Emma Hayes emphasizes 'maximizing the moments' after one year with USWNT: 'You cannot waste a single session'

In her return to Minnesota a year after taking on the role of U.S. women's national team manager, Emma Hayes is in the locker room hallways following a press conference with media, taking the time to chat with a young family, and posing for pictures with their daughters. She's the one asking playful questions of the little girls, funneling their excitement, before politely making her exit after signing souvenir rally towels. It's a small moment, but it's emblematic of how Hayes' appointment a year ago marked a significant change for U.S. Soccer. She's a coach, unlike previous managers before her, with a public profile that can compete alongside her star players.

The USWNT has long been a point of pride across American soccer. They've built a long history of winning, four World Cups, five Olympic gold medals, and a constant draw at stadiums they play in around the globe. If the USWNT is a top-viewing sports entertainment for American soccer fans, Hayes is among the headliners.

When Hayes won her first matches as the official head coach of the U.S. women's national team in June 2024, the expectations were immediately set. The pair of friendlies against South Korea in Denver and Minneapolis last year was just the start for the USWNT era with Hayes as its manager.

Accomplished on and off the pitch

Following a disappointing exit from the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, U.S. soccer hired Hayes in November 2023, and she was on the sidelines just weeks ahead of the 2024 Olympic Games. The iconic Chelsea FC manager stepped into the USWNT role as a six-time Women's Super League champion and two-time UEFA Women's Coach of the Year.

A winning coach for a long-time winning national team. Except that the team she inherited was in the midst of transition. Its former superstars either retired or in different phases of their careers, but even with personnel shifts, the expectation of the USWNT program has rarely changed. You win, and then you keep winning.

One year into her tenure, Hayes has not only met those expectations, she's exceeded them. She has preached process and patience since her arrival a year ago, and still led the team to Olympic gold in Paris after just 75 days on the job. She has achieved the dual mandate of invigorating roster changes, and laying the building blocks for future success while also winning now.

"I think the biggest thing I've learned is that you've got to maximize the moments you have with the players," Hayes said about her first year as USWNT manager.

"Because you have so few, and I've learned there's multiple ways you can maximize that, and not just when you've only got 10-day camps and big chunks in between. Be innovative about how you can accelerate learning. I've always enjoyed innovating ways of doing that, but I definitely think maximizing the moments is the thing I've learned the most."

Following the USWNT's gold medal run at the Olympics, in between balancing some well-earned time off, Hayes quickly set her sights on the 2027-28 cycle. She immediately outlined 2025 as a timetable for expanding the player pool by creating "futures camps" as a way to relaunch a dormant U-23 program that can develop alongside senior national team windows.

As part of her desire to innovate, she developed "The WNT Way." Its leading principle starts with an emphasis on "placing the female lens at the heart of everything we do," she told media in February during a small virtual roundtable.

The overarching goal of Hayes' WNT Way is to function as more than a philosophy. She, of course, wants to compete for trophies, but also has aspirations to refocus the entire WNT ecosystem. She emphasized that much of what currently exists in soccer strategy is a copy and paste from men's programming and applied to women.

With the WNT way, she wants to shift opinion and create sustainable change and opportunities for women through a hyper-focused 360 approach. It's as ambitious as she is. The intention is to impact the player and environments through multiple channels and systems. It is player-focused first, but Hayes wants a more viable future for women coaches, referees, and the overall sciences behind how women athletes are cared for.

It's a far longer-term project than coaching the No. 1 ranked team in the world ahead of the next major international cycle. Perhaps a key part of her enduring effect has been extending her reach across multiple generations of players in one year.

A bigger player bool, but still USWNT DNA

In Hayes' first year as manager, 23 players earned first-time call-ups to national team camps, including the recent summer window with Orlando Pride defender Kerry Abello and Kansas City Current midfielder Lo'eau LaBonta as the 22nd and 23rd players.

There have been 19 players who made their first official debuts with the national team through Hayes' 22 matches on the sidelines. It's more changes than the 18 her predecessor, Vlatko Andonovski, had over his entire three-year tenure with the team. She almost set a second-most through her first 20 matches in charge of the team, with 17 player debuts. The record was initially set during the founding days of the women's national team from 1986 to 1988.

Teenage phenom, 17-year-old midfielder Lily Yohannes is among next-gen players to earn a roster spot in USWNT camps. Yohannes also made her senior debut alongside Hayes a year ago.

The young prospect has eight appearances and one goal and has been named to every camp roster in 2025. She has shown off her skill set, and Hayes has been transparent about tempering public expectations for Yohannes as she is still in the early stages of international play. The process has allowed for a far less pressured environment for the teenager.

"I think Emma makes it really clear what she expects from me, and as well as for the team. Every camp, we just continue to build on that, and with every different opponent and different style of play, we try to adapt, and that's just something that you try and to bring into your game and help the team," Yohannes said on Hayes' coaching.

Whether it's deepening the player pool, evaluating multiple prospects, or developing off-pitch paradigms, Hayes has also taken extra effort to help develop people. When it comes to leaders on the squad, Hayes has been vocal about her drive to help others grow with an open door for feedback. She has had leadership conversations with team captain Lindsey Heaps, along with Sam Coffey, Tierna Davidson, Emily Sonnett, and Naomi Girma, and more.

Girma is in her fourth year as a national team member and broke through as a USWNT regular during her 2022 NWSL rookie and defender of the year season. She's no longer a next-gen player, but a present-day key figure, and sought out Hayes for advice about her historic transfer to Chelsea FC. The 2023 U.S. Soccer Female Player of the Year was named vice captain earlier this year.

"Obviously, there's so much that you see on the pitch, and how we're playing, and winning a gold medal, and all that. But I think probably even the bigger impact is what she's doing behind the scenes," Girma said on Hayes' impact over the last year.

"Making sure that U.S. Soccer has a way of developing young players, making sure that they're getting seen, making sure that they're understanding how we want to play, and understanding our principles. I think that's something that is going to help us in the next couple of years, but also in the next like five to 10 years, too."

Heaps has carried the team captain's armband since 2023, and with it, constant questions about experience among the squad as several of her former teammates and former captains retired. She credits Hayes with her development not just as a player but as a leader on the squad.

"I think it's probably [on] more of my role as a captain. What she's given me and the relationship I've had with her. I think it's something that I haven't really experienced," Heaps said of Hayes' year one influence.

"It's just, it's really crucial to have that kind of role as a captain and a head coach and to bounce things off of each other. But also trust. To go to her when things need to be said, and her, vice versa. So, I think that's the feeling that I've gotten in the past year, and in the Olympics as well."

Building the road ahead

Along with restoring the Stars and Stripes to its dominant best after a lackluster World Cup, Hayes has shown that she was perfectly suited to take on the position, not only to compete in the 2024 Olympic Games, but to reset the program moving forward. During her early reintroductions to media a year ago, she stated, "We've got work to do," and the English coach has been punching the clock ever since.

'You don't have [time]. You cannot waste a single session, a single opportunity, because you have so few at the international level. And surround yourself with amazing people," Hayes said about her biggest lessons in year one as manager.

"I'm so blessed that, not just that leadership, but the people we are putting into positions across WNT and YNT, has made me more excited for a long, long time. Because we're bringing so many different innovations into the women's game, the girls' game. Anything from mental skill development to female health, menstrual cycle support, whatever it might be. So, so, excited about it."

What's next

As Hayes and the coaching staff welcome the midway point of 2025, they'll continue their build-up toward the 2027-28 cycle with more fixtures and player review.

After a two-game sweep of China and Jamaica, the USWNT are back in the winning column following a 2-1 loss to Brazil in April. The national team will host Ireland for a pair of friendlies beginning on June 26 in Commerce City, Colorado, and Cincinnati, Ohio on June 29. Later, they'll have another summer window where they'll face Canada on July 2.

More friendlies for the remainder of the year will be announced later, and to Hayes' point every moment will count and each minute will matter. The group has roughly 17 months till World Cup qualifying competitions. The Concacaf W Championship, where the region's two top-ranked nations receive a direct bye, will begin in November 2026.