Girls Need Play: adidas X Black Women's Player Collective

October 13, 2021

adidas is announcing a new long-term partnership with the Black Women’s Player Collective (BWPC), a non-profit organization founded by Black women’s professional soccer players in effort to emphasize and improve the representation of Black female athletes in soccer and in society as a whole.

Women athletes are seldom taken seriously, let alone women of color, and although progress has been made, Black women and girls continue to be held back by societal hurdles and restricted access to sports. The Women’s Sports Foundation has found that “77% of female leaders report that lack of exposure to female coaches as role models limits girls’ sports participation,” and that the “drop-out rate for girls of color in urban and rural centers is twice that of suburban white girls.” To combat these statistics, adidas is working with BWPC to create soccer clinics and soccer mini pitches (safe spaces for youth to play) in Black communities as soon as 2022.

Text by Willa Rudolph
Photos courtesy of adidas

Representation is of the utmost importance, and adidas wants girls of color to see people like them playing sports, coaching, and doing so with confidence. “Black women’s voices are essential in soccer and in sports because we need to highlight the women who are playing in this arena for the next generation,” said Imani Dorsey, Women’s professional soccer player and BWPC Board Member.

The goal is to instill a feeling of belonging in these young girls, and give them the opportunity to feel that joy, pride, and strength that comes with playing sports. “This partnership will provide spaces where young girls can go out and experience the sport without constraints as well as providing role models through our collective. What we plan to do with adidas is give young girls the space to know they belong inside and outside the sport,” added Ifeoma Onumonu, Women’s professional soccer player and BWPC Board Member.

In addition to the announced collaboration with adidas, the BWPC is also revealing their new vibrant logo that represents the fervor behind their riotous mission to change the current system. You can show your support and learn more at the BWPC website, their Instagram, the adidas blog, and donate to the Black Women's Player Collective here.

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Text by Anna Zanes
Photography by Nick Sethi
Designs by Vaquera and Jordan Brand

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