Joan Oloff

 

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Could you tell us how you got involved with female football?
I never played football, or as Americans say, soccer, as a child. The sport has grown wildly in popularity here since then, however. Ironically, I was first asked to play on a team as an adult. I joined a very low level women's team for a short period of time. Unfortunately, I never had the opportunity to develop any skills, and my "career" was short-lived.

As it turns out, my greatest contribution to the sport has been off the pitch. I am a doctor who specializes in treating the foot and ankle. I see many athletes, of all ages and abilities, in my practice. In this capacity, I have been fortunate enough to be asked to work with several teams. In 2001, I was asked to be one of the doctors for the newly formed women's professional team, The Cyberays, in the WUSA. Unfortunately, the league folded in 2003.

 

How did your friendship with Ms Chastain develop?
Brandi Chastain was on that team. I remember meeting her for the 1st time in my office. She was brought in by our team trainer (or physio) 3 hours before a game. She had suffered an injury the prior weekend, while playing a game out of town. It was felt to be a minor injury, but during practice her pain had worsened. The trainer became concerned, so she was brought to my office in a somewhat stressful situation.

What was most memorable for me was, not Brandi's injury. Rather, I was impressed with her interaction with a 12 year old girl, who she had never met, in my office. Brandi realized the girl had recognized her and immediately went over to say hello. She introduced herself and asked the girl her name. The fact that Brandi took the time to connect with this girl, despite having to deal with her own injury, made quite an impression on me. I immediately knew that Brandi was a special human-being.

By the way, the young girl happened to be my daughter. Meeting many special people is one of the best parts of my work. Brandi's mom, Lark,was also a special soul, and it quickly became apparent that "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree!" Brandi's mom died unexpectently, in her sleep, from a cerebral aneurysm in 2002. She had spent the prior week caring for my son, when I was away with the rest of my family. I promised myself, at that time, that I would continue to look after Lark's daughter from that point on.

 

You have been instrumental in the running of Brandisworld.com what is the goal of this platform and how will/are you reaching them?
Brandi and I share an understanding of the importance in mentorship in empowering young girls, enabling them to develop to their full potential. Brandisworld.com was created to provide a platform where we could grow a community of girls and mentors alike.

We provide the framework of a team, whereby mutual support provides the courage necessary for growth. We want to challenge girls to step out of their comfort zone, which is the only way that true growth can develop.

We are reaching them both through the website and our new facebook fan page, Reach Up! with Brandi Chastain. We make short videos, with the intent of both entertaining and inspiring the girls. Sometimes Brandi takes the camera to interview some great mentors, like Nastia Luikin, the gold medal winning gymnast.

At other times, I follow her around with a camera. We try to provide access that is unattainable elsewhere.We are making some changes to our website, to allow the girls to more easily upload their own videos and pictures, as well.
We encourage a dialogue, via comments, with all of our content.

 

How has the response and feeling towards our game chagned since the league returned in 2009?
We're now in the 2nd season of the return of the a professional league, the WPS. I sense there is a general feeling of cautious optimism. This time around, the league is trying to grow through more grassroots efforts. They are attempting to keep their costs under better control, this time around. The league provides a great platform to grow level of play worldwide.

 

With millions of players and ex-players in America. Why is the game still struggling to survive professionally?
Basically, this country is 50 years behind european countries in terms of development. That's one reason there is so much excitement as everyone here watches the USMNT advance to the later stages of world cup play. There has been significant growth here with the professional game. Unfortunately, it still varies from city to city. In Seattle, for example, the fan support is more like that seen in other parts of the world.

Did you expect to have such a great response to the work you do?
To be honest, I don't really have the luxury to sit back and contemplate the response to our work. We're too busy trying to grow our community!

 

Part 2

Joan talks about her daily routine, what female football projects she has enjoyed and how she has survived the 'darker days'. An awesome read and a must for 20th April 2011.
See you then!

Check out Joan's work here

www.Brandisworld.com