumnae, but we also highlighted them as well and showed where these former players came from so it gives our teams the spotlight too and the opportunity for our fans to engage more with them and learn more about them.

Can you give us any hints as to some things we can look forward to in 2021 and onwards, in terms of the WPSL's marketing/comms. strategy? Any fun things to look forward to?

I don’t want to give any spoilers, but the league has some exciting new things coming this season and I think our fans, players, and teams will really enjoy it. I will say you can expect to see things that you haven’t seen from the league before.

Your twitter bio reads " Ex-Footballer" and "Freelance Creative, Graphic Designer, Illustrator." Give us that backstory! Where did you play and why did you decide to stop playing (if you don't mind my asking)? How has football brought you to where you are now as a creative and a graphic designer?

I played (forward) Division III at the University of the Ozarks in northwest Arkansas. I actually had to stop playing due to a knee injury so definitely was not by choice but having to wear a limited mobility brace on my shooting leg was not the ideal way I’d like to continue the game. I owe everything to the game for where I am now, yes of course I would rather be playing but to have the opportunity to stay involved in the sports I love and combine that with my passion for writing and graphic design where I express that creatively is a dream. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else or something that didn’t involve soccer.

How do you hope to use your off-field skills and interests to grow and develop the league and the game?

I want to see the women’s game continue to advance and I want to be a part of that and with the WPSL that’s an opportunity I don’t take for granted. My hope is to create a platform that showcases all the talented players we have and illustrates what opportunity this league is providing its players to continue to excel and grow the women’s game. All my passion and love for this game goes into everything I create or write, and I hope our fans and players feel that with all the content we put out.

And finally, this is a question I want to start asking everyone I encounter through Protagonist Soccer: what is the best thing that soccer has brought you in life?

Soccer has given me purpose. I started kicking the ball around at age four and joined a team at five so I mean I grew up on the soccer field. It gave me confidence in myself to see how far I can push my body and achieve the goals I’ve set out. It’s given me teammates and coaches I called family and friendships I still have today. It’s made me self-motivated and given me the courage to face adversity head on – to never quit. I think the best thing though is that it’s given me a voice and platform to continue doing something that brings me such joy and fulfillment.

- Elisabeth Schendel