{"id":20379,"date":"2023-03-17T19:24:19","date_gmt":"2023-03-17T19:24:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/17\/the-washington-spirit-are-ready-to-move-forward-equalizer-soccer\/"},"modified":"2023-03-17T19:24:19","modified_gmt":"2023-03-17T19:24:19","slug":"the-washington-spirit-are-ready-to-move-forward-equalizer-soccer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/17\/the-washington-spirit-are-ready-to-move-forward-equalizer-soccer\/","title":{"rendered":"The Washington Spirit are ready to move forward \u2013 Equalizer Soccer"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoto via Washington Spirit<\/span><\/p>\n

LEESBURG, Va. \u2014 Once you reach the one-lane, gravel road, keep going, and hope another car doesn\u2019t jump out from around the bend.<\/p>\n

Go a little farther, and you\u2019ll see the new temporary training facility for the Washington Spirit, which the National Women\u2019s Soccer League<\/a><\/strong> team shares with MLS\u2019 D.C. United. Inside, there is a large weight room and tables of catered food, plus freshly installed temporary walls to divide the warehouse into small offices.<\/p>\n

The unusual space reflects a new era for the Spirit. After recent changes to just about everything \u2014 from a new coach and majority owner to a new color scheme dubbed \u201ca rebrand in progress\u201d<\/a><\/strong> \u2014 the club is in the midst of reimagining its identity.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve only scratched the surface in terms of what that culture really looks like,\u201d midfielder Andi Sullivan tells The Equalizer<\/em>.<\/p>\n

This preseason feels different for the Washington Spirit. Michele Kang took over full ownership of the club in early 2022<\/a><\/strong>, a change that began this new era after a traumatic 2021 that saw the Spirit\u2019s former coach banned from the league for abusive behavior<\/a><\/strong> and former owner forced to sell after players pressured him publicly. The club dealt with the fallout \u2014 including another controversial coaching change<\/a><\/strong> \u2014 in 2022. Now, players say, they are ready to move forward.<\/p>\n

Kang is the change agent, and she is bringing a level of investment rarely seen in women\u2019s soccer. Her $35 million purchase price of the Spirit in early 2022 set a new bar in the league as team valuations soar.<\/p>\n

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\n Start your FREE, 7-day trial of The Equalizer Extra for industry-leading reporting and insight on the USWNT, NWSL and beyond.\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo via Washington Spirit LEESBURG, Va. \u2014 Once you reach the one-lane, gravel road, keep going, and hope another car doesn\u2019t jump out from around the bend. Go a little farther, and you\u2019ll see the new temporary training facility for the Washington Spirit, which the National Women\u2019s Soccer League team shares with MLS\u2019 D.C. United. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20380,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6805],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-20379","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-womens"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20379\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}