Brooke Hendrix remembers feeling helpless.

The former Racing Louisville player told WHAS11 News in an interview on Tuesday that she felt powerless when it came to helping her teammate and best friend Erin Simon navigate the abuse she says she experienced from coach Christy Holly.

Simon was subject to sexual coercion and assault from her former coach throughout her time at Sky Blue FC and then Racing Louisville, according to Sally Yates’ findings as part of U.S. Soccer’s independent investigation into abuse in the NWSL. The full report on the year-long investigation was released Monday.

Hendrix said she did her best to support Simon, even saying she was glad when she got picked up by Holly at Racing Louisville so she could be closer to her friend. The two played together with West Ham United from 2018-19 before reuniting in Louisville in 2021.

In the U.S. Soccer report, Simon details multiple incidents where Holly groped her and made unwanted sexual advances toward her. In one instance last April, during a one-on-one film session with Simon, Holly told her he would touch her for every bad pass she made and proceeded to put “his hands down her pants and up her shirt,” the report states.

Hendrix says she was unable to report the abuse because Holly held so much influence within the club and had “effectively shut my voice down with everyone,” even referring to her as a “cock block.”

“I literally couldn’t do anything,” she told WHAS11 News.

Hendrix, Simon and their teammates also feared for their jobs if they spoke up.

“I didn’t even know who to talk to if I wanted to,” Hendrix said. “We didn’t know what was going to happen to us if we said something. They can waive you at any point in the NWSL … It was so hard to know who to trust and who to talk to at that club.”

Hendrix said that Holly had also embarked on a campaign to malign her character while cutting her playing time and stopping her from traveling with the team.

“He was falsifying my character,” she said. “He was trying to make my words not matter.”

That silencing, she said, was “torture in itself.”

Brooke Hendrix felt helpless with no one to go to within the Racing Louisville FC organization regarding Christy Holly. She is very close with Erin Simon and knew of everything between Holly and Simon before and during their time in Louisville. Below is her full interview: pic.twitter.com/9SlThyHWwa

— Tyler Greever (@Tyler_Greever) October 4, 2022

When Racing Louisville fired Holly in August 2021, the club stated in a release that he was “fired for cause” and did not elaborate further.

Hendrix says that Simon initially wanted her name left out, but she felt Simon’s identity could have been protected while still informing the public of Holly’s offenses.

“He was able to walk away free with nothing happening,” she said. “So many lies and rumors were spread when the truth should have been what was first and foremost.”

Holly left quietly, and rumors swirled around the league that the players had simply “gotten him fired,” Hendrix said. According to Yates’ report, Holly had also been coaching in the NWSL without the necessary licensing.

“You’ve got to do a better job of protecting people in general,” Hendrix said. “You’ve got to inform the public. How easily he got off in that moment was not OK with me.”

The 2025 NCAA volleyball championship game is officially on lock, as No. 3-seed Texas A&M and No. 1-seed Kentucky survived Thursday's semifinals to punch their tickets to Sunday's season finale.

After snapping overall top-seed Nebraska's undefeated season in last weekend's Elite Eight round, The Aggies kept their history-making hot streak alive, blowing past No. 1 Pitt as the first team to sweep the Panthers all year.

Leading the charge for A&M were sophomore outside hitter Kyndal Stowers and senior opposite Logan Lednicky, who registered 16 and 14 kills, respectively, on the Final Four court in Kansas City.

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As for the last No. 1 seed standing, Kentucky survived No. 3 Wisconsin in a five-set thriller on Thursday, following the example of senior outside hitter Eva Hudson, whose 29 kills trailed only the semifinals-leading 32 posted by Badger senior outside hitter — and fellow AVCA Player of the Year finalist — Mimi Colyer.

With Kentucky hoping to add to their 2020 Division I title — the only NCAA volleyball championship in SEC history — the conference already owns the 2025 trophy, as Thursday set up the sport's first-ever all-SEC national final.

Though the 2025 SEC champion Wildcats seemingly have the edge over the conference's runners-up — Kentucky took down Texas A&M 3-1 in October — A&M's current momentum is undeniable, with the Aggies riding into Sunday's clash having ousted two No. 1 seeds and one No. 2 seed en route to a program-first national final.

"We are considered the underdog in a lot of these moments just [because] we haven't been here before. But we know we have all the right pieces," said Lednicky. "So why not us?"

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How to watch the 2025 NCAA volleyball championship

No. 3 Texas A&M will battle No. 1 Kentucky for the 2025 NCAA volleyball championship at 3:30 PM ET on Sunday, airing live on ABC.

Retired WNBA icon Sylvia Fowles is returning to the court, with ESPN reporting on Wednesday that the former Minnesota Lynx star center will join the staff of the Portland Fire, becoming an assistant coach for the 2026 expansion team.

After reportedly fielding multiple offers of WNBA coaching opportunities, the 40-year-old will back up recently announced Portland Fire head coach Alex Sarama during the team's debut season, with the opportunity to help mold a fresh league roster and create culture from day one serving as a deciding factor in Fowles choosing the expansion franchise.

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The 2025 Naismith Hall of Fame inductee's resume underlines her ability to make an impact from the sideline, as the beloved WNBA alum packs both championship experience and a defensive mindset to aid a team still forming its identity.

In a 14-year playing career split between the Chicago Sky and Minnesota, the 2017 WNBA MVP won two league titles, earning Finals MVP honors alongside each of those Lynx championships.

A four-time WNBA Defensive Player of the Year, Fowles exited her pro career as the league's all-time rebounds leader with 4,007 boards — a stat that held until current Connecticut Sun center Tina Charles passed the Hall of Famer in September 2024.

The eight-time All-Star also shined on the international stage, as Fowles snagged four Olympic gold medals during her time with Team USA.

With the 18-team UWCL league phase now done and dusted, the 12 clubs still standing discovered their paths to the Final in the 2025/26 Champions League knockouts draw on Thursday.

While the top four clubs — No. 1 Barcelona, No. 2 OL Lyonnes, No. 3 Chelsea FC, and No. 4 Bayern Munich — punched their way into March's quarterfinals behind elite league-phase performances, the remaining eight teams must battle in February's playoffs in order to advance.

Thursday's draw has reigning champs No. 5 Arsenal facing Belgian side No. 12 Oud-Heverlee Leuven in the playoffs, but the Gunners then face a difficult road in the UWCL knockouts, staring down a potential quarterfinal clash with WSL rivals Chelsea as eight-time UWCL winners OL Lyonnes looms on the same side of the semifinal bracket.

Elsewhere, No. 7 Real Madrid have an opportunity to make UWCL history should they win their playoff tie against No. 10 Paris FC, setting up the tournament's first-ever El Clásico with a possible quarterfinal match against perennial winners Barcelona.

How to watch the 2025/26 Champions League Playoffs

The first-leg of the 2025/26 UWCL playoffs kick off with No. 12 Oud-Heverlee Leuven hosting No. 5 Arsenal at 12:45 PM ET on February 11th, with No. 7 Real Madrid visiting No. 10 Paris FC at 3 PM ET.

The following day, No. 8 Juventus will take on hosts No. 9 Wolfsburg at 12:45 PM ET before No. 11
Atlético de Madrid faces the visiting No. 6 Manchester United at 3 PM ET.

All 2025/26 Champions League matches will stream live on Paramount+.

The NWSL Players Association is not on board with the league's latest proposal, rejecting the NWSL's new "High Impact Player" rule allowing teams to exceed the salary cap by up to $1 million to retain star athletes.

According to the current CBA, the union — rather than the league — has the final sign-off on all changes regarding compensation.

"The league is trying to control and interfere by trying to dictate which players [benefit from] this pot of funds," NWSLPA executive director Meghann Burke told ESPN. "How you measure a player's value, both in terms of sporting merit and business criteria, is nuanced. It is more complicated than a handful of bullet points."

The NWSLPA has instead suggested that the league simply raise the 2026 salary cap by $1 million, giving clubs the same spending discretion without the star player mechanism.

Citing concerns about the rule's potential long-term implications on the market, roster structures, and locker-room culture, Burke noted that "We just don't feel that it delivers anything of value that simply increasing the team salary cap wouldn't, without having negative consequences."

"Our position is that teams — GMs, soccer ops, business folks at the team level — are uniquely positioned to make judgment calls about how to structure their rosters, how to negotiate deals," Burke continued. "It is within the purview of the teams to make those judgement calls, and in a system of free agency like we all agreed to, that's how it works. It's a free market."

"We are actively reviewing feedback from the NWSLPA as part of the consultation process outlined in the CBA," an NWSL spokesperson said in response.

"The league remains committed to being the home of the world's best talent, and this path gives our clubs the opportunity to pursue that goal while raising overall player investment."