Going Beyond the Baller
Beyond the Baller – the women’s soccer brand with a mission to create opportunities for young female players to develop their skills, confidence, and leadership both on and off the field – is hosting its first-ever youth camp held in collaboration with Nike Soccer Camps at UCSB Rec Center Field from August 4-8.
The organization was co-founded in Santa Barbara by professional soccer player Hannah Adler just two years ago. The goal not only to continue to grow the sport and coach young competitors, but to provide leadership off the field as well.
“It’s called Beyond the Baller because there’s so much more to athletes than just being a soccer player,” Adler said. “It’s creating top notch athletes, top notch soccer players, but we also want to instill confidence and teach how to be a leader, and cultivate environments where we create really good people, which is even more important.”
While next week’s camp is coed, oriented toward both experienced and aspiring players ages 6-14, there will be several female coaches who have played at the collegiate and professional levels assisting Adler in the program.
“It’s about empowering women because I am a female athlete who played in college and on several professional teams, but throughout my life I have never had a female coach,” said Adler. She started for four years at the University of Denver before turning pro in 2020, joining pro teams in the Middle East and in Europe, including the UEFA Champions League. After competing against some of the best clubs in the world, including FC Barcelona, Arsenal, and Hoffenheim, Adler returned to the U.S. to sign with Racing Louisville of the National Women’s Soccer League. “I have always wanted to show these young girls that not only can they play professional soccer, they can also be a coach or anything else in the soccer world.”
The camp offers a structured curriculum with a low camper-to-coach ratio. The program features elite technical training and game knowledge development – both in formal instruction and through competitive and fun scrimmages, Youth are grouped by age and ability level.
“We don’t want players to feel like they can’t join just because maybe they haven’t played soccer for that long,” Adler said. “It’s about meeting players where they’re at; putting them in groups where they will benefit the most.”
While the camp is primarily focused on regular soccer played on grass fields out at UCSB, Adler couldn’t help but sneak in a single day at the end of the week for her latest conquest of beach soccer. That’s a faster-paced game played on a much smaller area, just five players per team versus 11 at the pro or club level. Adler discovered the beach game while on hiatus from two straight decades playing regular soccer.
“I was tired of moving to a foreign country for a full season, and all of the travel,” she said.
While serving as a volunteer assistant coach at Pepperdine University and kindling that coaching passion that led to Beyond the Baller, Adler discovered that the beach game actually had a national team. She sent a “cold email” to the coach and was invited to a training camp to try out.
To put it mildly, it went very well.
Just months after joining, Adler was named U.S. Women’s Beach Soccer National Team female Soccer Player of the Year in 2023 and received the honor again last year. Meanwhile, her club team, Cali Beach Soccer Club (CaliBSC) is considered one of the best in the world. The commitment is much shorter, allowing Adler to both play beach soccer and run Beyond the Baller as the teams fly her to the tournaments.
Adler is profoundly proud to be playing soccer under the U.S. soccer umbrella, calling the chance to represent her country an incredible honor.
“To wear the U.S. soccer crest is every American soccer player’s dream,” she said. “It’s something I’ve wanted ever since I was a little girl. We’re currently fighting to get a FIFA-recognized beach soccer World Cup on the women’s side. There have been 12 men’s beach soccer World Cups, but zero for women. And there are talks about it becoming an Olympic sport in the near future.”
Adler praised the national team and U.S. Soccer’s environment and coaching staff for being very supportive of the team players. “It’s really helped me to be able to thrive in the two first years of my beach soccer career. That’s part of what I want to bring to youth today with Beyond the Baller.”
The campers will get their chance to check out the beach game on Friday, August 8, when the event moves to East Beach, where BTB staged one of the first U.S. tournaments as a three-on-three competition last summer. The Nike camp is the big focus for the organization this summer, but Adler hopes to expand the beach game in town next year.
“It’s super fun. I think people will love it.”
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