You’re walking down the street on a beautiful summer day. While you’re taking in the sights and sounds of the season, you stop to smell the lilies. Someone approaches you. They tell you, “define what makes a veteran athlete.” Some responses may be:
“They’ve played a long time.”
“Someone that’s a leader within a team.”
“Who are you?”
Then the mystery questioner walks you through a resume: “They signed out of college as an undrafted free agent, started almost every match of their rookie season, played in front of over 40,000 people in London, England’s famous Wembley Stadium, played through injuries and fought back through surgeries to play at the highest level. You think they’re a vet?” You’re confused about the whole situation, but agree that the resume fits the title of “veteran.” That’s a wide-lens view of the career of Racing Louisville FC fullback Erin Simon, and she doesn’t agree with you.
“I don’t consider myself a veteran just solely because I still have so much growth and learning to do in my game,” said Simon. The Syracuse University graduate has played professionally since 2016. She’s thrived at every stop she’s made. Now, in 2021, her time has shaped her view on mentoring young players, the growth of England’s Women’s Super League, head coach Christy Holly’s development as a leader, and a glaring gap in the National Women’s Soccer League.
Simon began at Sky Blue FC, now Gotham FC, through a tumultuous time in the club’s history, putting it lightly. There’s enough said about the past struggles of Sky Blue FC. Recently, the New Yorker wrote about their growth into Gotham FC. Specifically, for Simon’s time at Sky Blue, she fractured her foot in her last minutes on the field. It put her on the sidelines, and eventually in the free agency pool. Sky Blue cut the recovering right back after she missed the final 11 matches of 2017. Then England came calling.
Overseas Differences
West Ham United, of the WSL, added her to their squad for their first year in the top tier of England’s women’s soccer pyramid. Only five days after signing, she made her first start in West Ham’s second match of the season. She played in 17 of their next 21 matches, starting 16. As a defensive fullback, her awareness on the field made her a crucial part of West Ham’s success. It was vastly different playing for West Ham, on many fronts.
“It’s nice having the backing of the men’s team over there and having that stability,” said Simon. West Ham was a night and day situation from her first stop in the NWSL. It’s also the game itself that’s different. The rules are the same, and the ball is still a sphere, but the X’s and O’s aren’t the same. “It’s a very tactical game over there. In America its very transitional; a lot more running in America.”
Since the summer of 2020, NWSL and European rosters started an overhaul of crisscrossing players. While household names have gone overseas in the past, like Carli Lloyd’s time in London, with Arsenal, it didn’t have as large of an influx as the COVID-19 pandemic caused. With the 2020 NWSL season scrapped for the Challenge Cup and Fall Series, US internationals like Sam Mewis, Rose Lavelle, Alex Morgan, Abby Dahlkemper, Tobin Heath, and Christen Press took their trade to Europe for the 2020/21 England soccer season. That movement has impacted American soccer.
“I think we’re growing tactically here as well,” said Simon. “With the national team being so successful it’s kind of transitioning into the NWSL, and now a lot of players are coming here.” Players on her own Racing Louisville team like the NWSL return of Nadia Nadim, WSL Young Player of the Year Nominee Ebony Salmon, and league veteran Gemma Bonner. That only scratches the surface of recent signings in the league with OL Reign, NC Courage, and Gotham FC all adding players who recently played across the pond. While an influx of new, or returning, talent is great for the league, there’s still a hole that’s allowing competition to fall through.
Something Missing in the NWSL
“Another huge thing that was massive that I loved about the WSL over in England was just how competitive it was in just the structure of the league,” said Simon. “They had relegation and promotion, but you could also play champions league. I think that’s what the NWSL lacks.” If West Ham performed poorly, they would end up in the second tier, the Championship. In the NWSL, if a team is at the bottom of the standings at the end of the season, nothing happens. The league awards them the top pick in the NWSL college entry draft. Then they get a chance to bring in players like former number one picks in Crystal Dunn or Sophia Smith. For Simon, it’s an area where the league could grow even more.
“That competitive edge where you’re fighting for either getting promoted or playing against the best teams in Europe, in the Champions League, or you’re fighting to stay in the top league with the relegation battle.”
An example that impacted Simon directly was the FA Cup. Every season, all clubs in England compete in the country-wide FA Cup tournament. She started the 2019 FA Cup, logging 89 minutes in the 3-0 loss to WSL super team in Manchester City. It’s tournaments like those that motivate players outside of regular season play. In the USA, once a team is out of contention for winning a league title, there’s not much to play for. There have been strides in that area, in the NWSL.
“We just established the challenge cup, which is awesome, but I think we have some growth in that aspect.” There’s a little bit of growth on the horizon. After the 2023 World Cup, the governing body of soccer in North America, CONCACAF, is launching a Women’s Champions League tournament: after 59 years of having one for men.
Teams are taking initiative to increase competitiveness with late-season international tournaments. Look no further than Simon’s Louisville for marquee international matches in the fall. The Women’s Cup has French and German league champions in Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich taking on Simon’s Racing Louisville and the Chicago Red Stars.
“We’re really excited to welcome them to America. Americans are always trying to prove that we’re the best,” said Simon. “To be able to compete against European teams, especially PSG coming, they just won the league and took Lyon off the throne of 12 to 15 years. I think that’s where the growth of the game is going: to have those competitions across the world.”
Growth Through Expansion
In 2019, Simon had knee surgery, after it a lingering issue didn’t heal on its own. That spelled the end of her time with West Ham United. She returned to America for a tumultuous 2020. Simon won the Challenge Cup with the Houston Dash, helped her mom fight cancer (she’s now cancer-free), and in November had to pack her bags again. Racing Louisville FC drafted the former undrafted free agent.
Joining the newest NWSL team had an element of coming home. Holly signed Simon to her first contract at Sky Blue FC. The signing was soon after he became the head coach in January of 2016. Although both left Sky Blue in 2017, their relationship didn’t go away. That added to the emotion of joining the expansion club.
“I was honestly really excited,” said Simon about her selection. “He put a lot of time and effort into me as a player at Sky Blue, and even after. We’d keep in touch and he’d give me pointers as a coach. We stayed in contact and he was like a mentor to me.” Their careers ran parallel to each other. As much as new professional soccer players need to learn quickly, the same can be said for coaches.
“I think he’s grown as a coach and learned a lot since he was first a head coach at Sky Blue,” said Simon about Holly. The biggest difference Simon sees isn’t in who he is as a person, his coaching style, or tactical adjustments. It’s about the resources and support he’s getting from Louisville that stands out the most.
“He inherited the Sky Blue team. Those weren’t his players. He just took on the players that were given to him. He kind of made an opportunity out of what he was given, but now he’s established his own team. He’s hand selected the players that he’s wanted. He’s implemented his style of coaching. His style of play and his tactics to this team.” Holly’s team is all-in.
Recently, a storm hampered a Louisville training session. Coach Holly expected his team to be done. They responded by wanting more practice time together. That level of commitment came in only seven months. That wouldn’t be possible without players like Simon and her fellow experienced teammates.
Veteran Status
Racing Louisville FC started the 2021 NWSL regular season with an average age of just under 25-years-old. That put them as the youngest side in the league but over a year. Since then, they’ve added veterans like Bonner and Nadim. Holly also lowered the age more with 19-year-old Salmon becoming the team’s youngest player. As much as Simon doesn’t see herself as a veteran, being part of a young expansion team is changing that.
“I guess I could consider myself little bit of a veteran just because I’ve been around and kinda know how the NWSL works and know the lifestyle of being a professional athlete,” said Simon. “So the way that I carry myself on and off the field and be a leader in that aspect because a lot of the younger girls look up to the older girls on the team, so you have to carry yourself and kind of teach them the ways of being a professional athlete both on and off the field.”
That means everything from getting a good night’s rest, eating the right things, and overall self-care. It’s all-important in sustaining a professional soccer career. All of those things don’t necessarily align with being a “veteran” to Simon, and Racing Louisville, because being there for one another is all part of the team dynamic.
“We’re always open to helping everyone around us grow and be better players because that’s what we’re here to do, to serve our teammates and make everyone around us better.” When a younger teammate asks a question to a more experienced one, they answer it. When a new signing comes overseas for the first time in their career, they reach out and help them adjust. When a teammate misses a tackle, veteran or not, their teammate is there to back them up.
The attributes that sports fans connect to the term veteran are all competencies of a good teammate. For Simon, she does those things, but she also has clear knowledge of why she’s in Louisville.
“Everywhere I’ve gone I’ve always wanted to learn from the coach that has picked me up,” said Simon. “They’ve seen potential in me, in some part of my game, where they want to improve me as a player. In that aspect of my own personal game, I know I have room to grow in certain areas. I know that the coaching staff at Louisville see that potential for growth.”
Another definition that gets attached to a veteran athlete is the implication that a career is nearing an end. Like Racing Louisville FC, the success of Simon is just beginning.
Louisville returns from the international break Sunday when they welcome Simon’s former side in the Houston Dash. It kicks off at 3:00 p.m. ET from Lynn Family Stadium, in Louisville, Kentucky.
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