WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, Washington Spirit, Olympique Lyonnais Féminin, and London City Lionesses owner and innovator Michele Kang announced the creation and launch of the Kynisca Innovation Hub (KIH). An initiative of Kynisca Sports International Ltd., KIH is a non-profit organization aiming to revolutionize training methods through education and innovation to unlock female athletic potential.
Even as investment in women’s sports grows, little to no resources have been dedicated to how female athletes are trained. Currently, only 6% of sports science data is focused exclusively on females. Through KIH, a global team of world-class scientists, academics, and engineers will prioritize developing and sharing evidence-based, tailored training methods and education for coaches and practitioners. The input from athletic females is also key to the mission, and KIH is excited to announce the first two athlete ambassadors: World Cup winning soccer player Samantha Mewis and Rachel Ott Chancey, an Active Duty Air Force Colonel of 22 years.
“We have only begun to unlock the potential of female athletes. We will understand women’s physiology and biology and train athletes according to supporting data,” said Michele Kang. “Kynisca Innovation Hub will become a pioneer of female performance research – so we can stop training women as if they are simply small men – and unlock their true potential.”
KIH is targeting to raise $100 million to support its mission. Kang has announced a $50 million contribution in combined seed funding and matching funds to foster innovation at KIH. We need support from the corporate community to join us in fostering projects focused on women’s health and advancing education, treatments and performance specific to female physiology.
Led by Dawn Scott (Executive Director) and Theresa McDonnell (Chief Executive Officer), KIH is dedicated to developing a comprehensive suite of solutions, aiming to create the world's largest database to answer essential questions about female health, wellness and performance. Insights from academic research and leading data analytics centers will inform innovative training protocols that will transform how female athletes at all levels are trained. The KIH suite of solutions will feature four key tools: a consumer app, a coach platform, a data analysis platform, and the KIH website.
“Having worked as a practitioner in elite women’s sport for over 20 years, this is the first time I have received support of this scale, both in terms of level of investment and, most importantly, understanding the need to focus on training females as females,” said Scott. “I am honored to be part of Michele’s vision and excited to be working with our world-leading experts to develop the global blueprint for female athlete support.”
“Michele’s unprecedented commitment to advancing women’s sports is providing the long-needed resources to close the 6% gap and finally develop training methods to optimize female athletic performance,” said McDonnell. “The Innovation Hub results will have a massive global impact on all sports and all levels of play.”
About Kynisca Sports International, Ltd.
Kynisca Sports International, Ltd. is a pioneering global organization dedicated to women’s sports, headquartered in London, United Kingdom. Kynisca’s mission is to transform women's football through unprecedented investment, proving its commercial viability and cultural impact around the world. The organization supports female athletes with state-of-the-art facilities, world-class technical staff, and innovative sports science through the Kynisca Innovation Hub, while preserving each club’s unique identity. Kynisca is the first global, female-owned, multi-club organization leading the way in women’s health innovation and entertainment while building a high-performance culture of excellence on and off the pitch. For more information, visit our website here.
About Kynisca Innovation Hub (KIH)
The Kynisca Innovation Hub (KIH) is a global, innovative center dedicated to revolutionizing training methodologies for female athletes through cutting-edge research, education, and innovation. With only six percent of sports science research focused on women, KIH aims to unlock female athletic potential by establishing the largest female athlete health and performance hub globally. As part of Kynisca’s mission to transform women’s football and support female athletes, KIH tailors performance evaluation and training to the specifics of the female body, pioneering a holistic model that will disrupt the women's sports industry. For more information, visit our website here.