# Female coaches... where are they?



## Playmaker38 (Jan 1, 2019)

With so many female players, there is a huge disparity in the number of female coaches. Have any of your DD’s expressed any interest in coaching once they’re finished playing? Anyone with any insight into why more girls don’t get into coaching?


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## timbuck (Jan 1, 2019)

Thank you for posting this.  I’ve been thinking about this for a while.  Seems that female coaches are out there, but they only last a season or 2.  It’s baffling as to why there aren’t a lot more.  Many are young and recently finished their college playing careers. 
Is it an “old boys network” that keeps them down?


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## LASoccerMom (Jan 1, 2019)

This article talks about women coaching D1 basketball. It had stayed with me. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/30/sports/ncaabasketball/coaches-women-title-ix.html

A few years ago I witnessed several coaches run a run a round robin at the end of practice their littles practices. The one woman coach kept the teams moving while the four men coaches looked at their phones. She is not coaching any more.


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## LASTMAN14 (Jan 1, 2019)

It’s a question many of the parents I know ask continuously. It hope to see more women in coaching. I have theories but could it be proportional to the number females who are involved in the game after college?


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## Definitelynotanotherref (Jan 1, 2019)

Or maybe it is just that men and women are different. Men receive a vicarious competitive pleasure of controlling a team to victory that women do not get as much or find elsewhere. It is probably the same reason that video games are more appealing to men than women. It is a way to express dominance at an age where your body can no longer keep up. It lets men relive past glories and feed off the energy of youth. Have you met a woman that has spent over a 100 hours taking a team from 3rd division all the way to premier and start a 20 year dynasty through meticulous and effective coaching, management and scouting..... in FIFA 18 the video game? I'm not saying that men are better or anything, this mentality can be both a gift and a curse.


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## timbuck (Jan 1, 2019)

An all girls club, run by all women would be something I would sign my kid up for in an instant.  (Pending they aren’t complete fools)


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## jose (Jan 1, 2019)

There should be more women coaches it is an interesting occurrence that there are so few.  I would love to know the reason why there are so few. I hope they aren't being frozen out and if so like timbuck says do an all girl club with female coaches


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## Socal United (Jan 1, 2019)

Family?  We just lost 3 coaches this year and two the previous year because of wanting or starting a family, job move, getting married.  I think most women don't look at this as a career, which I completely understand.  It is super tough to be a good mom and a coach, that is just the honest truth.


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## coachrefparent (Jan 1, 2019)

Socal United said:


> Family?  We just lost 3 coaches this year and two the previous year because of wanting or starting a family, job move, getting married.  I think most women don't look at this as a career, which I completely understand.  It is super tough to be a good mom and a coach, that is just the honest truth.


This may be part of it. Or put another way, successful women who were prior successful players may have higher aspirations (or morals) than the so called "track suit" guys.  That being said, I've known plenty of great female coaches that have lasted quite a  awhile.


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## Soccerfan2 (Jan 1, 2019)

I think family is the main reason. Women are still generally the primary caretakers of children and coaching for most isn’t an attractive pay/family balance option as a career choice. The vast majority of female coaches I know across multiple sports are either before/without marriage and kids or just coach their own kids’ teams. 
It would be nice to see more at all levels!


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## Kante (Jan 1, 2019)

timbuck said:


> An all girls club, run by all women would be something I would sign my kid up for in an instant.  (Pending they aren’t complete fools)


agreed. not quite run by all women but pretty close. have heard some good things abut this club. http://tudelafcla.com/


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## socalkdg (Jan 1, 2019)

My daughter has guest played for a female coach while her current coaches are male.  Makes no difference.   If you are good you are good.


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## El Clasico (Jan 2, 2019)

Not sure what is so "baffling" about it. Why not break down your own response and I think you will find your answer. Yes, there are many young women who have recently finished their college playing careers along with completing their academic career which means that they not only learned to play and love the game but also learned how to earn a living which now gives them options. Yes they can choose to go into coaching or they can pursue a career in their chosen field. In my opinion, my girls have two options, utilize the skill set developed over many years of team sports, like club soccer, to navigate her way through the business minefield and up the corporate ladder learning to deal with those competitive sharks and a-holes. Or they can slum and go into coaching and deal with real scum. Put yourself in their place, these are strong, young, intelligent women and they are smart enough to know that coaching is mostly a dead end for them.  How would that same young woman enjoy working under a bunch of stiff dicks that are less skilled, less accomplished and less educated but think that they are the sh*t because they assist at a local high school or played on the community college team?


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## Primetime (Jan 2, 2019)

Our Club (CDA SLAMMERS FC - Whittier)  has one of the only Female DOCs that I know.    Working with her as one of the other directors there I know that trying to add female coaches is always something we're trying to do.   But it's easier said than done.   There's just not nearly as many available.  Of 22 or so total coaches we only have 4.    But I can definitely tell you from a directors standpoint our female coaches perform just as well as the male coaches do.    We just don't get the numbers to be able to add more.


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## electrichead72 (Jan 2, 2019)

For the last three years, my older daughter's team has had a male coach, but he hires a female trainer to run the sessions and the drills. It worked out great until she moved on to coach at the collegiate level. She was single with no kids, so perhaps that is why she sticks with the coaching.

The coach has now brought in another female trainer along with a few male trainers that rotate.

Her HS varsity coach is also female.

My youngest daughter's assistant coach is also female.

I don't see too many of them, but we've only been in club soccer for about 5 or 6 years. They are out there, but not too many of them.


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## timbuck (Jan 2, 2019)

There does seem to be quite a few females that do private training.
They don’t pick up a team for one or more of the following reasons:
1.  They can’t dedicate every weekend to coaching.   They are either working a job that requires weekend work or would prefer to spend time with family.
2.  They prefer the flexibility of private training and can set their own schedule.
3.  They prefer the under-the-table cash of private training vs the 1099 of coaching.
4.  They don’t want to deal with parents.
5.   They don’t want to deal with club politics.  As a new coach, unless they are bringing a team over, they’ll be working with lower level / lower age group teams.  And then have their best players plucked away by the coach who has the higher team.
6. As mentioned above-  they have higher aspirations. And probably parental expectations. “You went to Standford for 4 years and now your just running around with 9 year olds on a soccer field?  You need to get a real job, with benefits and move out of our house”


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## USA_SOCCER_1 (Jan 2, 2019)

LASoccerMom said:


> This article talks about women coaching D1 basketball. It had stayed with me.
> 
> https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/30/sports/ncaabasketball/coaches-women-title-ix.html
> 
> A few years ago I witnessed several coaches run a run a round robin at the end of practice their littles practices. The one woman coach kept the teams moving while the four men coaches looked at their phones. She is not coaching any more.


Aren’t they looking at their “coaching app?”  That is what I was told by the club’s DOC when I mentioned that issue about a coach.


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## Overlap (Jan 2, 2019)

Playmaker38 said:


> With so many female players, there is a huge disparity in the number of female coaches. Have any of your DD’s expressed any interest in coaching once they’re finished playing? Anyone with any insight into why more girls don’t get into coaching?


interesting topic and a book someone mentioned on a different thread goes into detail about this subject. ("How College Athletics are Hurting Girls' Sports the pay-to-play pipeline"), no real answers there either, just a lot of thoughts but, now with Title IX, there's even fewer women coaches and the numbers are getting worse. Interesting read and while I don't agree with a lot in the book, it appears it is a "male dominated" sport when it comes to coaching and the good ol boy's network, I had to laugh as they talked about this and even mentioned, if you have an accent and you're male it's a huge plus as a coach.


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## coachrefparent (Jan 2, 2019)

Overlap said:


> interesting topic and a book someone mentioned on a different thread goes into detail about this subject. ("How College Athletics are Hurting Girls' Sports the pay-to-play pipeline"), no real answers there either, just a lot of thoughts but, now with Title IX, there's even fewer women coaches and the numbers are getting worse. Interesting read and while I don't agree with a lot in the book, it appears it is a "male dominated" sport when it comes to coaching and the good ol boy's network, I had to laugh as they talked about this and even mentioned, if you have an accent and you're male it's a huge plus as a coach.


Pure anecdote, that I doubt is accurate.  Show us the women being turned down, or turned out to coach girls.  Never seen it, and doubt it exists to any great extent.  Most clubs I know are looking for women coaches, not the opposite.


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## Playmaker38 (Jan 3, 2019)

coachrefparent said:


> Pure anecdote, that I doubt is accurate.  Show us the women being turned down, or turned out to coach girls.  Never seen it, and doubt it exists to any great extent.  Most clubs I know are looking for women coaches, not the opposite.


But are they genuinely looking for them to take up higher positions in the club? Or is it tokenistic? From the few women I have seen coaching they are mostly in the juniors programs. Head out to tournaments like surf cup and Silverlakes with hundreds of “high” level girls teams in the one place and it is a ghost town for female coaches. 

Maybe there are in roads to coaching but also dead end roads to advancement?


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## Eagle33 (Jan 3, 2019)

Wonder whatever happened to her?

https://www.soccertoday.com/laguna-united-doc-carrie-taylor-importance-female-coaches/


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## USA_SOCCER_1 (Jan 3, 2019)

Playmaker38 said:


> But are they genuinely looking for them to take up higher positions in the club? Or is it tokenistic? From the few women I have seen coaching they are mostly in the juniors programs. Head out to tournaments like surf cup and Silverlakes with hundreds of “high” level girls teams in the one place and it is a ghost town for female coaches.
> 
> Maybe there are in roads to coaching but also dead end roads to advancement?


I personally am for women advancing as high as their skills and abilities will take them - in any endeavor, in any field. But I think the lack of women at high levels in youth soccer (if it is actually a thing) is because the women are too smart and they’re doing other things. Youth soccer seems to be more of a thing for punters in track suits trying to raise a few quid for a pint and a trip to Ladbrokes and/or short guys with Napoleons Syndrome.


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## twoclubpapa (Jan 3, 2019)

I can't speak to the number of women coaches in club soccer but my experience in recent years is that there is an increasing number of women coaches at the girls varsity level in high school and an even higher percentage at the JV and Soph/Frosh girls levels.  In one OC high school league last year I believe half of the girls varsity coaches were female.  I also remember that there was a boys JV or F/S team with a female coach in the recent past.


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## jose (Jan 3, 2019)

Playmaker38 said:


> But are they genuinely looking for them to take up higher positions in the club? Or is it tokenistic? From the few women I have seen coaching they are mostly in the juniors programs. Head out to tournaments like surf cup and Silverlakes with hundreds of “high” level girls teams in the one place and it is a ghost town for female coaches.
> 
> Maybe there are in roads to coaching but also dead end roads to advancement?


or perhaps like most professions you get in develop and then work your way up.


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## Playmaker38 (Jan 3, 2019)

jose said:


> or perhaps like most professions you get in develop and then work your way up.


Absolutely agree with this, the observation is there appear to be roadblocks to doing so whether those be self inflicted or systematic.

But I also believe that a good coach is a good coach and they should be coaching teams that can best benefit from their experieneces (both playing and coaching)  regardless of time served in the coaching realm. 

Sometimes a young energetic and engaged coach can do more for a team than a going through the motions old hat. This statement is not gender specific.


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## OrangeCountyDad (Jan 4, 2019)

as parents we can make it clear to our clubs/DOC we want women coaches.  A quick count of our previous and current club put it down around 15% of coaches were women, out of 80-some coaches.  if the gender-demand isn't there, it won't happen.  My guess is for the cost most parents pay, they don't care about a coaches plumbing only skill development.

at higher levels, how many female professional coaches are there?  in NWSL I think there's only two.  I'm not about to count WPSL (over 100 teams) or NCAA (900+ teams)/NAIA (~200 teams I think).  There are less opportunities so there is less for former players to aspire to, fewer role models, etc.  As with many of other things, this is something the Federation should be facilitating and is failing.


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## jose (Jan 4, 2019)

OrangeCountyDad said:


> as parents we can make it clear to our clubs/DOC we want women coaches.  A quick count of our previous and current club put it down around 15% of coaches were women, out of 80-some coaches.  if the gender-demand isn't there, it won't happen.  My guess is for the cost most parents pay, they don't care about a coaches plumbing only skill development.
> 
> at higher levels, how many female professional coaches are there?  in NWSL I think there's only two.  I'm not about to count WPSL (over 100 teams) or NCAA (900+ teams)/NAIA (~200 teams I think).  There are less opportunities so there is less for former players to aspire to, fewer role models, etc.  As with many of other things, this is something the Federation should be facilitating and is failing.


It is a free market. If you want to sit your kid out have at it.  I would love to see more women coaches but as long as there isn't a concerted effort to block women then the market will adjust accordingly.


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## Keepermom2 (Jan 5, 2019)

This is an interesting topic that I haven't given much thought about.  

For many years in corporate America I have felt the best leadership teams were made up of a woman and a man because they generally bring different strengths to the table.  From a soccer stand point, the worst coaches my daughters have had were female coaches.  Both female coaches played in college years ago.  The high school coach was just an ugly person trying to relive her high school days and the other I think was good at teaching at the younger ages but lacked the leadership and technical skills to take her teams to a higher level and as such, the teams stagnated.  Sadly both lied easily and effortlessly.   I had to teach both of my daughters to respectfully ignore what they said.

The last thing I would want is to demand female coaches were brought in because it is my belief the pool of female coaches is very small to begin with.  Even when I coached my daughter's U08 rec. team there were no female coaches except for me and that is volunteer (I was the only one that showed up to the meeting to discuss who was going to coach) and no one is denying females an opportunity to coach in rec.  I will say that I found it funny and shocking that most of the male coaches wouldn't shake my hand when my team won.  They said nothing to me.  Some things never change...boys don't like to lose to girls.  LOL

There was one fellow female parent that would coach certain games at a club we were at and she was great at all skills.  Of course she had played for the USWNT.  I would like to see her, Mia Hamm and others like them start a female coaching/mentoring program.  I watched an interview with them and what struck me was they were humble and all about the team no matter what was asked of them.    Maybe having an opportunity to be trained by the best would inspire more female coaches to enter the market.  Creating the desire would have much better outcomes than demanding it be so.


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## Surfref (Jan 5, 2019)

Playmaker38 said:


> With so many female players, there is a huge disparity in the number of female coaches. Have any of your DD’s expressed any interest in coaching once they’re finished playing? Anyone with any insight into why more girls don’t get into coaching?


My daughter got her coaching license when she was 16 after her coach got kicked out and the team had to forfeit because they had no assistant coach.  She is now 22 and in her third year as a club coach and fourth year doing private training.  She had trouble getting a club to give her a chance.  She did one year helping to run one clubs rec program and it was during one of the rec weekends that she ran into one of her old trainers that was coaching his club team on the next field.  He gave her a chance to co-coach a younger girl’s team and run the clubs free skills clinics.  This coming year she has a G16 team.  Daughter told me it seems like clubs are quicker to pick up an inexperienced male coach before taking an inexperienced female coach.  She was a college player, played club under some great coaches, good referee and has had her coaches license for 6 years, and but still looks like she is 16.


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## jose (Jan 6, 2019)

Surfref said:


> My daughter got her coaching license when she was 16 after her coach got kicked out and the team had to forfeit because they had no assistant coach.  She is now 22 and in her third year as a club coach and fourth year doing private training.  She had trouble getting a club to give her a chance.  She did one year helping to run one clubs rec program and it was during one of the rec weekends that she ran into one of her old trainers that was coaching his club team on the next field.  He gave her a chance to co-coach a younger girl’s team and run the clubs free skills clinics.  This coming year she has a G16 team.  Daughter told me it seems like clubs are quicker to pick up an inexperienced male coach before taking an inexperienced female coach.  She was a college player, played club under some great coaches, good referee and has had her coaches license for 6 years, and but still looks like she is 16.


its not what you, its who knows you....and likes you   every profession every job.   good to see she is coaching


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## Not_that_Serious (Jan 6, 2019)

Best female coach in So Cal is/was Carrie Taylor who was DOC at Laguna United. Coached boys, girls, pros and coached college men’s team. Believe working in San Diego with possible MLS franchise. You don’t get rid of coaches with that type of resume - worse if they are females with that type of repeat/resume. Doing questionable things over at that club of late.


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## timbuck (Jan 6, 2019)

Not_that_Serious said:


> Best female coach in So Cal is/was Carrie Taylor who was DOC at Laguna United. Coached boys, girls, pros and coached college men’s team. Believe working in San Diego with possible MLS franchise. You don’t get rid of coaches with that type of resume - worse if they are females with that type of repeat/resume. Doing questionable things over at that club of late.


Yep. She’s a good one.  She taught one of my coaching courses.  I heard the board over there wanted their teams to be more competitive.  While she believed in a club that was more community focused and building from within.


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## Not_that_Serious (Jan 6, 2019)

timbuck said:


> Yep. She’s a good one.  She taught one of my coaching courses.  I heard the board over there wanted their teams to be more competitive.  While she believed in a club that was more community focused and building from within.


She talks you listen. That simple with her. As far as being more competitive- that is usually code for “make more money”. Staff isn’t what it was. So if being competitive was the goal, probably not good idea to fire best coaches with most experience - Including person who started club. Not careful they’ll be next UFC. Can get a little comfortable when don’t have to compete for field space


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## Speed (Jan 6, 2019)

Not_that_Serious said:


> She talks you listen. That simple with her. As far as being more competitive- that is usually code for “make more money”. Staff isn’t what it was. So if being competitive was the goal, probably not good idea to fire best coaches with most experience - Including person who started club. Not careful they’ll be next UFC. Can get a little comfortable when don’t have to compete for field space


are you saying there is instability within LUFC?


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## timbuck (Jan 6, 2019)

I don’t think they are any more or less stable than any other club not named surf or slammers. 
Every club is one bad year away from disappearing.  Lose your fields (like United). Lose your coaches (like OC Strikers).  Stop growing your younger age groups (like MV Strikers).


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## Not_that_Serious (Jan 7, 2019)

Speed said:


> are you saying there is instability within LUFC?


There is no instability due to how the club is setup. It operates under umbrella of LNYSA. If you know how LNYSA is setup you will see who runs the club. You also will see it is stable due to fields. Remove the fields and the club would struggle due to the coaching staff quality falling. New coaches Coming in put in place due to bringing in new teams or due to business relationships/friendships. You never heard of LUFC bringing in entire teams/coaches every year - now you do. Most parents in that area remain due to convenience. Put a  different “stable” club on same fields and the parents would sign the kids up to play at that club.

Also if being competitive was the motivation people like Carrie Taylor, Jerry Tamashiro, Jerry Keeler, Hannah Shepard, Justine Sauder, Alex Zotinca and others still be at the club. If you google these people you’ll see former pro players (domestic and europe), ODP coaches, Cal South instructors, college coaches, US Soccer coaching course instructors, US Soccer Scouts, US Soccer DOC course instructors - people with large networks and resources. You would also see orgs/clubs hiring these coaches are utilizing these resources . 

It was a community club, but a few years ago it on average had a coaching staff with the highest license level in so cal - coaches had full bios on website, now majority of staff have no bios. Sounding more like the staff at Ladera. Being small club doesn’t mean you can’t compete or develop(they have good boys teams, but use to have more) you look at the girls side now it’s very dismal. Seemed like Taylor was attempting to build the girls side up with, if we get back on topic, good female coaches.  Shepard works for Cal south as an instructor and Sauder is on staff at Galaxy on the Pro Female side. Other female coaches were given opps as well. Given LUFC doesn’t have academy you have to push kids into ODP to strengthen your club brand and make it more “competitive” against other clubs - firing staff, in supposed suspect fashion, who work for Cal South/ODP is pretty foolish. Not good business and not like those types of decisions go unnoticed/unheard  at organizations like Cal South , US Soccer and other important soccer orgs. Harder to get favors or support from these places if you treat overlapping staff poorly. Doesn’t help when coaches on staff tell coaches outside of club a lot of what is going on - and why. Seems money motivated. It won’t make the club less stable in the short run, but after some time it hurts the product and any development. players at ODP/DA/Discovery level will stay for a minute and move on. Other clubs know this and it Makes it easier to pluck good players and any decent coach with higher level coaching aspirations. Coaches moving to the club with good teams hold no deep-rooted ties and will move on to next club offering what they think is the next best thing. 

Trying to remain on topic still with this:
Found a good interview by Taylor and podcast talking about the topic. You know a solid knowledgeable coach/doc who doesn’t fake their background within a few minutes of talking to them. 
https://www.soccertoday.com/laguna-united-doc-carrie-taylor-importance-female-coaches/

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/ep3-carrie-taylor-of-laguna-united-fc/id1092903378?i=1000364704423&mt=2


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## Not_that_Serious (Jan 7, 2019)

timbuck said:


> I don’t think they are any more or less stable than any other club not named surf or slammers.
> Every club is one bad year away from disappearing.  Lose your fields (like United). Lose your coaches (like OC Strikers).  Stop growing your younger age groups (like MV Strikers).


Exactly. Fields gone or become stagnet because coaches aren’t developing - parents get frustrated and move on. If galaxy or another club were given the fields in Laguna, everyone in that area would be wearing a Galaxy shirt or another clubs shirt. The difference before was it was a community club, but if it’s now like Pats or Surf, the logo on the shirt isn’t important any more. Stock the teams 18 deep and sell them golf balls


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## Not_that_Serious (Jan 7, 2019)

Eagle33 said:


> Wonder whatever happened to her?
> 
> https://www.soccertoday.com/laguna-united-doc-carrie-taylor-importance-female-coaches/


Didn’t see you post same article. Apparently somewhere in SD working with team to get MLS in SD. So seems like working with Donovan. The times I have spoken with her about this topic and small club soccer (youth soccer in general) - doesn’t mince words and knows what she is talking about. If SD gets a club, she will be a good person to help develop the academy/dev side


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## Not_that_Serious (Jan 7, 2019)

Not_that_Serious said:


> Didn’t see you post same article. Apparently somewhere in SD working with team to get MLS in SD. So seems like working with Donovan. The times I have spoken with her about this topic and small club soccer (youth soccer in general) - doesn’t mince words and knows what she is talking about. If SD gets a club, she will be a good person to help develop the academy/dev side.


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## espola (Jan 7, 2019)

Not_that_Serious said:


> Didn’t see you post same article. Apparently somewhere in SD working with team to get MLS in SD. So seems like working with Donovan. The times I have spoken with her about this topic and small club soccer (youth soccer in general) - doesn’t mince words and knows what she is talking about. If SD gets a club, she will be a good person to help develop the academy/dev side


The SD group with the mythical MLS team lost the vote in November.


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## Not_that_Serious (Jan 7, 2019)

espola said:


> The SD group with the mythical MLS team lost the vote in November.


MLS will get Donovan a club at some point- he’ll will become prez of US Soccer at some point


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## espola (Jan 7, 2019)

Not_that_Serious said:


> MLS will get Donovan a club at some point- he’ll will become prez of US Soccer at some point


SD would be a great location for an MLS team.  When the womens league Spirit team played, they were close to the top in attendance.  But if MLS were interested in SD, they would have put a team here before they put a third team in LA.


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## Not_that_Serious (Jan 7, 2019)

espola said:


> SD would be a great location for an MLS team.  When the womens league Spirit team played, they were close to the top in attendance.  But if MLS were interested in SD, they would have put a team here before they put a third team in LA.


MLS helps move things a long to a point, look how long it took Becks to get Miami going. Donovan has been more vocal promoting MLS. Eventually he will get a franchise. MLS will influence where they can , but they don’t have the political pull they do in Florida.


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