Portland Thorns celebrate NWSL championship at Jeld-Wen Field

The 2013 Portland Thorns

(Photo by Randy L. Rasmussen/The Oregonian)

Throughout the 2013 NWSL season, Portland Thorns midfielder Angie Kerr devoted her nights to Lake Oswego Physical Therapy, where she works part-time as a sports performance specialist teaching strength, agility and speed classes to youth soccer players.

And toward the end of the season, while Kerr and the Thorns were competing in the National Women's Soccer League playoffs, the midfielder also was picking her players as head coach of Lake Oswego High School’s boys junior varsity soccer team.

Kerr is intensely passionate about soccer and relishes the opportunity to be a part of a women’s professional soccer league in the United States. But the extra jobs were a financial necessity for the 28-year-old former University of Portland star.

Kerr made only $12,000 competing for the Thorns in 2013.

Adding to the financial stress, Kerr’s husband, Adam, was working toward a master’s degree in the nurse anesthesia program at Oregon Health & Science University during the season and didn’t make an income.

“It was probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever been through,” Kerr said. “Having a spouse in school and not able to work made it very stressful. We had to get creative and figure out our budget.”

Although U.S. Soccer, the Canadian Soccer Association and the Mexican federation subsidize national team players in the NWSL with livable wages, most NWSL players earn only between $6,000 and $30,000 per season. Their male MLS counterparts, by comparison, make between $35,125 and $368,750, and designated players in MLS can make well over $1 million.

For players such as Kerr, the meager salaries make playing in the NWSL a labor of love as they sacrifice a living wage in hopes of seeing a U.S. women’s professional soccer league finally succeed.

Kerr never considered relocating away from Portland to play in the NWSL — it simply would have been too much of a financial burden for her family. But when the Thorns drafted her in February 2013, she was ecstatic at the prospect of once again playing pro soccer.

“I had the experience of a lifetime, and winning a national championship was so unreal,” Kerr said. “It was definitely worth it.”

While Kerr will continue to balance her outside jobs while playing with the Thorns, defender Marian Dougherty chose to retire from soccer at the end of the 2013 season to focus on her full-time job at Nike.

During 2013, the 29-year-old would leave her job at Nike to attend Thorns training and head back to work after practice was over.

For those willing to put up with the packed schedule, working multiple jobs not only helps NWSL players supplement their incomes, but it also gives them a bit more security given the historically tenuous nature of women’s pro soccer in the U.S.

The first attempt at a U.S. pro league, the WUSA, lasted just three seasons before folding in 2003, citing losses of more than $100 million. The WPS then lasted three seasons before folding in 2012.

The previous leagues suffered from high costs and low attendance, prompting the creation of a cut-rate league in the NWSL, which relies on lower salaries and the national teams’ support to stay afloat financially.

Thorns midfielder Allie Long played all three seasons in the WPS and said she made nearly $10,000 more per year than she does now in the NWSL. But Long isn't stressing about the pay cut. She is just happy to be playing in the United States.

“I’m really thankful for the NWSL because if we didn’t have a league in the U.S., it would be left up to going overseas and hoping the national team coach hears about you,” Long said. “It really is a blessing to be able to play here in the U.S.”

Long, who has competed with the U.S. youth national teams and was last invited to the senior national team camp in 2010, is intent on living out her dream of one day playing for the U.S. national team. And the NWSL is giving the 26-year-old the exposure she needs to have a shot at landing a national team spot.

Though Long has coached part-time in the offseason for her former youth club, Albertson Soccer Club, she mostly has spent her offseason focused on improving her game and preparing for the NWSL season.

In December, Long went on loan to English club Chelsea Ladies FC for the International Women’s Club championship in Japan. And since returning to the U.S., the midfielder has been competing in men’s futsal leagues in New York.

“You really can’t take time off when your ultimate goal is to be on the national team,” Long said. “That’s such a competitive atmosphere. They’re getting games in and coming together during the offseason.”

Thorns midfielder Meleana Shim knows how important exposure from the NWSL can be. The 22-year-old went undrafted and made the Thorns through an open tryout, but proved to be a key player for Portland in 2013, tallying five goals and two assists. That performance helped Shim get an invitation to the under-23 U.S. women's national team camp in December.

Though she considered going abroad to compete during the offseason, Shim instead split her time between her home state of Hawaii, where she coached a high school soccer team, and training in Portland. Next season, though, Shim intends to secure a part-time job during the NWSL season and then make offseason plans to work or go abroad and play.

“We have to be very flexible,” Shim said. “You have to have an employer willing to work with you and I didn’t find that.”

For now, becoming one of the lucky few to sign a contract with the national team appears to be the only secure and viable option for U.S. women’s players to make a true living playing pro soccer without going abroad.

As a member of the U.S. national team, Thorns defender Rachel Buehler has had a very different offseason experience compared to many of her NWSL teammates.

After taking about a month off at the end of the season, Buehler has since been dedicated to the national team – traveling around the country from San Antonio to Columbus to Los Angeles to compete for the United States.

“It’s definitely a different experience for those of us that have contracts with the national team,” Buehler said. “We’re fortunate. We don’t have to worry about working as many odd jobs.”

At the under-23 national team camp in December, Shim was one of only four invitees from the NWSL in a camp that mostly featured college students. Shim found herself consulting with some of the younger players, telling them, “if you’re planning on going into soccer to try to make money, it’s not going to happen.”

Still, Shim and her Thorns teammates feel that the NWSL model is working and the league is going in the right direction.

With the U.S., Canadian and Mexican federations subsidizing up to a combined seven players per team, the league has been able to offset some of its biggest costs.

The Thorns, by far the league’s most successful team, averaged more than 13,000 fans per game with the backing of an MLS franchise, the Timbers. The NWSL’s newest expansion team, the Houston Dash, will follow the Thorns’ model by becoming the second MLS-backed team in the NWSL.

But as the NWSL tries to avoid the mistakes of the previous leagues by limiting spending, the players aren’t expecting to see their salaries increase any time soon.

“We want it someday to be like the MLS so we can play year-round,” Shim said. “We’re not there yet, and we know it’s a sacrifice we need to make if we want to get there. We need to be willing to do what it takes so we can make sure we have a league here in the U.S.”

-- Jamie Goldberg