Who are you employed by?
Laguna Niguel Youth Soccer, which is the parent of Laguna United FC. I am the Director of Coaching. It is rare to have a woman as the DOC. I also work as a coaching educator for US Youth and US Soccer (although they are changing the requirements so I have to take some more training soon!). I also am launching my own side business called 1v1 Consulting in December. Other volunteer projects that I am involved in include: Coaches Across Continents, Cal South Women’s Committee, US Youth Soccer Technical Committee, Women’s Soccer Initiative, Women in Youth Sports Coalition and I go back to my hometown of Flint every summer and do a free clinic for kids in the community.
As coach what challenges have and are you faced with?
Every day is different. I think the biggest challenge is getting everyone to understand that it is Long Term Player Development. Our society wants immediate results and in youth sports, that is the wrong attitude. As a female, the basic challenge is that in a new environment, I have to reprove myself all the time. Now I am at a point in my career that most people know I will speak my mind and either like me a lot or don’t. I am fine with that. Never been one to be a "Yes" person, so I am okay with upsetting the apple carts. Another challenge is that within youth sports we don’t have enough support systems like an HR department or health insurance or retirement plans. We have an unconventional job and even though we are
educated professionals we are not really looked at as such. I can’t tell you how many people ask if I do this full-time or if I get paid.
What is your training schedule?
With my job I work from home during the day and am on the field most nights. On weekends, we have games. I currently coach one team within our club and I am getting ready to start our high school season at Dana Hills High School as well. I also get out and watch many of the teams in our club. I am very active in many committees and Women’s groups so I spend my time with calls and meetings for those as well.
Currently what important events and goals are you looking forward to?
Launching of my new business 1v1Consulting Inc., which is a boutique sports consulting agency that focuses mainly on girls and women’s empowerment-it’s coming December 1st. The creation of Women Talk Football on Kaoticradio.com and the NSCAA convention in LA where I am on the Local Organizing Committee. My main goal is to help grow the number of women in the game on every level. I want to be a role model for younger women to show them that they can use the skills they learned playing soccer and transfer them into a career.
What changes are you working on for women in soccer?
Getting more of the women in the game connected. We don’t know about each other and there is power in numbers. growing the network of women who can impact their local communities and continue to grow our numbers.