By OkayGoal 
“We don’t drive cars with blindfolds on,
why should we drive our pipeline with blindfolds on?”
Jonathan Kiersky makes an excellent point.
This analogy from Kiersky perfectly encapsulates the momentum behind GSN’s new partnership series with Kiersky’s The Captains Agency and PIRlo, his data-driven rating system for players at every level of the game.
Evolutions in scouting and player discovery have always been issues of human limitation. There are only so many games one can attend or tapes one can watch in a day. Without a universal system to track the stats of each player, recruitment choices are left to judgement rather than giving the numbers — and the player — a chance to shine.
Why aren’t we applying the same rigorous statistical analysis used on professional players to those working to get there? Why aren’t college and youth recruitments treated with the same detail and intention as elite player acquisitions in the transfer market?
Matching profile fit, evaluating performance against different levels of opposition, and understanding how each action affects the game are vital for building the most successful environments possible — for both the player and the team. The youth and the women’s game stand to benefit enormously from making these advancements to the player development pipeline.
PIRlo is a solution that gets to the heart of these issues.
Girls Soccer Network and The Captains Agency are aligned in creating stronger, more democratized pipelines for youth players to achieve their soccer dreams — whether that means going pro or simply scoring more for their school team.
Kiersky says it best: “PIRlo doesn’t care about your last name, it only cares about what you’ve accomplished on the pitch.”
What the Numbers Unlock
Stats don’t always tell a player’s full story. But with PIRlo, the data weaves a vivid one.
Kiersky’s method takes hundreds of tracked actions and builds a complete picture of a player’s strengths, weaknesses, and even the pro player whose attributes they most resemble. Do you play like Trinity Rodman? Now you know exactly whose game to study so you can level up your own.
How It Works
PIRlo uses game footage to gather data on over 50 possible playing actions during a match. The system measures performance based on others in your position and league, weighing every sequence — whether you make a decisive defensive play or score a goal. The result is a rating that reflects your actual impact on team success.
PIRlo doesn’t replace visual scouting. It deepens it — bringing consistency, clarity, and confidence to the process of recruitment and development.
People will always argue that “soccer isn’t played on a spreadsheet.” It’s not, obviously, but there are aspects of the game that can be learned from looking at the data.
“It’s about changing perceptions overall,” adds Kiersky. “Taking a player’s body of work over a season and people changing their opinions because what you’re presenting to them is, in reality, irrefutable.”
The Human Payoff
In being completely objective, PIRlo gives players the honesty and encouragement they need. It treats youth players as moldable, constantly evolving toward their future selves.
Kiersky frames the mission well:
“At the end of the day, week, month, season, year — we want the kids to do things they never envisioned prior to that time period… We want players to not only perform better but also understand HOW to perform better.”
It’s through tools like this — not binary judgment — that every player is given a real chance to accomplish what they want with the sport. It’s how we continue to uncover and cultivate the gems that keep the U.S. at the forefront of youth development and the apex of the women’s game.
And the reward, for Kiersky, isn’t the data itself — it’s what it unlocks.
“The coolest thing, without a doubt, is when a kid gets their hands on their Playing Report and you can see the light go on.”
Why GSN?
As The Captains Agency expands its footprint in the women’s game, Kiersky sees GSN as the ideal platform to broaden its impact.
The partnership is a natural fit — tech built to elevate the women’s game, amplified by a platform built to tell its stories.
What Comes Next
Keep an eye out for GSN’s series of posts and articles using PIRlo data from The Captains Agency to assess the 2025 NWSL season — including transfer market predictions and roster evaluations for the league’s 2026 season.
A pipeline with purpose. Data with clarity. Opportunity with proof.
The blindfold is coming off.
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