“To have the opportunity to be back on the field now in a different role and experience that same feeling of pride in representing our country and being part of something so much bigger than myself - there’s nothing that compares to it.” - Tiffany Roberts Sahaydak “To have the opportunity to be back on the field now in a different role and experience that same feeling of pride in representing our country and being part of something so much bigger than myself - there’s nothing that compares to it.”

Even though so much has changed, there’s so much that’s still the same,” says Sahaydak, who won a 1996 Olympic gold medal and the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup. They greet each player with a high five and, for a brief moment, Sahaydak time travels to her decade of playing with the USWNT, which started in 1994 when she was 16 years old.

Women’s National Team (USWNT) match day that never fails to put a smile on Sahaydak’s face.ĭecked in her Team USA gear, she stands in line with the coaching staff on the pitch as they wait for the players to come out of the locker room to begin their warmup. Women’s National Team player Alex Morgan ahead of the 2022 Concacaf W Championship (Photo by Brad Smith/ISI Photos) Coming Home At the end of the day I feel like this isn’t just for me because I’m able to invest this experience back into UCF.” Tiffany Roberts Sahaydak and U.S. And I wouldn’t want to do it without their support. “I understand that I couldn’t take on this opportunity without their support. “I become really emotional when I think about how everybody has to do more when I’m gone, and that they’re happy to do it, just so that I can have this opportunity,” Sahaydak says. They acknowledge that pursuing these dream gigs is equally as challenging as it is rewarding - and made all the better by the encouragement they’ve received from their families, student-athletes and colleagues. This month alone, Sahaydak will be on the sidelines of the Concacaf W Championship in Mexico as the USWNT vies for automatic berths to the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup and the 2024 Paris Olympics while Ball-Malone will be in Birmingham, Alabama, for softball’s World Games on the hunt for the gold medal.

With their current posts on national team staffs, they join a special club of UCF head coaches - including men’s basketball’s Johnny Dawkins and volleyball’s Todd Dagenais - who have gained invaluable experience in coaching some of the most elite athletes at the highest level. The super moms are pulling double duty as assistant coaches for Team USA of their respective sports. An off-season doesn’t really exist these days for UCF women’s soccer head coach Tiffany Roberts Sahaydak and Knights softball head coach Cindy Ball-Malone.

Team joining hands