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Women’s soccer legend Nicole “Barnie” Barnhart has a long list of achievements: two Olympic gold medals, two NWSL Championships, 2013 NWSL Goalkeeper of the Year award, and the NWSL record for most clean sheets in a career, to name a few. But lesser known to those accolades is her long-standing connection to and support of the disabled community.
In fact, being on the United States Women’s National Soccer Team (USWNT) and playing in Olympics and World Cups were not her only dreams. Growing up in her aunt’s art studio, Barnie developed a love for art and aspired to work as an art therapist in a children’s hospital. In college, Barnie took psychology classes and wanted a way to tie the two passions together.
After graduating from Stanford University, Barnie balanced the demanding schedule of being a professional athlete and national team member with volunteering at art days for the local children’s hospital. As a member of the Utah Royals, Barnie took part in an experience with the Special Olympics and was on the lookout to connect with similar communities upon joining the Washington Spirit in 2022. Word of her interest reached Glenda Smith, the executive director at So Kids SOAR.
So Kids SOAR is an organization built to empower youth with physical and developmental disabilities to strive, own, achieve and realize their potential. Or, in their words, SOAR. The organization offers a mix of arts, STEM, and recreational programming along with holiday celebrations and a vocational building program to all their participants.
An invitation to a So Kids SOAR event on her birthday sealed the deal for Barnie.
“It was the best birthday ever. I got to get out on the field, interact with the athletes, and just see so much joy. I mean, you go to something like that, and you think, ‘Oh, I’m going to bring so much to them,’ but I feel like you kind of walk away from it like, ‘Wow, they brought so much to me from that experience.’”
Right from the start of the first clinic, Barnie’s passion for the community was obvious to Smith.
“Barnie has such a natural connection with these kids. When she gets to our clinics, she goes immediately to meeting the kids, really working with them, wanting to have a moment with every one of our participants,” said Smith.
The impact of sports is far-reaching, especially for the youth, but those benefits aren’t just reserved for the able-bodied. So Kids SOAR provides the space and community for all children–not just the able-bodied–to experience the benefits of sports.
Smith says the sports experiences teach them that they are capable of anything.
“Part of the reason that a lot of our kids come to our clinics is for that connection with a professional athlete. I think a lot of our kids see their sports heroes on the TV at home and think they could never learn from them or be in the same space as them.”
And having a female professional athlete is all the more inspiring for the female participants. So Kids SOAR has put on soccer clinics for 10 years, but Barnie marks their first professional female soccer partner, inspiring and empowering the girls in the program to play, too.
Sometimes little moments are enormous examples as to why this work is so important to her. From playing goalkeeper against blind athletes to passing around the field with kids using their assistive mobility devices, Barnie recalls working with a little boy with a walker, who ran around scoring in mini goals.
“Just the joy and happiness on his face every time– the smile on my face was huge because of him and seeing how much love and joy and passion. It’s moments like that when you see how much those moments mean to them.”
At the beginning of each season, players on the Spirit often choose organizations they want to be involved with from a list of Spirit community partners. But in cases like Barnie’s, sometimes players can inform and begin new partnerships for the Spirit. Barnie’s personal connection and past work with disabled communities drove the Spirit to connect with So Kids SOAR and commit even further to supporting the disabled and adaptive sports community.
