Cindy Parlow Cone is the former head coach for Portland Thorns FC in the National Women's Soccer League, and a retired American professional soccer player and two-time Olympic Gold medalist. Parlow Cone played college soccer at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she was a four-time All-American and member of three teams that won the NCAA Women's Soccer Championship. She won the Hermann Trophy as outstanding female collegiate soccer player twice, in 1997 and 1998, and the ACC Female Athlete of the Year in 1999. Parlow was a founding member of the Women's United Soccer Association, and played for the Atlanta Beat, helping her team reach the playoffs in each of the league's three seasons of operation (2001–2003). Parlow began training with the U.S. Women's National Team in March 1995, making her first appearance (and scoring her first goal) in a January 14, 1996 friendly against Russia. She started all six games for the United States during their 1999 World Cup victory, scoring two goals. She was also a member of the 1996, 2000 and 2004 Olympic teams, as well as the 2003 Women's World Cup team.

Parlow Cone is also the face of an intitiative called "Safer Soccer." Safer Soccer was launched in 2014 by the Concussion Legacy Foundation, the Santa Clara University Institute of Sports Law and Ethics (ISLE), and led by U.S. Women's Soccer legends Brandi Chastain, Cindy Parlow Cone, and Joy Fawcett. Their mission is to educate parents, coaches, and soccer stakeholders on the benefits of delaying the introduction of headers in youth soccer until high school.

Soccer, Athlete, Sports, Sports Coach, Overcoming Adversity, Sports Coaching