Michele Kang continues to lead by example when it comes to financially investing into women’s sports.
U.S. Soccer announced that the Kynisca Sports International founder has pledged to invest $30 million over the next five years to help identify young talent and support professional development for female soccer coaches and referees.
The donation, according to U.S. Soccer, is the largest ever given to the organization by a woman. It is also the most gifted for the women’s and girls’ programs.
“Michele Kang’s gift will transform soccer for women and girls in the United States,” U.S. Soccer president Cindy Parlow Cone said in a statement. “It will impact generations of women and girls in our game, including players, coaches and referees.”
The investment will allow U.S. Soccer to double the number of national team camps, with six camps per age group for its youth national teams. The organization can also expand its digital talent identification program, which is designed to look for future national team players, potentially giving access to 100,000 female players.
Opportunities for professional development among coaches and referees will also increase, as an additional 70,000 female coaches and referees will have access to education and mentorship within the sport.
Throughout 2024, Kang has expanded her investment portfolio throughout women’s sports, starting with the founding of Kynisca this spring. Kynisca is the first multi-team global company dedicated to women’s sports, with her three soccer clubs—the NWSL’s Washington Spirit, France’s Olympique Lyonnais Féminin and England’s London City Lionesses—under the umbrella.
Kang has stated that a major driver of her investment strategy is to grow the knowledge and support around the science of the female athlete. “In my healthcare business days, I focused on a certain area, but I invested in other areas so that we’re all coming along,” Kang said during U.S. Soccer’s press conference Tuesday afternoon in New York. “We need to bring everything else along, and that was really what was driving the investment; not only the clubs, but the cleats, the health research and training methodology.”
During the recent Summer Olympics in Paris, Kang announced a $4 million gift to USA Rugby after the women’s rugby sevens team won the bronze medal. In October, Kynisca led a seed funding round for women’s footwear company IDA Sports that will provide a lift to the brand’s research and development of soccer cleats for female players.
Kang, who founded medical tech company Cognosante and venture capital firm Cognosante Ventures, isn’t the only person who has put her money into U.S. Soccer this year. Donations from Citadel LLC founder Ken Griffin and Diameter Capital co-founder Scott Goodwin helped fund the hiring of the new men’s national team manager Mauricio Pochettino, who signed a two-year, $12 million deal. (The donations also funded Pochettino’s staff as well as the buyout of Gregg Berhalter, all totaling around $20 million.)
Additionally, Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United owner Arthur Blank poured in $50 million toward the construction of a new national training center in Atlanta that will also bear his name upon completion in 2026, when the U.S. will co-host the men’s World Cup along with Canada and Mexico.
(This has been updated in the seventh paragraph with additional quotes from Michele Kang.)
Source: https://www.sportico.com/leagues/soccer/2024/michele-kang-us-soccer-girls-women-programs-1234816481/
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