Sixteen-year-old Portland Thorns star Olivia Moultrie joins Playermaker as their first official female brand ambassador.
Playermaker, the wearable footwear-mounted performance tracker, today announced that it has signed 16-year-old US soccer prodigy, Olivia Moultrie, as the company’s first official female brand ambassador.
Moultrie – who, at just 16 years old, has already made a significant name for herself as an incredible soccer talent and a pioneer of the women’s game – joins Playermaker to promote the company’s innovative technology, which has helped her throughout her development thus far, and drive the company’s mission to help rectify the historic disparity in funding, resources, and technology afforded to male and female athletes.
Performance tracking technologies today have typically only been widely accessible for male professional athletes, enabling coaches and athletes to monitor performance, risk of injury, and inform tailored training regimens. Playermaker, however, is utilizing its technology to drive equality in sports and with its influencer and ambassador strategy, the company is providing a platform for rising stars – those athletes who are breaking stereotypes and raising the bar within their sports – to cross borders, share their stories, and inspire others to follow their dreams both on and off the field. A mission that Playermaker believes Moultrie embodies fully.
Having begun her soccer journey aged four, Moultrie became the youngest American female soccer player to be offered a college scholarship at 11 years old. At 13 she became the youngest American female player to turn professional, joining the Portland Thorns FC academy. In 2021, at the age of 15, despite having trained with the club’s senior team, Moultrie was barred from playing with the Thorns in regular-season games due to the National Women’s Soccer League’s (NWSL) rule prohibiting players under 18 from signing a professional contract. Not willing to stifle her progress, Moultrie made the bold decision to file an antitrust lawsuit against the NWSL for the right to play – which she won. Moultrie then made history once again as the youngest American female player to sign a contract with an NWSL team and play in the league, and in doing so, broke down barriers and paved a new pathway for all young female athletes in the US.
Guy Aharon, CEO and Co-Founder of Playermaker, said: “When we heard Olivia’s story, we immediately knew she’d be the perfect fit to join our team, not just as our brand ambassador, but as an inspiration for all young, aspiring female athletes facing gendered barriers in the pursuit of their dreams.
“Beyond her drive for equality and equal opportunity for all, Olivia blew us away with her incredible talent and technique with the ball at her feet. Her passion and love for the game is captivating and her understanding of the game and its demands, together with her dedication to the type of training required to excel at the top level, truly exemplifies our brand values and what we are looking for in a partner.”
Playermaker’s solution infuses data with purpose, ensuring equal opportunities for all athletes by providing elite-level data and performance tracking to athletes of all ages, genders, and skill levels, at a fraction of the price. Its technology, which has already been tested and proven by more than 250 of the top elite academies and teams globally, transforms any footwear into a connected solution, capturing technical, tactical, biomechanical, and physical data from the source of motion.
Olivia Moultrie said: “I am really excited to be representing Playermaker as their first female ambassador and to have been given this opportunity to share my story with the world.
“I love training with the device and it’s really helped me to further develop as a player, but the company’s passion and support for the women’s game is what really made me want to get involved. The barriers female athletes face are huge, and there’s still a lot of inequality in how we are treated and the resources we receive compared to the guys. But Playermaker is really dedicated to making a difference and to leveling the playing field in a very real way, and I’m proud to be an ambassador for them.”
As part of the partnership, Moultrie will be participating in Playermaker’s upcoming media campaign and short film – “Like a Girl” – which will highlight the immense talent of several female soccer players across the US and UK who are reclaiming the game for all women and young girls. The film will share these athletes’ untold stories of adversity and perseverance, discussing the challenges and inequalities they face as female soccer players every day, and how, despite it all, they are succeeding in driving the women’s game forward.
