This week on CoachCraft, my guest isn't a coach—she's a 17-year-old high school soccer player.
Maya Lanfer is a junior at Boston Latin School, where I've watched her play center back on the girls varsity team. She's an excellent center back, but just as impressive is what she's done off the field: researching ACL injuries in female athletes, interviewing sports medicine professionals, and creating educational videos that coaches and players can actually use.
Maya Lanfer on ACL Injury Prevention
Why This Matters
ACL injuries sideline thousands of young female athletes every year. And too often, coaches treat them as bad luck, a freak occurrence that couldn't have been prevented.
Maya challenges that assumption. As she puts it in our conversation: "It's not just bad luck. It's a statistical probability that it's going to happen this year, that it's going to happen next year, and the year after that."
The research backs her up. Female athletes are two to eight times more likely to tear their ACL than male athletes. For a female high school soccer player, there's roughly a 5% chance of tearing an ACL each season. Over four years, that adds up.
But here's what struck me most: the tools to prevent these injuries already exist. Simple warm-up exercises, done twice a week, can reduce ACL injuries by 64 to 83 percent. Maya breaks down exactly what those exercises are—and how to build them into your team's routine.
What We Covered
Why female athletes are more susceptible to ACL injuries
The emotional toll of the injury—not just the physical recovery
The five exercises Maya has implemented with her own teams
Why coaches need to dedicate practice time to prevention (not just send players an app)
The case for multi-sport participation and avoiding early specialization
“Coaches have to know that it's going to happen again and that they have a responsibility to be prepared—and that there's things that they can do to be prepared.”
The Bigger Picture
This conversation connects to something larger happening in women's soccer right now. Emma Hayes, the U.S. Women's National Team coach, has been vocal about developing the game through what she calls a "female lens"—recognizing that youth sports development has historically been built around boys, and that girls deserve an approach designed specifically for them.
ACL prevention is part of that story. The research exists. The exercises work. It's just a matter of implementation.
Resources
Maya's Videos
FIFA 11+ Program: The evidence-based warm-up program Maya references.
“Soccer is a big part of my community. It's a big part of who I am... how I find joy in my day. And so just thinking of that nine months—a big part of your life is taken away.”
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Player Wellbeing - CoachFives
I’m excited to be involved in developing this new platform for youth coaches launching this Spring. For any youth-focused club today, player care and wellbeing must come first. That means clear values, strong organisation, and a real investment in coach recruitment and training. It also means being able to show parents — simply and confidently — that their child’s development, confidence, and happiness are central to how the club defines “a winning season.”
CoachFives.com
The CoachCraft Podcast
CoachCraft explores the art and impact of coaching youth sports through in-depth conversations with renowned coaches from grassroots to professional levels, revealing how exceptional mentors use athletics to shape character, build confidence, and positively impact young lives.
Learn more at https://coachcraftpodcast.com.
