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USL Sacramento Republic FC

Women in Sports Spotlight Series: Betty Olmedo

March 23, 2021 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Sacramento Republic FC News Release


Confidence.

That is the piece of advice that Republic FC Athletic Trainer, Betty Olmedo wants young women to embody when pursuing a career in sports.

"Don't let rejections or doubt keep you from achieving their goal," Olmedo says. "Don't let false unrealistic images of what women's roles are keep them from pursuing their dreams of having a career in sports."

Betty Olmedo is the first woman to be registered as Head Athletic Trainer in the Mexican Futbol Federation and continues to break barriers and show a pathway for women with a desire to have a career in sports.

Olmedo's track record in the beautiful game is vast and extends past well past the United States, previously working for Chivas, Veracruz, and Celaya.

Since joining Republic FC in 2020, Olmedo has received glowing comments from players and coaching staff in her effectiveness of getting players healthy and back on the pitch.

Betty returns to the capital city after graduating a Sacramento State Hornet, where she was a student athletic trainer during her collegiate career before teaching safety and first aid courses as an instructor at Sacramento City Community College in 2007.

In 2008, Betty joined one of the most historic clubs in Mexican soccer, Club Deportivo Guadalajara, as an Assistant Athletic Trainer. One year later, Betty joined Futbol Club Tiburones Rojos de Veracruz as the Head Athletic Trainer from 2011 to 2014. She then skipped across the Atlantic Ocean where she was a Graduate Assistant for FC Barcelona's academy, basketball, handball, and futsal teams.

She returned to Mexico in 2016 as the Head Athletic Trainer for Celaya FC and later owned her a performance center, Kinetics Performance Center in Jalisco, Mexico, before joining SRFC.

Olmedo has had many obstacles and doubts in her career but has never wavered even through the indecision of others in pursuit of following her path to destiny.

"We were constantly told that it was tough to work for a pro team, and nearly impossible for a woman to be considered in a male sport. I was told that I should reconsider being a Physical Education teacher and I would struggle to find a job. But I was not going to say no to my dreams. I wanted to do big things and didn't want to settle for a "normal" job," Olmedo says.

While her job focuses on keeping players healthy and on the pitch, her story as a professional has had others trying to sideline her.

"As a women athletic trainer working with professional men's soccer," Olmedo says, "I have dealt with my share of criticism and judgment for no other reason than being a woman. It is common to see women as being "less" than men, "less valuable", "less capable". This creates a lack of confidence in ourselves a lot of self-doubt. I can remember feeling judged and doubted while completing my university program because I had set my dreams and goals in professional soccer."

Republic FC's athletic trainer continues to embody the Indomitable Spirit by fighting through the naysayers to live her dream of being an athletic trainer for a professional soccer team.

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