Working with Parents in Sport and Cincinnati United Expand Landmark Partnership for 2026-27 Season
Cincinnati United becomes the first club in the world to receive customised copies of the newly launched Sports Performance Parenting 2.0, as the organisations’ club-wide coach and parent education programme enters its second year.
Working with Parents in Sport (WWPIS) and Cincinnati United today announced a significant expansion of their partnership for the 2026-27 season, building on a first-year programme that delivered live education sessions, customised digital resources, and books to hundreds of families across the club.
The partnership, which launched last year with live sessions, customised website access, Our Sporting Journey books for the club’s youngest players, and copies of Sports Performance Parenting distributed to parents of U11 travel team players, will grow substantially in scope for 2026-27.
This season, live sessions will be delivered to coaches across the entire organisation and to parents across multiple programmes, including the Girls Academy and MLS NEXT pathways, with further virtual sessions planned for additional groups later in the year. Every parent and coach at the club will also gain access to a customised WWPIS/Cincinnati United digital platform, supported by a new social media content pack cataloguing more than 500 pieces of educational content for distribution across the club’s social channels, newsletters, and team communications.
Cincinnati United’s youngest players, at the U8 level, will each receive a copy of Our Sporting Journey, an interactive book designed to put children at the heart of their own sporting experience. Packed with engaging activities, the book encourages meaningful interaction between young athletes, their parents or carers, and their coaches — through conversation, play, and shared memories — creating a keepsake families can return to for years to come.
Older performance and travel team athletes’ parents will receive Sports Performance Parenting 2.0, the newly upgraded edition of the global bestseller, designed to help guide families through every stage of the youth sports journey. Cincinnati United is the first club anywhere in the world to receive customised versions of the new edition — a milestone that underscores the depth of the club’s commitment to supporting families both on and off the field.
‘This is such an exciting partnership for us,’ said Gordon MacLelland, CEO of WWPIS. ‘High-quality relationships in sporting environments between management, coaches, parents and young players can be difficult to achieve, particularly given the wide range of motivations at play. They don’t happen by chance, and they don’t happen simply by handing people a set of resources. This whole package of support, helping to align messaging and drive meaningful change within the context of the club is genuinely inspiring to be part of.’
“Working with Gordon and WWPIS is an absolute game-changer for our club,” said Hugh Seyfarth, Director of Coaching at Cincinnati United. “Gordon truly understands the complexities of the youth sports environment and offers real-world tools that bring coaches and parents onto the same team. When we all work better together, coaches, parents, and the club, the biggest winner is always the player. That’s what this partnership is all about.”
As the 2026-27 season gets underway, the expanded partnership positions Cincinnati United as a model for what club-wide alignment between coaches, parents, and young athletes can look like in practice supported by resources now reaching every level of the organisation, from first-time U8 players to the club’s elite pathway programmes.
