Romantic and sexual relationships between coaches and players are inappropriate, even if they are consensual, per the NWSL and NWSLPA joint report released Wednesday.

The Sally Yates report, commissioned by U.S. Soccer and published in October, focused on predatory relationships through which coaches wielded their power to sexually and emotionally abuse players. The NWSL and NWSL Players Association report, which was the product of a 14-month investigation into widespread misconduct in the league, went a step further on the subject, calling for an end to consensual relationships between players and coaches or staff members.

The report recommends revision to the Anti-Harassment policy to also include the Non-Fraternization policy.

“The Non-Fraternization Policy should also clarify that any sexual or romantic relationship between players and those in supervisory roles over players is strictly prohibited, even if the relationship is consensual,” the report reads.

The NWSL and NWSLPA investigative team found several instances of such inappropriate relationships and raised concerns about the issues that come along with them.

The concerns include an inherent power imbalance and threats of favoritism and disruption in the team environment. One of the biggest issues with these types of relationships is they “blur the lines between appropriate and inappropriate behavior, increasing the risk of misconduct.”

Relationships between coaches and players have become commonplace in the NWSL after that trickling down from previous professional women’s soccer leagues. The report acknowledges that some of the most well-known American soccer stars are married to their former coaches, such as Brandi Chastain and Julie Foudy, though the report does not mention them by name.

Chastain’s husband, Jerry Smith, was the head coach at Santa Clara when she joined the team in 1989. They were married in 1996, six years after she left the program. Smith remains the coach of the Broncos, and Chastain returned in 2010 to serve as a volunteer assistant coach on his staff.

Foudy is married to Ian Sawyers, who was an assistant coach at Sanford when she played for the Cardinal from 1989-92.

Amanda Cromwell, who was named in the report for retaliating against players while she was coach of the Orlando Pride, is also married to a former player, Megan Fish. Cromwell coached Fish in college at UCF before she went on to lead the UCLA program from 2013-21 and take the Pride job in 2021. Cromwell’s contract was terminated in October based on the findings of the investigation.

Those are just three examples of player-coach relationships, and the report mentions others.

“One former player recalled that her college goalkeeper coach and assistant coach were both married to former players,” the report reads. “She recalled thinking at the time, ‘They’re all adults,’ and did not consider the ‘context of how these people met.’”

The power imbalances at the root of these relationships are the same dynamics that can lead to abusive and non-consensual relationships.

Christy Holly, who is cited in both the Yates report and the NWSL and NWSLPA report, is in a relationship with one of his former players, Christie Pearce Rampone. The relationship began when he was her coach at Sky Blue and caused conflict within the team, per the report.

“One player said that ‘everything’ players told Pearce Rampone ‘went back to’ Holly,” the report says. “A club staff member said the relationship made players feel that they did not ‘have anyone to talk to’ or ‘anyone to trust.’”

Players felt that Holly’s decisions were centered around Pearce Rampone, according to the report. In one instance, he pulled her from the starting lineup following a fight, but when they reconciled, he put her back into the lineup.

“And while Sky Blue leadership, the League, and Racing Louisville knew that Holly had a relationship with Pearce Rampone, who had been one of his players, the relationship was generally viewed as not concerning because Pearce Rampone was older than Holly and a prominent figure within the women’s soccer landscape,” the NWSL and NWSLPA report reads.

Around the same time, Holly was engaging in acts of sexual abuse and emotional manipulation toward Erin Simon, the report says. Simon played for him both at Sky Blue and Racing Louisville, where the abuse continued. This non-consensual relationship also took place while Holly was in a consensual relationship with Pearce Rampone.

Eden Laase is a Staff Writer at Just Women’s Sports. Follow her on Twitter @eden_laase.

The NWSL has made a decision, as the league officially moves forward with its new "High Impact Player" rule despite stated opposition from the players union.

Announced last week, the rule change allows clubs to exceed to the NWSL salary cap by up to $1 million to attract or retain players that meet one of eight qualifying metrics set by the league.

Those metrics include major media award rankings like the 30-player Ballon d'Or shortlist and ESPN FC's Top 50 Football Players, as well as marketing power, top USWNT minutes, and end-of-year NWSL awards.

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Developed with Washington Spirit superstar — and current free agent — Trinity Rodman and her potential contract in mind, the "High Impact Player" rule will not go into effect until July 1st, 2026.

Meanwhile, the NWSLPA has spoken out against the mechanism, proposing instead to up the salary cap by $1 million without league-imposed spending regulations.

"Under federal labor law, changes to compensation under the salary cap are a mandatory subject of bargaining — not a matter of unilateral discretion," the union wrote on Wednesday.

Additionally, per The Athletic, NWSLPA executive director Meghann Burke expressed concerns that the rule ties top athlete pay, in part, to player valuations in third party publications — a move that externally defines who a club can consider "high impact."

Led by six Kansas City athletes and five from Gotham FC, just 27 current NWSL players across 10 of the 16 clubs in the expanded 2026 season meet the new HIP qualifying criteria — though all teams could use the mechanism to attract a new athlete to the league.

In a growing global market, the NWSL could be falling into a trap of half-measures, as the union pushes back with league parity potentially on the line.

The Kansas City Current have apparently found a new manager, with ESPN reporting last week that the 2025 NWSL Shield-winners will bring on former MLS head coach Chris Armas to lead the team in 2026.

Armas built his career in the MLS, coaching the New York Red Bulls from 2018 to 2020 before taking over Toronto FC in 2021, then spending the last three years heading up the Colorado Rapids.

The ex-USMNT player also has experience in the women's game at the college level, leading the Division II Adelphi University women's soccer team from 2011 to 2014.

Despite their many victories in 2025, the Current found themselves without a coach after third-year boss Vlatko Andonovski moved into a sporting director role with the club in November.

ESPN reported that Kansas City chose Armas over internal candidates like assistants Milan Ivanovic and ex-Angel City and Gotham manager Freya Coombe.

"I want my staff and people I've worked with to become successful coaches. These are things I'm very passionate about and want to be able to execute," Andonovski told ESPN last month.

Armas would be the first former MLS coach to make the leap to the NWSL, with the winds of change in Kansas City blowing stronger than anticipated.

With the 2026 Winter Olympics fast approaching, US skiing icon Mikaela Shiffrin has started the 2025/26 FIS World Cup cycle in top form — particularly in her favored slalom event.

Closing out last season with a victory, Shiffrin is currently on a multi-event winning streak, earning her sixth straight slalom title in Semmering, Austria, on Sunday.

"It was a really hard day today, tough conditions, a really big fight, and the pressure's on… I did my best, best possible run," Shiffrin said afterwards.

Momentum is on her side, with Shiffrin set to enter the 2026 Winter Games in Italy as the winningest skier in World Cup history, surpassing Swedish legend Ingemar Stenmark's 86 wins in March 2023 and becoming the first skier to reach 100 World Cup victories earlier this year.

Sunday's race marked the 30-year-old's 106th career World Cup title, with Shiffrin looking to add to her ever-growing historic record with three more slalom events scheduled before the Olympic women's Alpine skiing events kick off on February 8th.

The 2014 Olympic slalom champion and 2018 Winter Games giant slalom gold medalist is aiming to return to the podium after failing to medal at the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

Shiffrin will likely hit the slopes again next weekend, when the women's FIS World Cup lands in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, for a giant slalom and slalom competition.

South Carolina basketball is stocking up, as top-ranked high school senior Jerzy Robinson announced her commitment to join the head coach Dawn Staley and the No. 3 Gamecocks last Tuesday.

"I chose South Carolina because I had a sense of peace when it came down to the decision for me," Robinson told ESPN. "When I visited South Carolina, I was already home. I was already valued there.... I felt like this was where I needed to be for the next four years."

A 6-foot-2 guard who averaged 27 points and 10.2 rebounds in her junior season at Los Angeles's Sierra Canyon High School, Robinson is now the highest-ranked Class of 2026 recruit heading to South Carolina — as well as the final Top 5 player to make a college decision after also visiting No. 1 UConn and No. 5 LSU.

Robinson first made a name for herself at the youth level, winning three gold medals and the 2025 U-19 FIBA World Cup with Team USA.

The young talent also inked one of the first-ever shoe sponsorships for a high school player, signing an NIL deal with Nike in November 2024.

"Basketball has always been my love and my passion," she said. "To see it pay off and the hard work and the hours pay off, in the sense of I get to play for one of the best universities in the country, I just have so much gratitude."