Dawn Scott (born 19 June 1972) is an English

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

performance coach and

sports scientist Sports science is a discipline that studies how the healthy human body works during exercise, and how sport and physical activity promote health and performance from cellular to whole body perspectives. The study of sports science traditionally inc ...

who works as director of performance for the

Washington Spirit The Washington Spirit is an American professional soccer club based in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area that participates in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). It is a continuation of the D.C. United Women of the W-League and cont ...

, a professional football club competing in the United States top-division

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a professional women's soccer league at the top of the United States league system. It is owned by the teams and, until 2020, was under a management contract with the United States Soccer Federatio ...

. Scott is best known for her work with the

United States women's national soccer team The United States women's national soccer team (USWNT) represents the United States in international women's Association football, soccer. The team is the most successful in international women's soccer, winning four FIFA Women's World Cup, Wom ...

, where her tenure as the team's high-performance coach included two

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior women's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association ( FIFA), the sport's international governing bo ...

victories and an

Olympic gold medal Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

. Scott was credited by player

Christie Rampone Christie Patricia Pearce (formerly Rampone; born June 24, 1975) is an American former professional association football, soccer player who played as a defender (association football), defender. She is the former captain of the United States wome ...

as the team's "secret to everything", and by United States women's team general manager

Kate Markgraf Kathryn Michele Markgraf (; born August 23, 1976) is the General Manager of the United States women's national soccer team and a retired American professional soccer defender. She previously played for the Chicago Red Stars in the WPS, the Bos ...

as instrumental to the team's 2012 Olympic gold medal victory. Scott has also previously worked for the

England women's national football team The England women's national football team, also known as the Lionesses, have been governed by the Football Association (FA) since 1993, having been previously administered by the Women's Football Association (WFA). England played its first in ...

and England's

Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world an ...

, and as performance director for

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

club

Inter Miami CF Club Internacional de Fútbol Miami, known as Inter Miami CF or simply Inter Miami, is an American professional soccer club based in the Miami metropolitan area. Established in 2018, the club began play in Major League Soccer (MLS) in the 2020 ...

Early life

Scott was born in

South Shields South Shields () is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. Historically, it was known in Roman times as Arbeia, and as Caer Urfa by Early Middle Ages. According to the 20 ...

Tyne and Wear Tyne and Wear () is a metropolitan county in North East England, situated around the mouths of the rivers Tyne and Wear. It was created in 1974, by the Local Government Act 1972, along with five metropolitan boroughs of Gateshead, Newcastl ...

county,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, and raised in the town of

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

. As a teenager, Scott played football for

Whitley Bay Whitley Bay is a seaside town in the North Tyneside borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It formerly governed as part of Northumberland and has been part of Tyne and Wear since 1974. It is part of the wider Tyneside built-up area, being around eas ...

Ladies. She initially studied physics with a goal of becoming a teacher, then played university football and studied accountancy at Sheffield Hallam before taking up sports science at

Manchester Metropolitan University Manchester Metropolitan University is located in the centre of Manchester, England. The university has over 40,000 students and over 4,000 members of staff. It is home to four faculties (Arts and Humanities, Business and Law, Health and Educat ...

, where she graduated with a

bachelor's of science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

degree in sport and exercise science. She also earned a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in sports nutrition from the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen ( sco, University o' 'Aiberdeen; abbreviated as ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; gd, Oilthigh Obar Dheathain) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Sc ...

in 1997.

Sports science career

Worcester University, 1997–2001

Scott was a sports science lecturer and program leader on sports training, match analysis, and sports nutrition at

Worcester University , motto_lang = la , mottoeng = ''Aspire to Inspire'' , established = 1946 – Worcester Emergency Teacher Training College 1948 – Worcester Teacher Training College 1976 – Worcester College of Higher Education 1997 – ...

from 1997 to 2001.

The Football Association (FA), 2001–2010

Scott was head of women's teams exercise science, later referred to as sports science, at

The Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the ...

from 2001 to 2010, initially working with

manager

Hope Powell Hope Patricia Powell, CBE (born 8 December 1966) is an English former international footballer and former women's first-team manager of Brighton & Hove Albion. She was the coach of the England women's national football team and the Great Britain ...

. In lieu of players having access to high-quality exercise facilities, Scott would accompany women's players to better-equipped local prisons to train. Scott was part of the Great Britain women's football staff at the

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

and 2009 World University Games, winning a bronze medal in the latter. She also served on the staff of England's teams in the

2002 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship The 2002 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship was held from 17 August to 1 September. It was the first sanctioned youth tournament for women put together by FIFA. The tournament was hosted by Canada. FIFA granted the tournament to Canada in March ...

UEFA Women's Euro 2005 The 2005 UEFA Women's Championship, also referred to as UEFA Women's Euro 2005, was a football tournament for women held from 5 June to 19 June 2005 in Lancashire, England and Cheshire, England. The UEFA Women's Championship is a regular tournament ...

2007 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, the fifth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, was an international association football competition for women held in China from 10 to 30 September 2007. Originally, China was to host the 2003 edition, but th ...

2008 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup The 2008 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup is the first women's football U-17 World Cup in FIFA history. It was held in New Zealand from 28 October to 16 November 2008. It is the officially recognized world championship for women's under-17 national ...

, and

UEFA Women's Euro 2009 The 2009 UEFA Women's Championship, or just Women's Euro 2009, was played in Finland between 23 August and 10 September 2009. The host was appointed on 11 July 2006, in a UEFA Executive Committee meeting in Berlin and the Finnish proposal won over ...

United States national team, 2010–2019

Scott joined the United States women's national soccer team in January 2010 as part of head coach

Pia Sundhage Pia Mariane Sundhage (, born 13 February 1960) is a Swedish football manager and former professional player. She is the head coach of the Brazil women's national team. As a player, Sundhage played most of her career as a forward and retired as ...

's staff, and remained with the federation after the hiring of Sundhage's successors

Tom Sermanni Thomas Dorby Sermanni (born 1 July 1954) is a Scottish association football, football coach and former professional player, who mostly works in women's football. He has previously managed the Australia women's national soccer team, Australia wom ...

and

Jill Ellis Jillian Anne Ellis (born 6 September 1966) is an English-American soccer coach and executive who is currently the president of San Diego Wave FC. Ellis coached the United States women's national soccer team from 2014 to October 2019 and won two ...

. She was part of the team's staff through the

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

and

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

, and the

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

, and

2019 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup was the eighth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international Women's association football championship contested by 24 women's national teams representing member associations of FIFA. It ...

s. Players, coaches, and

United States Soccer Federation The United States Soccer Federation (USSF), commonly referred to as U.S. Soccer, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and the official governing body of the sport of soccer in the United States. Headquartered in Chicago, the federation is ...

staff credited Scott's meticulous and detailed approach to

physical fitness Physical fitness is a state of health and well-being and, more specifically, the ability to perform aspects of Outline of sports, sports, occupations and daily activities. Physical fitness is generally achieved through proper nutrition, moderate ...

, recovery, injury prevention and nutrition as significant contributions to the United States's championships in the 2015 and 2019 World Cups and 2012 Olympics gold medal campaign. She championed intense measurement of player metrics toward marginal gains in performance and conditioning, the use of

multi-stage fitness test The multi-stage fitness test (MSFT), also known as the beep test, bleep test, PACER (Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run), PACER test, FitnessGram PACER test, or the 20 m Shuttle Run Test (20 m SRT), is a running test used to estimate ...

s and

Yo-Yo intermittent test The Yo-Yo intermittent test is aimed at estimating performance in stop-and-go sports like football (soccer), cricket, basketball and the like. It was conceived around the early 1990s by Jens Bangsbo, a Danish soccer physiologist, then described in ...

s in elite fitness measurement, and

menstruation Menstruation (also known as a period, among other colloquial terms) is the regular discharge of blood and mucosal tissue from the inner lining of the uterus through the vagina. The menstrual cycle is characterized by the rise and fall of hor ...

-aware player management. In 2016, after being prompted during a sports science conference, Scott began researching the effects of menstruation on elite athletes and worked with researcher Georgie Bruinvels. This included observations that athletes on their period suffered reduced performance, fatigue, and more severe muscular soreness. She introduced educational workshops, period tracking, reinforced by Scott with posters of phase-specific menstrual treatment strategies, was also credited as a directly contributing factor toward the United States's

championship as the team's second finals goal was scored by tournament Bronze Ball-winner

Rose Lavelle Rosemary Kathleen Lavelle (born May 14, 1995) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for OL Reign of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), and for the United States national team. Lavelle represented the Unite ...

the day after starting her period. Scott also called for increased research on potential connections between menstruation and serious injuries and advocated for more research specific to injuries among women athletes at all levels of play. In 2017, the ''

Journal of Sports Sciences The Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors (CIEHF – formerly The Ergonomics Society) is a United Kingdom-based professional society for ergonomists, human factors specialists, and those involved in user-centred design. History The ...

'' and published Scott's first scientific research as a lead author, in a report on football training methods. In her work with U.S. Soccer, Scott also advocated for standardized fitness testing and data collection for players in the United States top-division professional women's club league, the

(NWSL), and also added menstruation-aware educational workshops for club staff in 2019. The workshops included a focus on breaking cultural taboos around discussing menstruation, which had led to male staff sometimes leaving workshops in discomfort about the subject. In November 2020, the ''Science and Medicine in Football'' journal published Scott's second report as a primary author, covering a two-year study of NWSL players performed in 2016 and 2017 that assessed differences in player performance between international- and domestic-level players. Scott resigned from U.S. Soccer in November 2019 to rejoin

of her native England. Scott said she left to seek a role with more influence across youth and senior levels, which did not appear to be forthcoming in the United States.

FIFA (2015–)

Scott has served as a technical consultant to

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

since 2015 and provided the organization with analysis of physical performances in the 2015 and 2019 Women's World Cups. , Scott was pursuing a PhD at

Western Sydney University Western Sydney University, formerly the University of Western Sydney, is an Australian multi-campus university in the Greater Western region of Sydney, Australia. The university in its current form was founded in 1989 as a federated network ...

, and by September 2021 FIFA sponsored a PhD scholarship study at Western Sydney into monitoring the effects of menstrual cycles in women's football.

The Football Association (2019–2020)

The FA re-hired Scott in November 2019 as its senior women's physical performance manager, with a stated goal of having her assist the

, managed at the time by

Phil Neville Philip John Neville (born 21 January 1977) is an English football manager and former player, who is the head coach of MLS team Inter Miami CF. He is also the co-owner of Salford City, along with several of his former Manchester United teammate ...

, in its preparations for the

UEFA Women's Euro 2022 The 2022 UEFA European Women's Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Women's Euro 2022 or simply Euro 2022, was the 13th edition of the UEFA Women's Championship, the quadrennial international football championship organised by UEF ...

tournament. The FA also tasked her with managing interactions between national team players and their

Women's Super League The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features t ...

clubs. Scott worked with Team Great Britain, which Neville also managed, at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

. Great Britain finished atop its group but failed to advance past the quarter-finals. At the FA, Scott also continued her work toward improving athlete awareness and fitness through menstruation-aware programs, anti-inflammatory diet, tracking, and performance analysis. England and

Manchester City W.F.C. Manchester City Women's Football Club (formerly ''Manchester City Ladies F.C.'') are an English women's football club based in Manchester who play in the FA Women's Super League. They are affiliated with Manchester City F.C. who play in the Pre ...

fullback Fullback or Full back may refer to: Sports * A position in various kinds of football, including: ** Full-back (association football), in association football (soccer), a defender playing in a wide position ** Fullback (gridiron football), in Americ ...

Lucy Bronze Lucia Roberta Tough Bronze (born 28 October 1991), known as Lucy Bronze, is a professional footballer who plays as a right-back for Barcelona and the England national team. She has previously played for Sunderland, Everton, Liverpool, Lyon a ...

credited Scott's work with improving her diet and recovery methods throughout her menstrual cycles. Scott left The FA again in September 2020 to work with

on women's physical performance strategies.

Inter Miami CF (2021–2022)

On 11 November 2021,

of the United States top-division men's professional football league

announced that it had hired Scott as the club's performance director. Scott was charged with oversight of all levels within the club. The job reunited Scott with Phil Neville, who was now manager of Inter Miami. Scott left the role just shy of a year later.

Washington Spirit (2022–)

On 1 November 2022,

club

announced that it had hired Scott as its first director and vice president of performance, medical, and innovation. The club tasked Scott with developing and staffing the club's new performance department in time for the 2023 NWSL season.

Influence in women's sport

Players she coached on fitness suggested Scott had guided them to their highest fitness levels of their careers, including

Casey Stoney Casey Jean Stoney (born 13 May 1982) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of San Diego Wave FC. A versatile defender, she was capped more than 100 times for the England women's national football te ...

Sue Smith Sue Smith may refer to: * Sue Smith (politician) (born 1951), member of the Tasmanian Legislative Council *Sue Smith (footballer) (born 1979), English footballer *Sue Smith (trainer) (born 1948), British horse trainer *Sue Smith (writer) Sue Smi ...

, Jill Scott, and

Heather O'Reilly Heather Ann O'Reilly (born January 2, 1985) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for Irish club Shelbourne of the Women's National League. She played for the United States women's national soccer team (USWNT), w ...

. United States forward

Tobin Heath Tobin Powell Heath (born May 29, 1988) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a forward for OL Reign of the NWSL, as well as the United States national team. Heath has been described as "perhaps the USA's most skillful player" ...

credited Scott with improving the United States national team's culture, and while accepting the 2019

The Best FIFA Women's Player The Best FIFA Women's Player is a football award presented annually by the sport's governing body, FIFA, since 2016, to honour the player deemed to have performed the best over the previous calendar year. From 2001 to 2015, the award was known ...

award, United States forward

Megan Rapinoe Megan Anna Rapinoe (; born July 5, 1985) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a winger and captains OL Reign of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), as well as the United States national team. Winner of the Ballon d ...

thanked Scott in her acceptance speech and said she "wouldn't have received this award without them". On the August 2021 announcement of Scott's second departure from The FA, England forward

Nikita Parris Nikita Josephine Parris (born 10 March 1994) is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for Women's Super League club Manchester United and the England national team. She previously played for Division 1 Féminine club Olymp ...

predicted that should England win the

tournament, Scott's influence would be a key reason for the victory; England would go on to win the UEFA Women's Euro 2022 final 11 months later. In her initial tenure with The FA, Scott introduced many of her players to

weight training Weight training is a common type of strength training for developing the strength, size of skeletal muscles and maintenance of strength.Keogh, Justin W, and Paul W Winwood. “Report for: The Epidemiology of Injuries Across the Weight-Traini ...

. Scott helped to popularize the use of advanced bra-embedded

GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a Radionavigation-satellite service, satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of t ...

trackers, at the time used primarily by individual athletes and

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

and

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

teams, and other wearable

activity tracker An activity tracker, also known as a fitness tracker, is a device or application for monitoring and tracking fitness-related metrics such as distance walked or run, calorie consumption, and in some cases heartbeat. It is a type of wearable comp ...

s in women's football to capture and analyze match data and manage player load. While the United States women's soccer team was not the first elite sports team to implement period tracking and tailor training around menstrual cycles, the United States's success at the 2019 Women's World Cup and corresponding coverage of Scott's menstruation-aware regimens inspired more women's sports teams to adopt the practice.

Chelsea F.C. Women Chelsea Football Club Women, formerly known as Chelsea Ladies Football Club, are an English women's football club based in Norbiton that competes in the Women's Super League, the top flight of women's football in England. Since 2004, the clu ...

implemented menstruation-aware training schedules beginning in August 2019, with the club using technology developed by Georgie Bruinvels, Scott's collaborator with the United States national team.

UEFA Women's Champions League The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. The ...

winners

Olympique Lyonnais Féminin Olympique Lyonnais Féminin (; commonly referred to as Olympique Lyon, Lyon, or simply OL) is a French women's football club based in Lyon. The club has been the female section of Olympique Lyonnais since 2004. It is the most successful club ...

followed suit, extending the practice into their youth system.

AFL Women's AFL Women's (AFLW) is Australia's national semi-professional Australian rules football league for female players. The first season of the league in February and March 2017 had eight teams; the league expanded to 10 teams in the 2019 season, 1 ...

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

team

Brisbane Lions The Brisbane Lions is a professional Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, that plays in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was formed in late 1996 via a merger of the Melbourne-based 1883 foundation VFL c ...

implemented menstrual cycle tracking toward managing diet and training in February 2020, citing the United States's association football success.

Personal life

Scott was a season ticket holder for hometown club

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

. , her mother and sisters continued to live in Washington, Tyne and Wear. Her father passed away in 2012.

In popular culture

In 2016, Scott trained ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine ** ''Vogue China'', ...

'' fashion journalist and editor

Hamish Bowles Hamish Bowles (born 23 July 1963) is an English fashion journalist and editor. He is ''Vogue'' magazine's global editor at large. On 17 September 2021, Hamish was also named the new editor in chief at ''The World of Interiors'', a Condé Nast ...

as a footballer for a feature story. In 2020, Scott featured on the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

science-focused television series Mission Unstoppable, where she demonstrated how the United States women's national soccer team trains.

References

External links

ResearchGate profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Dawn 1972 births Living people People from South Shields Academics of the University of Worcester Alumni of Manchester Metropolitan University Alumni of the University of Aberdeen Sports scientists English expatriates in the United States The Football Association Women FIFA officials Inter Miami CF non-playing staff Washington Spirit non-playing staff United States women's national soccer team non-playing staff