THE GIRLS OF SUMMER

A New York Times sports correspondent tracks the emergence, triumph, and possible lasting impact of elite women’s soccer in America.

In the summer of 1999, the US women’s team defeated the China in one of the greatest matches ever played in world soccer. This victory, which awarded the US its second World Cup, made household names of team stars like Mia Hamm, Michelle Akers, Brianna Scurry, and Brandi Chastain. Showing remarkable restraint and objectivity, Longman introduces readers to these and other women who refused to let traditional gender roles define their success. Without resorting to melodrama, the author details the sacrifices and hardships experienced by female soccer players in the early days: the prejudices facing girls who integrated junior soccer leagues in the 1970s; the poor accommodations, shoddy uniforms, and erratic coaching of the 1980s and early ’90s; the lukewarm support given women athletes by the sport’s American governing body, US Soccer, virtually to this day. Despite the far greater success of women players in their last quadrennial World Cup (the US men finished dead last, losing a match to Iran; the women finished first in 1991, second in 1995, and first again in 1999), it took a threatened boycott by the women after the Cup victory to achieve pay parity. While Longman may overstate his case in his title, he makes it clear that the US women’s soccer team has, by using its success as a bully pulpit, done a great deal to advance such causes as equal pay, and to foster strong role models and positive body image.

With a soccer rematch against China looming at the 2000 Olympic games late this summer, and a greater focus on women athletes in general, Longman’s account will attract a lot of attention, and deservedly so.