Renee Washington – Soccer, Superbowl and Motivational Speaking

Renee Washington is a popular American sports presenter, reporter, and analyst. She is also a former three-time all-American soccer player and inductee in the La Salle University Hall of Fame. Renee also lists Author, Model, and Motivational Speaker in her impressive resume. She covers MLS, NWSL, NBA, NFL, MLB and pretty much any US sporting acronym you can think of.

The date of our meeting was planned before Renee’s home-town team the Philadelphia Eagles made it to Superbowl 59. As luck would have it, we talked a little over 24-hours after the Eagles won their second ever Superbowl. A fact that made Philadelphian sports fanatic Washington very happy.

Everyone was buzzing

“I am actually still rocking a nice Eagles jersey now. It has been an insane couple weeks. I live in Philly. So I was fortunate to be able to go down into the city to watch the game. I do not care what people on the outside say. It is insane how much the Eagles bring the city together. Like, everyone was buzzing, I was still hearing Eagles chants this morning outside. Everybody is just happier and excited. There are a lot of hugs, a lot of cheering, a lot of high fives. Yes, there was the craziness that happened too sadly.

But it is a great time for the city and it feels like it is Christmas or the holidays all over again. Just the way that everybody was so together, you know. It is fun and it is for all ages. I have family members and friends from toddlers and babies all the way up to grandparents that are just locked in right now. So, of course, it is just been a special magical time right now as an Eagles fan.”

Sporting household

We could probably have spent our whole time riding the wave of the Eagles Superbowl winning euphoria. But, I wanted to get onto the subject of Renee’s time in sports. It all started for her as a youngster in a sporting household.

“My parents were basketball players and my dad played basketball professionally overseas. My family in general in terms of aunts, uncles, relatives, is a sports family. I have done everything from basketball and football, track, gymnastics, just a wide range of sports that I have played. When my siblings and I were growing up, my parents allowed us to play every sport possible. They wanted us to just get out and try it. I did everything. Swimming, tennis, soccer, basketball, softball, you name it, I played it and was able to try it out. Basketball and soccer were always my main two sports growing up. I was just better at soccer.”

Always playing soccer

“It was more natural, and it was also something I enjoyed playing a lot more. I found myself easily able to jump in with boys, girls, older, younger, whoever it was. I just wanted to play soccer all the time. And so that natural love for the game is why I leaned more towards soccer versus honestly any other sport or anything else, period. I just wanted to do it all the time. I was the kid always walking around with the soccer ball, juggling, kicking it around. I’d find anywhere I could to play soccer. That was my introduction in a sports family. I literally got a chance to play all the time with my siblings. Around the house, outside, literally anywhere I could play and everywhere I could play. I was always playing soccer.”

Accessible

The USA has always felt to me to like it is ahead of the UK in terms of young girls getting access to play soccer. There were young British girls travelling to America on football scholarships long before the women’s professional game started to take off here. I was interested to hear Renee’s thoughts on whether soccer is more accessible to young American girls than it is here in the UK.

“I think yes and no. The access at a young age is there, but there is a really big drop off in American soccer, especially around high school and college. That is where a lot of players stopped playing altogether. I don’t know, it feels soccer in the United States is extremely structured. It is very institutionalised and it is also very expensive. You know, the different pipelines that are built to help players get to the professional level or even to the college level are not conducive for every family. It is something that is changing and I don’t think it is changing for the better, to be honest.”

Get outside and play

“When I was growing up, it was a lot more local teams, parent coached teams with some professional trainers. There was a blend where you were still getting to be a kid, but you were also still getting high level competition and access. Now I think it has shifted so much that there is no in between. So, for girls I think more than boys because you factor in a lot of knee injuries. Just injuries in general and other aspects of growing up. It becomes like a job too soon.

I think for me personally, as someone that benefited from the get outside and play mentality, that is why I loved the game. It wasn’t my parents forcing me. It wasn’t my parents paying thousands and thousands of dollars or having to drive all over the place. The love of the game is what made me comfortable and wanting to go and be a part of the state team, the regional team, travel for tournaments, not the opposite.

Now, I think it is happening too early and kids that are eight, nine years old are flying all over the country. Being driven all over the country to play soccer. It is unnecessary, and there is burnout because of it. So, I think there is a lot of access at a young age. But, there is not enough to keep kids in soccer right now because it’s just become such a big financial, time and physical burden. A lot of kids get burned out or honestly just want to go do other things.”

Three-time All-American

Renee’s own sporting career was developed without having to travel overseas. It took her to the brink of professional soccer before moving into coaching.

“I was fortunate. I was able to do it within the United States. We have our different state, regional and national teams. I never made the national team, but I did make it as far as the regional team. Then I was also able to play college soccer as a three-time all American and a Hall of Famer. I have been inducted into a couple of Hall of Fames now and I had a chance to play professionally before pivoting into coaching college soccer and then the full pivot into becoming a reporter.”

What helps fuel me

“So, for me you know, I am thankful for what I have been able to experience in soccer. I also was coming up at a time where the NWSL specifically was only starting. It had launched in my senior year of college. So, as I graduated, it was only heading into year number two. It was in a totally different place than where the league is at now. As you talked about earlier with the access, there just wasn’t as much opportunity for women in soccer to truly make a career out of being a professional athlete.

It has been 10 years since I stopped playing soccer and a lot has changed in that decade. I wish I had the same opportunities that I see athletes have now. But ultimately, I think it is what also helps fuel me to want to be a reporter. Knowing that there are so many sports players stories that are not being told. I want it to be a part of helping to change the narrative and provide that coverage. So, I was fortunate that I was able to play at a high level. I think that helped me as I transitioned into becoming a reporter.”

Public relations

The media world gave Renee the opportunity to stay in sport and call on her past experiences. Being an analyst or presenter on television was not what she always had in mind for her career though.

“I studied public relations, so I was in the communication field as my major, but my double minor was in Spanish and psychology, my master’s degrees in educational leadership. The work that I was doing, what I was studying, was all geared towards public relations. I enjoyed content creation, interacting with people and the storytelling part of it. I thought it was more like reporting than anything. But even at that time it did not feel like a career path that was viable. It did not feel like a career path that was even possible.

I think now on social media alone, there are more content creators, shows on YouTube, shows on you name it. That was something that 10 years ago, when I started to have the idea and the vision, I did not think I could do. I just did not know how to get my foot in the door or what opportunities really existed for me. Ultimately, I ended up taking a leap of faith into pursuing that path instead of being a college coach or working in PR.”

An opportunity

“That first leap was crazy. I was coaching at Lehigh University at the time and I was offered an opportunity to become the first assistant coach which was a full-time job. It was a really tough decision for me because I was also at that time, offered an internship. I took that internship with the local news station where I was actually a multimedia journalist. So, I was the one-woman crew going out with the camera recording, grabbing interviews, doing a stand up all by myself and editing packages together to air. That was my start in media.

I started off covering every sport and I think that is one of the best things that I could have done because it just gave me perspective, you know. Covering baseball or softball is totally different than hockey, which is different than basketball. As you know, every sport and how you cover it, the story, the angles, and even just knowing how to talk about it, is different. So, I started with every sport and I still cover every sport for the most part. It is now a lot more soccer, basketball and even football as my main sports and the others just compliment them.”

Pressure

To be an analyst, even a presenter or anchor, you really need to know your stuff. That also comes with a certain pressure. Knowledgeable viewers will always be quick to spot someone who is not up to scratch with their game. That brings a pressure with it, something that Renee believes her sporting past prepares her for.

“Honestly, it is difficult. I just try to know the major key stories for each sport because I understand how you win what the strategy is, what the tactics are. Growing up in a family that was primarily basketball and football, we were up watching games. I was watching ‘Hardwood Classics’ and games. Stories and shows like ‘30 for 30’ that were about events even before I was born. So, I had the foundation of just the history of the sports.”

Had to really lock-in

“Some of the other sports were tougher, baseball being one of them as I was hosting a baseball show. I had to really lock-in on learning more and more about the players. The history outside of even just what I knew from growing up. It forced me to have to go from being an observer, a passive fan to being an avid person that was just digesting every update. I actually think that it helped me learn how to step out of my comfort zone because talking soccer, basketball, football, I could do in my sleep. When it comes to talking about other sports, it requires me to have to prepare more.

It brings pressure but that is similar to what I used to feel as a player. The challenges of every day going into a new practice, a new game, trying to be better. The pressure comes from having to be comfortable in sports that I am not as comfortable in. How do I step into that broadcaster, on that show, and confidently talk about the sport that I did not play at a high level or didn’t even cover. Now I have to deliver in a way that that is credible, respectable and believable.

One of the best things about sports is that you may not know about baseball, but you know about soccer. So you can maybe make some correlations to connect the dots of what would this look like if it was soccer that we’re talking.”

Really, really positive spot

The MLS and NWSL seasons are both kicking of soon. Renee has covered both leagues so is the best person to talk about how far the respective men’s and women’s leagues have come. Also, where they are in comparison to top European leagues.

“Last year I was fortunate to be doing both, but we’ll see. Things change so quickly in the media world from one day to the next. I do hope to be actively involved with both this coming season.

Women’s soccer here is in a really, really, positive spot. Now, of course, we are still losing Naomi Girma for $1million to Chelsea. Trinity Rodman is actively being sought out and Crystal Dunn just made the move away. I think there is more opportunity going beyond playing within the United States. Players still go to play internationally and vice versa. There have been some great players that have come from European leagues into the NWSL.”

MLS is playing catch-up

“I think that is the next level that we are seeing. On the men’s side, it is very obvious MLS is playing catch-up. It is really behind the English Premier League and Champions League, talent wise and financially. Whereas I think on the women’s side, you have options either way that are going to be great for your career. The level, the development, the finances, I think are there on both sides.

So, I feel like women’s soccer as a whole is in a good place. Not only for financially providing players an opportunity to be a full-time professional athlete. But also to get rid of all the toxicity, politics and abuse and the different things that have unfortunately happened in the sport. Women’s soccer in the US is in a really great spot. I think there is still more work to be done to make it more diverse, more inclusive, more access to be able to see games. The coverage and all the nuances that go into it as well. For the players, they’re finally getting the player treatment off the field, as well as on the field, that they deserve.”

Motivational speaker

In addition to her sports coverage, Renee is also a motivational speaker. She talks about her experiences in sport and media to help those on a similar journey to her. It is clear this is important to the former athlete who has ESPN, CBS and Paramount+ on her resume. It speaks to the type of person Washington is that she spares time to help others whilst focussing on her own career.

“I feel like that is my degree in education leadership and psychology coming into play. I’ve learned that really influences my work as a speaker. To be able to provide a conversation around topics that I think need to be discussed. The hard part is that I dealt with imposter syndrome of feeling like I’m too young. That I haven’t lived enough and experienced enough to be credible to speak on these topics. But I always try to use my own experiences to make it easy for someone to be able to compare. So maybe you didn’t exactly experience what I did, but you can resonate with it in a way that it connects to your own experiences.”

Inspired by what I say

“I always try to, and love to, use my experiences and my platform to help in a positive way. Motivational speaking gave me exactly that opportunity by doing TED talks, speaking at schools and conferences, events and panels. It really is empowering for me to see that I do have value. To have people that attend or listen and are really moved and inspired by what I say is the encouragement I need to keep going.

It started off as something I was doing more on the sports side. Just being invited back to speak about sports and specifically, my soccer career. Then I started to transition into other topics around mental health, and professional, career development. Also facing adversity, women’s empowerment and being a person of colour. There are so many different aspects of my life that I am able to speak on. I try to be real down to earth with it. You know, I’m not going out there speaking on fluff or things that I made up. But I also try to make sure it is relatable and can connect to people in a really meaningful way.”

Visit Renee’s website to find out more about her career so far and upcoming projects: Tv Personality | Renee P Washington