Today we’d like to introduce you to Jaycie Ackerman.
Hi Jaycie, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I started playing soccer when I was 3 years old. I got into soccer because of my older brothers and then from then on it just stuck with me. I grew up in Lee’s Summit Mo and attended Lee’s Summit West High School. Growing up soccer was the only constant in my life and to this day it is still one of the only constants. I played club soccer growing up and was told that my size might be an issues for me as I got older, but I did not let that stop me from chasing my dreams of playing for the US national team and playing D1 College soccer.
With all the hard work that I put into club soccer and all the hours outside of soccer that I put into my game; all my hard work would pay off and I would be offered a full scholarship to attend and play at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. Nebraska is in the Big Ten a power house of a conference. My freshmen year at Nebraska was a fairy tail story. We were predicted to finish last in the conference. By the end of season we would shock the soccer world with only losing 1 conference game that whole year and win the conference title and the conference tournament. For me personally it was a special start to my college career. I would end up leading our team goals with 17, and would be picked Offensive MVP of the Big Ten Tournament. By the end of that season I would end up getting my first call up to the National team to go into U-20 National team camp. After this magical freshmen year my life would change and I knew that I needed to make sure that I was taking the proper care of myself to be able to reach all of my goals that I had. After that season I would get the opportunity to go back into National Team Camps and have the honoring of traveling to Norway and compete in the Nordic Cup with the U23 national team and we would go on to winning the tournament. Being a part of the National team allowed me to make so many new and amazing friendships and learn from so many different players through out the country that played at other D1 programs.
My junior year is where things in my story took a turn I wasn’t prepared for. I would end up tearing my ACL right when conference play started, so I would be out for the rest of the year and then some. It is a 9 month recovery and very invasive surgery. This would give me a whole new look on life and soccer in general. Your body and your mind goes through so many changes and challenges during this time that you treat life very delicately and do not want to take ordinary things for granted. Thankfully for myself I would make a full recovery and make it back for my last and final year of college soccer at Nebraska. I would go through my senior year leading the team in goals again and enjoying being back out on the field. At the end of the season I was tabbed an All-American an award that only 30 players got at the time. A very special award that I was very grateful for and wouldn’t have gotten if it wasn’t for my teammates and coaching staff getting my back out on to the field after my ACL Tear. Once my college career was over I was looking for to entering the NWSL Draft and become a Pro Soccer Player here in America. about a month before the draft was going to happen I was training and keeping up with touches and fitness. I would unfortunately go through another ACL tear and then some in my same knee. This would then keep me out from soccer for at least 9 months and I would see my dreams of becoming pro go right down the drain. I got surgery on December 15, 2016, the draft was on January 20 or something like that. That day was a hard day for me, the hope and the emotions I had before the injury were so great and high and after the injury they all just faded, because it is a business and I was going through my second ACL tear. I was driving home to KC that weekend to be with family and fly out to LA for the All American award ceremony. On my way home I get a phone call from my college coach. He is the one to break the news to me that I had just gotten drafted to the North Caroline Courage as the 27th pick. The amount of joy and emotions that took over me in that moment is something that I will never forget. My dream came true of becoming a professional soccer player. That night when I got home I got to celebrate with family and friends that I was a professional athlete. I would miss my whole rookie season due to injury, but that season was a magical one, My team would end up winning the NWSL championship that year and that was something so special to be a part of. The next 3 season I would end up playing in Seattle Washington with the Reign. I fell in love with the PNW. What a beautiful place that is. My first year there was a rough one for me. The week before our first game we were training and I would unfortunately partially tear my ACL again and have to rehab and sit out almost the entire season. I thankfully did not need surgery on it because of all the muscle I had built around my knee from 5 months of rehab. I would make it back for the end of the season and be able to play in a couple games coming off the bench. In the off season I was very focused on my training and making sure that I was taking care of my knee properly to get me ready to go for me next season. I would end up training at such a high class training facility called AGY ( A Greater You) and man am I ever so lucky that I was able to train there. They got me ready to go for season number 3. The first 2 months of season were going well and I was finally getting back to my old ways of playing and feeling good and confident. During a match I got into a tackle and would end up hearing a loud pop in my knee. In that moment I knew that I had tore my ACL again on the same leg. I would play through the last 10 mins of the game and after the game told my trainer that my ACL was gone. Got back to Seattle and got an. MRI and my ACL couldn’t be found and I tore more things as well in my knee. So now I needed to get my 3 surgery on my right knee to repair my ACL again. With this ACL this would be a full year of recovery and I would be out for the entire next season of the NWSL. I missed my whole 4th year in the league due to recovery, and that is when Covid hit. Things looked a little different in the league that year anyway, but it is never fun having to sit out and not play the sport that you love so much. After my 4 year, Kansas City ended up getting a team back and I was over the moon about it and wanted to be able to come home and play for my hometown team so my family and friends could all come out and watch and support me play. Thankfully that dream came true and I got signed by Kansas City and this hometown girl got to come home. I would end up playing my last 2 pro seasons for Kansas City. What a dream that was to see the love and support that your hometown has for the sport you love and the team you are on. I would end up retiring in my 6 and final year of playing due to another knee injury that I on my same knee, thankfully this time it wasn’t my ACL but it was a lot of other things that I tore and needed repaired.
I would retire with 6 years as a professional soccer player in the NWSL and 5 knee surgeries later and playing for the U20 and the U23 US Women’s National Teams.
Once I stepped away from soccer as a player I knew my time was not done yet with the sport that I loved so much and that had given me so much. I got the opportunity to step into the coaching world and was so thankful that I was able too. A way to give back to the game that gave me so much and to be a role model for these young athletes and help guide them and give them advice in the next steps of life for them. I got to start my coaching career at the University of Kansas as a Jayhawk and I forever thankful for that. I am not in season number 3 of coaching at the Division 1 level at the University of Iowa State.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
it has not been a smooth road. 5 knee surgeries really made my career a lot different than what I thought it would look like but it taught me so many life lessons that I would have not learned if those injuries did not happen and has shaped me to be the person I am today
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am not a divison 1 soccer coach and change and help shape the lives of college athletes. I am most proud of being a support system for these women and being someone they can trust and come too in a field that has been dominated by male coaches. I lived the life these women are living I have gone through all the emotions and hardships they are going through so having someone that looks like them and understand what they are going through makes a huge difference in trust and coaching. I also just love the relationships that you create and being around these women and getting to know them more than just soccer players and as humans and making those connections and meeting their families and where they come from it is such a rewarding job
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
putting yourself out and not being afraid to ask the questions and making the connections. I have so many strong talent female coaches in this world that I get to work with and learn from that I am so thankful for. don’t be faired to be vulnerable and to put yourself out there because you never know what is on the other side of things
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Jayciejohnson16
