In this episode of the Femme FC Podcast, Nicole is joined by Scott Epsley, Director of Player Health and Performance at NJ NY Gotham FC, to explore how medical and performance departments should be structured to support collaboration, staff development, and ultimately player care in women's soccer.

Drawing on more than 25 years of experience across professional, collegiate, and international sport, Scott explains why there is no single "right" org chart and why medical and performance teams should be viewed as living, breathing ecosystems that evolve over time. He shares lessons from the NBA, NCAA, and NWSL on how leadership decisions, role clarity, and communication pathways can either strengthen or fracture collaboration.

This conversation goes beyond job titles and reporting lines and dives into how leaders can build environments where staff feel empowered, supported, and accountable, even as teams grow and resources change.

Topics include:

• Why organizational structure should evolve with the needs of the team

• Collaboration versus role clarity and why both matter

• How leadership maturity shapes medical and performance culture

• Signs that an org chart is not working and needs to be adjusted

• Developing staff skills in resource constrained environments

• Why bigger teams are not always better teams

• Using women's soccer as a space to innovate rather than copy other sports

This episode is essential listening for medical and performance leaders working in women's soccer and for anyone stepping into a leadership role in elite sport.

Learn more from Scott at the Soccer Performance Support Summit this summer in New Jersey!

More info and registration can be found here:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/soccer-performance-support-summit-tickets-1625338644639?aff=oddtdtcreator

In this episode of the Femme FC Podcast, Nicole is joined by Jasmine Green, Division I Sports Fellowship Director at Body Central and team physical therapist for the University of Arizona women's soccer program.

Jasmine shares an inside look at what it actually means to work in Division I women's soccer, where physical therapists, athletic trainers, strength coaches, sport scientists, and coaches must collaborate daily to keep athletes healthy and available across a demanding collegiate schedule.

This conversation breaks down how Jasmine helped build a structured return to play process at U of A by leveraging preseason testing, in season monitoring, and simple internal load tools, all while working within the realities of the NCAA environment. She also discusses how roles overlap between PTs and ATs, how trust and communication are built inside a sports medicine team, and what it takes to succeed in a high performance collegiate setting.

Topics include:

• What a PT's role actually looks like inside Division I women's soccer

• How PTs and athletic trainers collaborate without turf wars

• Building a return to play system using strength testing, jump data, GPS, and RPE

• Managing soft tissue injuries in season with limited recovery windows

• Who owns testing, monitoring, and rehab in a collegiate performance model

• Why communication and adaptability matter more than technical skills alone

• Lessons learned from creating and leading a Division I sports fellowship

This episode is essential listening for physical therapists, athletic trainers, and performance staff working in or aspiring to work in collegiate women's soccer.

Register for the Soccer Performance Support Summit:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/soccer-performance-support-summit-tickets-1625338644639?aff=oddtdtcreator

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In this episode of the Femme FC Podcast, Nicole is joined by Andy McKeown, Lead Performance Coach at San Diego Wave, for a deep dive into one of the most overlooked phases of return to play in elite women's soccer: return to contact.

While return to running and on-field rehab are often highly structured, contact exposure is frequently treated like a "switch flip" at the end of the process, despite the fact that football is a chaotic invasion sport where contact is unavoidable.

Andy shares how his Return to Contact framework developed through real-world NWSL rehab scenarios (including postpartum return to performance and acute injuries), and how he approaches contact progression using a control to chaos continuum, influenced by match demands, positional requirements, and team playing style. He also breaks down how performance staff can use objective data like GPS while still respecting the reality that contact is difficult to track. This makes athlete feedback, coach's eye, and trust-based communication essential.

Topics include:

• Why return to contact is a critical bridge between rehab and full training
• How to progress contact from controlled exposures to game-realistic chaos
• Different contact demands by position, team style, and phase of play
• Why "contact" includes more than collisions (blocking shots, aerial duels, 1v1s, etc.)
• How Andy integrates contact exposure while still building toward GPS targets
• The role of subjective readiness, autonomy, and athlete trust in return to play decision-making
• Practical drill examples for defending, duels, and contact-specific progressions

For more learning, growth, and connection, be sure to attend the Soccer Performance Support Summit this summer!

More info and registration:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/soccer-performance-support-summit-tickets-1625338644639?aff=oddtdtcreator