In spite of being named head coach of Women’s Professional Soccer’s (WPS) Washington Freedom, not much has changed for Jim Gabarra.
He coached the Freedom in the WUSA and has never really stopped. After the league suspended operations in 2003, the Freedom organization stayed together, thanks to an investment from WUSA founding father, John Hendricks. They competed in exhibitions from 2004 to 2006 as the Washington Freedom Reserves and then as a W-League franchise beginning in 2007. So, while the stakes are higher as the team returns to professional soccer, things are not all that different for Gabarra and assistant coach Clyde Jordan.
“I never really stopped scouting,” said Gabarra. “I believed that the league was coming back every year.”
The Freedom has been sort of a Mecca for former WUSA players and recent college graduates who have been trying to stay fit and play at a high level while waiting for a professional league to resurface.
Read the full article: Washington never lost its Freedom