This month we feature Sylvia Braaten. Sylvia is the former Associate Head Coach at Harvard University and a storied USWNT player (she earned multiple caps including playing in the 2014 and 2017 World Cups). Sylvia left Harvard in July to return home to Minneapolis. As Sylvia offered, "my wife is in Minneapolis and I’ve been living in Cambridge, it was just time to go home to my family."
Sylvia recently accepted a position as the Performance and Recovery coach for the USWNT 15’s program. In this capacity she works closely with the WNT strength and conditioning coach on pre and post recovery, player nutrition, travel preparation, mental and mindfulness work. Sylvia is doing some pioneering work in these areas and her expertise is critical to the future of women’s rugby. Read on to learn more about and from Sylvia.
Age: 39 (age ain't nothing but a number)
Occupation: Performance and Recovery Coach, USA Rugby WNT 15’s
Former Associate Head Coach with Harvard University Women's Rugby
Where do you live: Minneapolis, MN
Tell us a bit about your playing days:
I started playing during my first year at Marquette University. I fell in love with the game after my first practice. My Coach, Tom Schmitt, got the attention of the USA Pathway Coaches and I was invited to tour with the USA U19’s after my first season playing. Throughout college, I climbed my way through the pathway playing with multiple select side teams including the WI Selects, the Midwest U23s and Senior Select side teams. I went to New Zealand with the USA U23’s. After graduating from college, I played with Chicago North Shore for two years and then moved up to Minnesota to play with the Twin Cities Amazons (once the Women's Premier League (WPL) began in 2009). One of my proudest moments and fondest playing memories was when we won the WPL National Championship in 2013.
I was selected for the USA WNT 15’s and earned my first of 15 international caps in 2011. I competed in the 2014 Rugby World Cup in France and the 2017 Rugby World Cup in Ireland. In preparation for the 2017 World Cup, I trained full time at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista with the USA 7s team and earned my first 7s international cap on the HSBC 7s Series in Langford, Canada.
I retired from playing rugby in 2018 and was asked to join the High-Performance Team of USA Rugby. I was the Strength and Conditioning Coach with USA Rugby U20’s for two years before transitioning to the Lead Physical Performance Coach with the Senior WNT 15’s in 2020 with the honor of attending my third, consecutive Women's Rugby World Cup in 2022 in New Zealand, albeit this time on staff.
Tell us about your coaching journey:
Much of my coaching experience comes from my background in High Performance as a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist. I am fortunate to be one of the few high-level players who was able to progress in my career while still having the flexibility needed to pursue playing rugby at the international level. I've coached in the realm of high performance for almost 20 years now, working with a variety of age groups from youth through high school, college, and professional athletes in both the public and private sectors. During my last few years of playing, I began doing some volunteer coaching with the local university team and while living down in Miami, I accidentally became Head Coach of the University of Miami Women's Rugby Team for a 7’s Spring Season. I had initially reached out to see if I could be of any assistance and soon learned they needed a Head Coach. In 2019, I got a phone call from my good friend and old USA Rugby teammate, Mel Denham, asking if I had any interest coaching with her at Harvard University. I moved to Boston and joined her in the Fall of 2019. In the five seasons I was with Harvard, we won two NIRA 15’s National Championships (2019, 2023) and one 7’s National Championship (2024). During the Spring of 2024, I was elevated to Associate Head Coach as a recognition of the experience I had and the success we had as a team.
What are you most proud of at this point in your career?
I am most proud of the growth of the game, especially the women's game and I am incredibly excited for the future of women's rugby in the US. I feel beyond blessed to be able to work in rugby in a full-time capacity and to continue to make an impact in the lives of others, helping them to maximize their potential so they can chase and fulfill their dreams.
What's been eye opening or challenging about coaching?
Something I didn't expect was how much I've grown to love working with women, so much so that it is now my strong preference. What's been incredibly eye-opening to me is how massive the gender data gap is in sports science. In sports science, as little as 6% of research is conducted exclusively on women. I've had to re-think everything I've learned and "thought I knew" because throughout my education the science was based on male subjects. Fortunately, the landscape is changing, and we learn more about the unique differences in female athletes as the research on women becomes more accessible and women as subjects are prioritized.
Working with varsity level players, what do you see as their strengths when they come into the program?
I'm in awe of how young some of our players start learning and playing the game of rugby. This is HUGE when it comes to improving competition, not just collegiately, but also at the international level. Having playing experience helps improve game understanding and allows for quicker development across all aspects of the game. I am so grateful for the work that youth and High School coaches do to introduce the game and set their players up for success.
What areas of practice planning should coaches re-evaluate?
I think all coaches should be more mindful of how much time we spend talking throughout the practice and how much time players spend "watching". Time is our most valuable asset, so it’s important to be clear with our objectives and intentional in designing practices to maximize opportunities for learning, developing, and/or testing skill execution and decision making under pressure.
You are well regarded in thinking about player preparation - particularly the warm-up. Can you talk about this area?
In my opinion, the warmup is often overlooked or disregarded. I talked about the importance of time -- time being our most valuable asset. If we spend 10-15 minutes each training session in player prep and we have 5 training sessions a week (including game day warm up), that's a total of 50-75 minutes each week - that's a significant chunk of time! I think the warmup should achieve a few different outcomes.
The first aim is to prep the players mentally and physically for the demands of the session ahead. This might include a quick reaction game or handling activity to get them laughing or as a neurological "wake up" followed by some ground-based mobility/crawls/rolls and some posterior chain activation using mini bands or long bands.
The second aim is to prime them specifically for the outcomes we're attacking in the rugby session. This might be a quick evasive footwork and acceleration activity or an identifying space activity if we are going into an attack focused session. Or it might be more of a physical prime with some wrestling based activities and tracking if going into a defensive focused session. Whatever is going to help them get the most out of the session ahead.
The third aim is to build "robustness" throughout the week with the approach of "a little and often". This is where I'll ensure we have several jumping/ landing, deceleration/cutting, proprioceptive activities and supplemental neck work throughout the week to mitigate injuries common in rugby. Women are at 6 times greater risk of injury in sport. For me, it's aiming to maximize the time spent with an emphasis on overall physical development and preparation specific to the session ahead. If your warmup or session prep looks the same regardless of what the session ahead looks like, or if as a coach you pay no attention to the warmup while your players lead it, you're missing an important opportunity.
Non-rugby life? (Is there one?)
YES, a very important YES! Life balance is key to avoid burnout from the long grind of the season. That is easier said than done, but I think it's important to find what outside of rugby (both as a player and as a coach) fills your cup. If your cup runs dry, it makes it difficult to pour energy into anything and anyone else. For me, being with my German Shepherd out in nature (especially in the sunshine and likely barefoot) recharges me and being with my family and friends fills my cup. Some of my favorite past-times are water-skiing (slalom), hiking, reading, playing games, cooking, or learning a new skill.
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