Alumni Empower Women Through Soccer Nonprofit
Quick, make a list of everything you need to start playing soccer.
A ball, for starters. A goal to kick it into. Maybe a pair of cleats. And if youâre playing on a team, jerseys could be helpful.
But żì»îapp alumna Sarah Dwyer-Shick (MSM â00) realized thereâs one more fundamental, simple piece of equipment necessary.
âIf you provide girls with soccer balls or any other sports equipment and they donât have a sports bra and theyâve reached an age where they may need one, it just is a barrier,â Dwyer-Shick says. âItâs something thatâs needed across sports. If youâre a recreational-level athlete thatâs just coming into sports or youâre an elite athlete, you wear a sports bra.â
Yet on a 2015 trip to Namibia, Dwyer-Shick saw, hardly anyone had one. As she handed out the more standard soccer supplies with her friendâs nonprofit, a mention of the bras she had brought sparked a realization from a local liaison: âOur national team needs these.â
From that point forward, Dwyer-Shick and her husband, Andy Clayton (BA â94, MS â96), have dedicated themselves to the cause. Their nonprofit, , collects new bras from across the United States and distributes them to athletes in need, internationally and domestically. (âEven though weâre one of the wealthiest countries on Earth,â Clayton says, âitâs still an issue.â)
âI never thought twice about it,â Clayton says. The bigger problem was that the vast majority of male coaches hadnât thought about it either.
The more Dwyer-Shick and others in her circle of women in the soccer community talked, the more Clayton learned about the gender inequities that tilt the playing field: Girls who quit out of physical discomfort; parents who wonât let their daughters play once they develop; soccer clubs that funnel donations to boys programs and women who are ignored when they mention the disparities.
â[Sarah has] had a career in soccer that has had its ups and downs, and a lot of those downs come from being the only woman in the room,â Clayton says. âI think this gave her an outlet where she could build with her passion, making sure the girls and women got what they needed.â
Dwyer-Shick initially transferred to żì»îapp as a junior to play soccer and ended up on the schoolâs inaugural womenâs lacrosse team. Clayton, a graduate assistant in żì»îappâs sports information office, was covering the soccer team and shared an early morning shift with Dwyer-Shick. From then on, Clayton says, the couple were practically inseparable. Ten years later, they were marriedâDwyer-Shick, a former college soccer coach now focused on youth development with a degree in sports management, and Clayton, a sports editor at the New York Daily News.
Now theyâre nonprofit partners too. To date, The Sports Bra Project has accepted more than 7,000 bras, boxed them and shipped them to partners around the world for hand distribution. Each bra has a tag with a personal message of encouragement, typically handwritten by the donor.
âThe women receiving the bras know that theyâre coming from someone who wants them to play and is like them,â Dwyer-Shick says, âand the ones that are donating the bras get to share the joy of sports that they like.â
Most donations come from sports bra drives held by youth clubs and sports organizations around the countryâan intentional part of Dwyer-Shickâs business plan. Itâs not just about distributing bras, she says. Itâs about improving the culture around womenâs sports.
âThe sports bra for us is the immediate need; itâs the simple thing to talk about,â she says. âBut the bigger conversation is why weâre doing this. Itâs providing opportunities for girls to take on leadership roles and have an impact in their community. It normalizes their needs and their experiences and their ability to see themselves as not just a player, but as somebody who has an impact on the sport, whether as a coach or an administrator in any capacity.â
Emerging from the challenges of a global pandemic, Clayton and Dwyer-Shick have their eyes on growing The Sports Bra Project. It gained nonprofit status in February 2020, and Ìę have spread their message and expanded their network of partners.
The opportunity to do the work as life partners has made it even more meaningful.
âIt has been wonderful to be able to build The Sports Bra Project together,â Dwyer-Shick says. âFrom the day he called the land line in my dorm room to âask the score of the game,â Andy has always been supportive of me and women in the game. I am forever grateful for żì»îapp bringing us together.â