Player's Own Voice podcast: Kaylyn Kyle on the economics and realities of women's soccer
Well-informed earful from soccer analyst, former national team member
Kaylyn Kyle has parlayed years of soccer with the Canadian national team and in pro leagues into a bustling career as a broadcast soccer analyst.
What sets Kyle apart isn't just her deep knowledge of the game and tactics, but her willingness to speak plainly about the issues and players before her.
Kyle is not afraid to court controversy, nor to call out poor behaviour when she sees it. She's brutally honest about the economics of being an NWSL player.
And when she argues in favour of a Canadian women's pro soccer league? Resistance may not be futile, but good luck if you happen to oppose her points of view. All of which makes Kyle an ideal podcast guest.
In this episode of Player's Own Voice, Kaylyn regales podcast host Anastasia Bucsis with tales of an incredibly hardworking mother of two, questions the point of academic results for preschoolers that she sees in the U.S., makes several persuasive points in favour of beginning an athletic career in Saskatchewan, pinpoints the moment in which a lifelong love of playing soccer fizzled into frustration, and then tops it all off with an amusing description of her own not exactly planned dive out of the way of the bronze-medal winning goal for Canada in London in 2012.
Kyle pushes listeners' buttons, no question. So if you don't care for fast-talking, fully informed, and highly opinionated women, don't say we didn't warn you.
Like the CBC Sports' Player's Own Voice essay series, POV podcast lets athletes speak to Canadians about issues from a personal perspective.
There is a transcript for our hard-of-hearing audience. To listen to Kaylyn Kyle, Kurt Browning, Bianca Farella, Summer McIntosh, Beckie Sauerbrunn or any of the guests from earlier seasons, go to CBC Listen or wherever else you get your podcasts.
