Katie Schoepfer on guiding the USA to the U-17 Women’s World Cup, Emma Hayes’ impact and Tony DiCicco’s influence

---

---

Katie Schoepfer’s path to the U.S. national team U-17 through U-23 pools was straightforward.

She began playing in Waterford, Connecticut; played with a top state club, Oakwood, and advanced from the Olympic Development Program to regional squads. Along the way she was a two-time All-American at Penn State University. Then came 100 appearances with the Boston Breakers.

As head coach of the U-17 women’s national youth team — preparing her side for the the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in Morocco (Oct. 17-Nov. 8) — she knows that the route to international play is far more complicated today.

Young players have a dizzying variety of “elite” clubs, and several top leagues, to choose from. They have a choice between college and pro soccer. If they opt for the latter, there are domestic and international leagues.

Which makes it far harder for Schoepfer and her staff to identify top prospects than it was when she was a teenager, in the early 2000s.

But she relishes the fact that she is part of the process to help develop the next generation of American stars.

Her first memory of the women’s national team is coach Tony DiCicco’s legendary 1999 squad that won the FIFA World Cup at the Rose Bowl. Mia Hamm, Michelle Akers, Julie Foudy, Kristine Lilly, Briana Scurry and others became role models for Schoepfer (and countless other girls).

Unlike most, though, Schoepfer later ran camps with Hamm. She got to know Lilly on the Breakers — where her coach was DiCicco.

“He saw something in me I didn’t see in myself,” she says. “He pushed and pulled it out of me. Helping players believe in themselves — that’s what a great coach does.”

She was also fortunate to be mentored by excellent female coaches, like Erica Dambach at Penn State, and Lisa Cole with the Breakers. Tracey Kevins of the U-20 team was a “massive influence” in how to run a program.

Schoepfer’s father was a college basketball coach. She worked clinics and camps in college. So when she played professionally in Boston and needed supplemental income, but could not work a 9-to-5 job because of travel and training, coaching seemed like a natural fit.

---

Her coaching style is to “adapt to what each individual player needs. We set standards and expectations for everyone. But I want them to be able to highlight whatever they’re great at. You can’t paint them all with the same brush.”

---

---

Coaching the U-17s is a balancing act. There are matches and tournaments to prepare for. But she also must prepare players for the full national team. That means providing a safe space for them to “try, and sometimes fail.” 

She harnesses the competitive spirit of her athletes, while teaching and helping them grow as people: “Everything is competitive — 5-v-5, team building — but we don’t say the competitive part out loud. It’s all about preparation.”

That preparation includes interaction with national team head coach Emma Hayes. “She’s taken an extra interest in the youth teams,” Schoepfer notes. “She and her staff are always on calls with us. We’re not off in a silo somewhere. It’s very refreshing.”

Hayes has filmed good-luck videos for the U-17s, and encouraged the full national team to watch youth team matches.

Schoepfer is aware that her players navigate pressures she never faced, including social media, NIL (name, image, likeness) and more. 

At the same time, the national youth team program is far more organized, and better equipped to handle players’ diverse personalities and issues.

“When I went through, it was disconnected,” she recalls. “There was no rhyme or reason. No one knew anything about why we were called in, or what or why we were learning.”

Now, she says, “there is much more feedback,” on both the technical and psychological sides. “Our job is to help them understand their goals, and grow.” As for social media: “It’s threaded into their lives. The pressures are enormous. We help them navigate it, to see that you can’t live and die by someone else’s likes.”

---

She enjoys working with 17-year-olds: “At this age, they’re sponges. They want information. They want to do their best. Their whole soccer career is ahead of them.”

At the same time, 17-year-olds put tremendous pressure on themselves, while sometimes lacking self-confidence. As DiCicco did for her, Schoepfer tries to show her players that she has confidence in them.

As for the upcoming U-17 World Cup — where the Americans start off against three different types of foes in China, Norway and Ecuador — Schoepfer says, “This is about us, and our style of play. We may have slightly different game plans, but we want other teams to adjust to us. This is an amazing opportunity for our players to problem-solve, and use the tools we gave them in real-life situations.”

---

---

---

---

Follow Us

• Facebook
• X

---