“I have [always been a leader]. I’ve captained almost every team that I’ve been a part of from the time I was playing club soccer. It’s not something that I ever really focused on, it just kind of happened.”
As one of six kids growing up, Keelin Winters was always active and playing any sports she could get her siblings to agree to participate in.
“[With six siblings] automatically you had a team,” said Winters. “Growing up in the family I grew up in kind of helped spur my love of competition for sure.”
The Winters family loved the game of basketball. Keelin’s father played in the NBA, one of her older brothers played professionally in Europe, and her older sister played all the way through high school.
While she did play basketball until her sophomore year of high school, ultimately Keelin would decide to focus on pursuing soccer. Winters’ decision came after getting a stress fracture in her foot, partly due to frequently switching between playing soccer and basketball.
“Growing up my dad was always super supportive, and he never wanted us to do something that we didn’t love doing,” said Winters. “When it was soccer season, I thought I loved soccer more. When it was basketball season, I thought I loved basketball more. As soon as I got that injury I was really upset that I couldn’t play soccer, and that was how I decided that I was going to pursue soccer.”
Winters’ pursuit of soccer was a positive one, eventually turning into a successful career where she often found herself leading the way for her team. Her ability to lead came from her mother’s insight, throughout a childhood where the Winters family moved five different times.
“Every time we moved my mom would tell us, ‘you have to be a friend to make a friend,” said Winters. “It sounds kind of trivial, but for me constantly being the new kid and having to be outgoing and go out of my way to make friends I think it actually taught me some of the leadership skills that I have today. I understand what it’s like to be the new kid and I want everybody to be involved.”
Leadership comes naturally for Winters, however, being a captain at the professional level was still a difficult transition.
“From a leadership perspective, being captain of a team collegiately or on a club team I think is very different than being captain of a professional team,” said Winters.
Winters has been the captain of Reign FC since season one, when the club finished with a sub .500 record and in second-to-last on the NWSL table.
“Going through season one was my first time playing on a losing team, and it was my first year as a team captain as a professional, so that year was just a huge learning year for me,” said Winters.
In 2014 and 2015, as Winters got back to her winning ways with Seattle Reign FC. While the headlines of Reign FC’s turnaround focused in on offseason roster changes orchestrated by head coach and GM Laura Harvey, Winters believes the real key to their success received less focus.
“Just going from season one to season two, obviously there were some personnel changes, but I also think one thing that a lot of people don’t talk about is that the women that did come back in the offseason went out and did exactly what they needed to do to improve as individuals,” said Winters. “If we had just gone and gotten a 9 to 5 job and just paid the bills and not worked on any of our soccer game, we wouldn’t have been the team that we were in season two or season three to be honest.”
After ending the 2016 season with Regin FC and retiring from professional soccer, she’ll be starting her new job as a firefighter.
“I took my first test in September 2015 with the idea that it’s going to take me a few years to get called into interviews,” said Winters. “I ended up testing really well and in the process it ended up taking less time than I had intended.”
Winters became interested in the profession back in 2014, but decided to dedicate herself to her professional soccer career.
“I had the opportunity to meet my in-laws very good family friend and he was a former Seattle fire chief,” said Winters. “At the time I was still so focused on the season with the Reign, and I was focused on giving myself the best opportunity to potentially make the national team.”
The Captain plans to finish out the season with Reign FC, and hopes to see the league continue long after her career comes to a close.
“My rookie season was the last year of WPS,” said Winters. “So I went through that season so stoked to be a professional, and then I get an email in the offseason saying that the league had folded. I went from having a job to suddenly not having a job and was unsure what the future of women’s soccer in the United States looked like. Having the NWSL start was, again, a dream come true.”
Winters feels confident she’s leaving the sport she loves, and the league and team she plays for, in a better place than it was when it started four seasons ago.
“From year one to year four, the league has seen tremendous growth,” said Winters. “Yes, there are issues. Yes, those issues need to be addressed, and they will be addressed. But more importantly, women’s football has gotten a foothold, a good foothold here in the U.S. That’s an immense statement.”
Winters will be available for selection in tomorrow’s match against the Washington Spirit. It will be her final home game with the club. The game will be live-streamed on the NWSL’s official YouTube channel and can be watched at youtube.com/nwsl. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. PT.
