Skylar Martine Meinhardt (; born March 10, 1978) is an American former

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who work (human activity), works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the partic ...

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player. A consistent

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

, she played for

Washington Freedom Washington Freedom may refer to: * Washington Freedom (cricket) * Washington Freedom (soccer) {{dab ...

Women's United Soccer Association The Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) was the world's first women's soccer league in which all the players were paid as professionals. Founded in February 2000, the league began its first season in April 2001 with eight teams in the Uni ...

(WUSA) and trained with the senior

United States women's national soccer team The United States women's national soccer team (USWNT) represents the United States in international women's soccer. The team is governed by the United States Soccer Federation and competes in CONCACAF (the Confederation of North, Central Ameri ...

Playing career

College

Meinhardt attended the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

and played

college soccer College soccer, called college football in some countries, is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. While it is most widespread in the United States, it is also prominent in Japan, South Kore ...

. She graduated in 1999 with a degree in

sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...

. With the Bruins, Meinhardt made 84 appearances (68 starts) and served five assists.

Club

(WUSA), the first official

women's soccer league in the United States, began in 2001. Meinhardt was a fourth-round draft pick (26th overall in the global draft) by the

Washington Freedom Washington Freedom may refer to: * Washington Freedom (cricket) * Washington Freedom (soccer) {{dab ...

. In

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

Meinhardt started 19 of her 20 regular season appearances. In

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

she started all 20 regular season appearances and scored one goal as the Freedom finished third. She featured in the

championship game A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional/provincial/state, national, continental and world championships, and ...

but the Freedom lost 3–2 to

Carolina Courage Carolina Courage was a professional soccer team that played in the Women's United Soccer Association. The team played at Fetzer Field on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus in 2001, and then at the soccer-specific SAS Stadium in Cary, North Carolina i ...

. Freedom

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

Jim Gabarra praised Meinhardt's improvement: "She is a very good one vs. one defender and one of the first names you put in your line-up." Ahead of the

2003 WUSA season The 2003 Women's United Soccer Association season was the third and final season for WUSA, the first top level professional women's soccer league in the United States. The regular season began on April 5 and ended on August 10. The playoffs beg ...

, Meinhardt had knee surgery and she spent the

off-season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of S ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, volunteering in a

children's hospital A children's hospital (CH) is a hospital that offers its services exclusively to infants, children, adolescents, and young adults from birth up to until age 18, and through age 21 and older in the United States. In certain special cases, the ...

. Another solid and dependable campaign saw Meinhardt start all 20 regular season games and play in the

2003 WUSA Founders Cup The 2003 WUSA Founders Cup, also known as Founders Cup III, was the third and final championship match in Women's United Soccer Association history, played between the Atlanta Beat (WUSA), Atlanta Beat and the Washington Freedom (soccer), Washin ...

win.

International

In December 1999 Meinhardt was called into a senior

training camp in

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

Personal life

Meinhardt and her

identical twin Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of Twin Last Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two ...

Jacqui Little were born in

the Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, but grew up playing soccer in

Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles Pacific Palisades is a neighborhood in the Westside region of the city of Los Angeles, California, situated about west of downtown Los Angeles. Throughout January 2025, the majority of Pacific Palisades was severely affected and destroyed by ...

. Jacqui, a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

, played college soccer with

Santa Clara Broncos The Santa Clara Broncos are athletic teams that represent Santa Clara University. The school colors are red and white. The nicknames for teams is The Broncos and the student fans are referred to as the "Ruff Riders". The Broncos compete in the ...

, while defender Skylar elected to stay closer to home with UCLA. In the

1999 NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Tournament The 1999 NCAA Division I women's soccer tournament (also known as the 1999 Women's College Cup) was the 18th annual single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of NCAA Division I women's collegiate soccer. The semifinals an ...

, Jacqui's Broncos team beat Skylar's Bruins 7–0. Jacqui was drafted by the Bay Area CyberRays and faced Skylar's Washington Freedom in WUSA's inaugural match, which the Freedom won 1–0. In November 2001 Washington Freedom

traded Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. Traders generally negotiate through a medium of credi ...

their Brazilian forward

Pretinha Delma Gonçalves (born 19 May 1975), commonly known as Pretinha,In a June 199with Grant Wahl, Pretinha said her nickname means "little black girl" and that the reference to skin color is not considered problematic in Brazil. is a Brazilian prof ...

to the CyberRays for Jacqui Little and a third round draft pick. Jacqui and Skylar were therefore team-mates on the Washington Freedom roster in 2002 and 2003. After the collapse of WUSA, Meinhardt registered with a

temp agency Temporary work or temporary employment (also called gigs) refers to an employment situation where the working arrangement is limited to a certain period of time-based on the needs of the employing organization. Temporary employees are sometimes ...

and did: "every odd job you could possibly imagine". She then secured a permanent role in

sales Sales are activities related to selling or the number of goods sold in a given targeted time period. The delivery of a service for a cost is also considered a sale. A period during which goods are sold for a reduced price may also be referred ...

for Wolf Designs in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

. In 2016 she was living in

Westchester, Los Angeles Westchester is a neighborhood in the City of Los Angeles and the South Bay region of Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is home to Los Angeles International Airport, Loyola Marymount University, Otis College of Art and Design ...

, had changed her surname from Little to Meinhardt and had three children.

References

External links

Profile
at

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Big Ten Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Little, Skylar Living people 1978 births American women's soccer players 21st-century American sportswomen UCLA Bruins women's soccer players Women's United Soccer Association players Soccer players from California Washington Freedom (soccer) players Women's association football defenders