BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – U.S. women’s national team head coach Emma Hayes has accomplished a lot in her first eight months in the job, but she finally began to put her spin on things this past week, where Hayes laid the foundation for the team’s journey for the next several years.
Hayes put her own spin at the USWNT’s annual January camp, inviting not only 24 senior team players to Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., but also 26 up-and-comers as part of a first-of-its-kind futures camp. She ran side-by-side, but distinct, training sessions for both groups in her final major expansion of the player pool as she kicks off the buildup to the 2027 Women’s World Cup and 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
“I think Emma’s vision is all about us being on the same page, whether you’re on the full team or you’re U-14,” midfielder Sam Coffey said Friday from NWSL media day at the Beverly Hilton, the day after the USWNT’s camp concluded. “It should all be kind of the same language, same tactics, same philosophy, and I just feel really excited about the direction she’s pushing U.S. Soccer in to accomplish those things.”
Though the overall objective for Hayes was to get everyone on the same page, she took separate approaches to it. The Futures and the senior team trained separately, which meant sisters, roomates and Angel City teammates Alyssa and Giesle Thompson did not see much of each other that week. The vibes were very different, though, depending on who you asked.
“I think it was really cool and it was really light – not light as in load, but light as in energy and I think it allowed us to really dive into the tactics, really dive into the principles and just ultimately learn as much as we can,” Jaedyn Shaw, one of the Olympic gold medalists in the senior camp, said. “I think the last however many months Emma’s been with us, it’s been really rushed and we were able to settle and ask questions more and dive deeper into why we do things the way that we do.”
Defender Alyssa Malonson, who earned her first cap last fall after a breakout season with Bay FC, had a different – and more blunt – recollection of the camp.
“The Futures camp was fun,” she said. “Obviously, it was exhausting. I’m tired but it just gets us ready for preseason.”
The groups did have a chance to mingle throughout, most notably at a dinner at a Mexican restaurant on Wednesday. While it comes as no surprise that members of the senior team were able to leave an impression on their younger counterparts, the more experienced players were equally impressed by the next generation.
“They’re just so talented,” Coffey said, “but I think I’m just so blown away by their maturity and their character. I don’t think I could’ve held a conversation that way when I was 17, 18, at least not as professionally as they did but I got to talk to a few of them when we went out to dinner and they’re just so eager and they’re so driven.”
Hayes’ wide-ranging influence
Hayes used the new-look January camp for a first-of-its-kind conference for players and staff at both the senior national team level and the youth programs, laying out a vision that she hopes will see the U-23 team play a crucial role as she begins to build a roster for 2027. Hayes is equally focused on the long-term future of the program, though, and elevating the women’s game in the country especially.
“I think one of the big things was putting the female at the center and really having the whole sport revolve around the female and not it being so male-dominated and then bring the Futures along,” Nealy Martin, who was called into the senior team for the first time this month, said. “Obviously you can see that we want to develop more of the young talent, have a big player pool.”
The head coach’s impact is not limited to the time she works with them during camp, though. Less than a year into the job, she is becoming an important sounding board for players, many of whom already say they have learned so much from her in a short span of time. That includes Shaw, whose blockbuster trade from the San Diego Wave to the North Carolina Courage included a little bit of input from Hayes.
“I just wanted to work on the things that Emma and I have talked about, just like the fitness, the physicality, the defending, the tactics and everything,” Shaw said about her decision to change teams this winter. “I just really wanted to dive into that and succeed more in both environments and make those two mesh into one. … I’ve had a couple of conversations with her about it, definitely value her opinion. I’ve talked to her and she’s happy.”
The head coach also used this winter to check in on players who could not make it to camp, like forward Trinity Rodman. She, alongside Mallory Swanson and Sophia Smith, has received an extended break from the national team after two demanding years with the World Cup and Olympics, rest that could help her deal with a lingering back issue. Though Rodman’s fitness heading into preseason is still a question mark, she said Hayes is working on solutions to her problems.
“She’s been so receptive to everything that I’ve said and even she goes out of her way to reach out to me, to ask how I’m doing and just to let me know they’re working behind the scenes to get people to be able to help with my back just because it is a hard location of injury ’cause with sports, you’re kind of used to the knee down,” Rodman said. “It’s been really nice. She’s very supportive and very considerate of all of us, which is nice.”
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