Hills native Withers among those out of a job after the WUSA folds

By Pete Borello, Town Crier Staff Writer

Don’t feel too sorry for Callie Withers, who lost her job last week when the Women’s United Soccer Association folded.

While the Los Altos Hills native was excited about returning for a second season as a midfielder for the Atlanta Beat, she isn’t crushed by the fall of the professional league.

“I wasn’t sad — I don’t know why,” said Withers, when asked about her initial reaction to the news that the WUSA could no longer afford to stay in business. “The people around me were sad, my family and friends. There are a lot of other things I want to do in life. I’m pretty OK about it.”

Withers is too busy to sit around and mope. She has re-enrolled at Stanford University and expects to earn a degree in human biology after the fall quarter. The 22-year-old then might travel to India and learn more about another one of her passions: meditation.

Then again, Withers may pursue a soccer career overseas.

“Soccer’s not done for me,” the Gunn High graduate said. “I still plan to train in the fall and might go play in Europe. It’s always been good in Denmark and Norway, but it doesn’t pay much.”

Players weren’t exactly getting rich playing in the WUSA, either; the founding players agreed to reduce their salaries to $60,000 prior to the 2003 season to keep the three-year-old league afloat. Rosters were trimmed from 18 to 16 players in another cost-cutting move. A majority of the league’s eight teams — including the San Jose CyberRays — weren’t on local television this year because they couldn’t afford the broadcasting fees.

Although the WUSA reduced its operating costs, sagging attendance and the lack of TV exposure made it almost impossible for the league to survive another season.

“A shortfall in sponsorship revenue and insufficient revenue for from other core areas of the business proved to be the hurdles which the WUSA could not overcome in time for planning the 2004 season,” WUSA Chairman John Hendricks stated in a press release last week.

Withers knew the league was in trouble, but didn’t expect it to fold this quickly.

“It’s a bummer; I for sure thought it would be around for at least another year with the World Cup coming up,” she said. “I don’t know why they couldn’t wait.”

And why does Withers think the league failed to make it?

“Anything other than baseball, football or basketball in the U.S. is going to struggle, especially women’s sports,” she said. “It was hard to get people to come to see us. Some people say women’s soccer is like watching men’s soccer underwater.”

Withers has heard rumors that the league could rise again in 2005, but said, “I don’t think it will happen next season.”

If it doesn’t happen, Withers will always have fond memories of her brief WUSA career. Drafted in the first round (fifth overall) in last spring’s draft, Withers returned from an early-season injury to help the Beat reach the WUSA championship game in August.

“It was really cool; I never played in a championship game at Stanford,” said Withers, who played the final two minutes of regulation and the first overtime period of a title game the Beat lost 2-1 to the Washington Freedom. “But when I went in, it was late in the game and when you lose, you feel detached in a way.”

Withers said she made some good friends on the Beat and will miss playing with them.

What she will miss most, though, is the game itself.

“I just love soccer and it’s great to be a professional and get paid to play a game you love. I felt so lucky,” Wither said. “Now, I’m going to have to get a real job — maybe.”