The week of the 2024 National Women’s Soccer League championship match was a busy one for Imani Dorsey. The Utah Royals defender was not playing in the match, but instead was working in her role as a founding board member of the Black Women’s Players Collective (BWPC) on a jam-packed schedule of activations to cap off a busy year.
Sitting in the hotel lobby the morning of the game, Dorsey finally got a moment to reflect—not just on the week itself, but on an entire year of work. As she thought back, she chuckled to herself, realizing that listing off the accomplishments and events of the BWPC for 2024 was more than she could recount off the top of her head. There were just too many to count—a pretty good problem to have.
”I am so incredibly grateful and humbled to be in this position and create lasting change, but there is still so much that I want to do,” Dorsey says. “We are just scratching the surface, but when we’re able to execute these large visions of what we have and what we imagine and put them into practice, it is so beautiful.”
The nonprofit organization was founded in 2020 by NWSL players to not only provide a community for Black players in the league, but to advance opportunities for Black girls both in soccer and beyond.
Dorsey is keenly aware that the work would not be possible without the support of their partners and fundraising efforts throughout the year. Included in the BWPC’s programming this season was its Juneteenth t-shirt campaign that players wore as a pre-match top during Juneteenth games. A percentage of the proceeds went to the BWPC.
“To run a nonprofit, a lasting nonprofit, requires fundraising, and because our members are so spread out, it requires consistent touch points and programming throughout the year,” Dorsey says.
For the third year in a row, the BWPC has had a presence at NWSL Championship Weekend, an event that has continued to grow right along with the league itself. As the NWSL continues to evolve and change, the work of the BWPC becomes even more crucial with both supporting its members as players in the league and working within local communities to provide visibility for kids who may not know that a professional career in soccer is even attainable.
“The league is growing like we are, and I think to that end, communication and workflow has gotten better, but there are still opportunities for more alignment and integration,” Dorsey says. “I definitely think having more women of color in front offices and adding roles for DEI and public safety is only going to help that. I also think the more we push our visibility and continue to share the stories of our players in a bigger way, which is something we’re aiming to do in the future, just opens up more opportunities to see our members and creates more opportunities to engage with the league.”
It was impossible to go through NWSL Championship Weekend without seeing at least one of the BWPC’s many programs, and visibility in the community was a key component of the organization’s work. In addition to donating 40 tickets to the match to the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Kansas City, the group began its three-day, event-filled marathon with #ElevateTheNext, part of the BWPC’s mini-pitch programming to help inspire and elevate the next generation of soccer players, and organized a tour of the Negro League Baseball Museum.
During #NWSLChampionship weekend, @BWP_Collective hosted the #ElevateTheNext clinic at @HelpKCKids Thornberry Unit, inspiring the next generation of athletes! 🙌@UnitedWayGKC | #KCBABY pic.twitter.com/eFNX16zs0O
— KC Current (@thekccurrent) November 29, 2024
"Being a part of the BWPC and being connected with other Black players has meant the world to me. It is amazing to see how far we have come and how far we can go together,” says North Carolina Courage rookie defender Maycee Bell. ”The #ElevateTheNext clinic was a great way to give back to the community and show young girls that they are capable of anything. I am truly thankful for the time spent at the Boys and Girls Club in Kansas City as it gave young girls the chance to see women who look like them are able to pursue their dreams and can and will continue to be successful.”
Says Dr. Andria Johnson, the NWSL’s Senior Director of People and Inclusion: “It was great to see the BWPC on the ground in Kansas City activating throughout championship weekend and connecting with our shared sports community in really meaningful ways. Their presence not only helped us celebrate the culmination of another incredible season but also underscored the critically important role their work and advocacy has played in shaping the NWSL into what it is today.”
From their work in the community to the BWPC’s annual dinner for members and supporters, the BWPC wanted to both be visible to the community and provide a place for members to celebrate the year and check in with one another, especially with their rookies. NWSL Championship Weekend specifically provided the perfect opportunity for the players to connect after spending the year scattered across the country focused on their careers.
“It's been a great easy experience to get connected with BWPC,” said Midfielder of the Year Croix Bethune. “The events [over championship weekend] were so much fun and engaging, I’m more than grateful that I got to attend.”
For Dorsey, who has been in the league since she was drafted to NJ/NY Gotham FC (then Sky Blue FC) in 2018, being able to see younger members thrive thanks to the work of the BWPC shows just how important the organization is to the ecosystem of the NWSL. Whether it’s the all-member meeting at the beginning of the year or creating midseason touchpoints to focus in on its mission, Dorsey is seeing the work pay off, especially with the success of championship weekend activations and the inclusion of younger members.
“We’re four years, almost five years out from our origin and we’ve made a lot of strides and progress. I am grateful for that , and it’s important we continue to share where we’ve been with the next generation,” Dorsey says. “At our middle of the year meeting, I wanted to make a point of explaining the origin, why we started the organization and what our intent and mission is—to elevate and inspire the next generation of Black female soccer players in whatever they want to do in the future.”
The work of the BWPC doesn’t just start when a player enters the league, but extends well beyond that, sometimes before a young player even touches a soccer ball for the first time. Dorsey and members of the BWPC know well the barriers to entry that soccer presents for many kids around the country in lower income, non-white communities, and so much of the work involves outreach and visibility to engage with kids on a more personal level and get them interested in the sport.
One such program, Grass, focuses on this grassroots work, getting BWPC members into schools, hospitals and public facilities to meet and inspire youth whether that be with the sport of soccer or with whatever their dreams may be.
“Grass allows our members to engage with kids on a more intimate level,” Dorsey says. “A lot of our programming, such as our mini-pitches initiative with U.S. Soccer Foundation, are great spaces to gather and create interest in the sport. We’re continuing to create more touchpoints and opportunities, either remote or in-person, for our members to engage in different ways throughout the year.”
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Imani Dorsey, Black Women’s Player Collective Are Changing NWSL for the Better.
