P R E S S  R E L E A S E

 

WPSL NAMES NEW ASSOCIATE COMMISSIONER FOR THE SOUTH REGION AHEAD OF 2025 SEASON  

 

 

 

OKLAHOMA CITY (12/17/2024) — The Women’s Premier Soccer League announced today it has named Gretchen Hammel to the role of South Region Associate Commissioner. With the position, Hammel brings insight from experience as a team founder, general manager, coach, and former WPSL player.

 

 

“I am grateful for the opportunity to be working for WPSL,” Hammel said. “It feels like I’m ‘coming full circle’ after operating two teams in the WPSL from 2015 to 2021.” 

 

 

In 2014, Hammel played for Chattanooga Football Club Women while serving as a player-manager and general manager of its WPSL team, which went on to win the Southeast Conference and garner WPSL Franchise of the Year honors in 2018. The following season Hammel launched the Chattanooga Lady Red Wolves SC, where she served  as owner and general manager from 2019-2022, winning the Southeast Conference in the club’s debut year. 

 

 

“The WPSL has always been a terrific organization to work with. I had a great experience as a GM, and now as an Associate Commissioner,” Hammel said. “As a GM, I loved the transparency of the WPSL, their structure, and accessibility. I am hoping my experience will be helpful to the WPSL and to the conferences.” 
 

 

Growing up in the Chattanooga area, Hammel was on the team that launched the women’s program at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC)  in 1996. A prolific collegiate goal scorer and Academic All-American, Hammel still ranks in the Mocs’ Top 10 for goals, assists, and holds the record for minutes played. After earning a degree in nutrition at UTC, Hammel went on to obtain a degree as a registered dietitian at Oakwood College in Huntsville, Ala. 

 

 

A longtime coach in the region, Hammel has coached at nearly every level, serving as a Division I assistant coach at her alma mater, UTC, leading the high school and middle school programs at Grace Academy and CCS.  Hammel has also served as a strength and conditioning coach and holds a United Soccer Coaches Advanced National Coaching Diploma. 

 

 

For her expansive work furthering women’s soccer in the Chattanooga area, where she lives with her husband and two daughters, Hammel was inducted into the Greater Chattanooga Sports Hall of Fame this year. 

 

 

As Associate Commissioner, Hammel will oversee all the teams aligned in the South Region of the WPSL’s footprint. The official WPSL Roster of Teams alignment will be unveiled at its Annual General Meeting next month in Oklahoma City.

 

 

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For more information on the WPSL, visit wpslsoccer.com.

 

 

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About the Women’s Premier Soccer League 

The WPSL completed its 26th season of play in 2024 as the longest-active women’s soccer league in the United States. Boasting more than 140 clubs nationwide while occupying 32 states coast-to-coast, the WPSL solidifies itself as the largest women’s soccer league in the world. Team rosters feature elite collegiate, post-collegiate, international, and standout prep student-athletes. Many of the United States’ most accomplished women’s national team players have played in the WPSL since its inception in 1998, including household names such as Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, Abby Wambach, and Brandi Chastain