How U.S. Soccer aims to improve physical, mental health of female soccer players

U.S. soccer last week announced the launch of the Kang Institute, a platform focused on addressing disparities that “has left generations of female soccer players training under models built for male physiology.”

With women’s soccer on track to become one of the world’s top five sports, U.S. Soccer is committing a $30 million donation from billionaire Michele Kang to researching some of the major issues facing female athletes.

The national federation announced earlier this month the launch of the Kang Institute, a platform focused on addressing disparities that “has left generations of female soccer players training under models built for male physiology.”

It’s an underfunded area of research that leaves women in sport more susceptible to different injuries as well as keeping young girls from pursuing the sport, Georgie Brunvels, female health and research innovation lead with U.S. Soccer, told NBC News.

“Football is a global game,” Brunvels said. “By people seeing what is happening in football —or soccer — I think it will trickle on a global level to making people stand up and pay attention and listen.”

Kang’s donation will advance work that was already taking place at the Soccer Forward Foundation, which focused on community-level work aimed on inclusion and expanding access to the sport. It will take on three forms: dedicated research, a creation of best practices based on that research, and education from the youth level all the way to the national team.