MONKEYS launch grass roots WPS(L) 'Movement'

The Monkeys kicked off their spring season and with it, unfounded dreams are being rekindled.  For Bay Area soccer players in the Monkey's age group, Women's Pro Soccer (WPS) doesn't exist.

The details of the FC Gold Pride season ticket holder events and on pitch action are fading into fond memory.  As the WPS season itself kicked off with Sky Blue FC facing Philadelphia, the arm chair venue in front of Fox Soccer Channel has far less appeal for a nine year old Soccer Monkey that just wants to play.  There simply is no substitute at this age, for being present, at the pitch in the environment that was Women's Professional Soccer in the Bay Area. The Soccer Monkeys have had to find their inspiration elsewhere.

As an optimist, I would like to believe that the collapse of WPS on the west coast of the United States represents more of a changing of the guard than the end of an era.  As my daughters icons like Ali Riley and former Cal star Alex Morgan take to the pitch in Western New York with the WPS Flash, there is a whole new group of young ladies in that market that are about to be inspired.  In the big picture, even though we are now without a WPS team here in the West, it is vital to us that the league succeed in this it's third year of competition.

Also as an optimist, we Bay Area WPS fans can and should be looking forward to the plans of Terry Foley and company as he sets to launch two west coast teams professional in the WPSL.  Sure, the WPSL has been around over here, and in fact proclaims itself to be the largest women's soccer league but I am hopeful that as rumors would suggest, this is a cautiously wise stepping stone effort to establish a solid foundation for the rebuilding of high caliber professional Women's Soccer on the west coast.  In a recent chat on twitter about the WPSL, Foley hinted that the aim of the Bay Area Breeze and sister team Orange County Waves is to build a west coast foundation for women's soccer which could perhaps lead to a west coast league of it's own.  If true, this strategy is historically sound as was the case when both the Dodgers and Giants of Major League baseball moved out west from New York.



This little blog, founded on the dreams of a young team of Soccer Monkeys, might have just found it's greater niche.   I have watched a handful of 'expansion' teams make their way into pro leagues over the past few years.  In MLS, the Seattle Sounders and Philadelphia Union are standouts, not necessarily for their on pitch performance but because of what they came into the league with from day one: a fan base.  This little humble blog is happy to do it's part in the recruiting of bay area women's soccer fans.   Let's call it a grass roots campaign to build a fan base for the Bay Area Breeze as it sets out to re-establish women's pro soccer in the Bay.

Further optimism should be in order with the state of WPS in this it's third year.  While certainly the loss of four teams over the first two years could be viewed as a sign of impending doom, one could argue that it is more of a right sizing that is going on to adjust for having launched in heart of a recession.  Sure, not having WPS on the west coast leaves a big gap, but as an east coast league, the operations and expenses will be more simplistic and give the league a fighting chance of success.  In this World Cup year, as many internationals have chosen to go back home, the smaller size of the league still has had the affect of strengthening the rosters on the remaining teams, making the action that will be taking place, in theory of a higher caliber.

It's just such high caliber action that I will miss watching with my daughter in person as I reflect on my experience a previous FC Gold Pride season ticket holder.  This Sunday, Ali Riley and the Flash face off against another one of my daughter's icons, Kelley O'hara and the Breakers.  I hope there will be lots of other fathers, daughters and soccer fans in the stands at Harvard, perhaps discovering WPS for the first time and perhaps getting a little kick of inspiration of their own.