Kaylyn Kyle has parlayed years of soccer with the Canadian national team and in pro leagues, into a bustling career as a broadcast soccer analyst.

What sets Kyle apart isn’t just her deep knowledge of the game and tactics, but her willingness to speak plainly about the issues and players before her. Kyle is not afraid to court controversy, nor to call out poor behaviour when she sees it. She’s brutally honest about the economics of being an NWSL player. And when she argues in favour of a Canadian women’s pro soccer league? Resistance may not be futile, but good luck if you happen to oppose her points of view.

All of which makes Kaylyn Kyle an ideal podcast guest. Kaylyn regales Anastasia with tales of an incredibly hardworking mother of two… questions the academic results for preschoolers that she sees in the USA, makes several persuasive points in favour of beginning an athletic career in Saskatchewan, pinpoints the moment in which a lifelong love of playing soccer fizzled into frustration, and then tops it all off with an amusing description of her own not exactly planned dive out of the way of the bronze medal winning goal for Canada in London in 2012.

Kyle pushes listeners’ buttons, no question. So if you don’t care for fast-talking, fully-informed, and highly opinionated women, don’t say we didn’t warn you.