SoccerToday’s Women In Soccer Series
Lauren Meehan is a youth soccer coach with Rush Pikes Peak in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She is the President/CEO of Female Coaches Advocacy, which promotes greater participation by women as soccer coaches in the United States. Meehan holds a B License, USSF National Youth License, and National Diploma. Meehan played Division 1 soccer for Northeastern University and was on the Bradenton Athletics W-League team.
Meehan is a coach trying to make a difference and create more opportunities for female coaches to be successful in the competitive world of coaching youth and collegiate soccer. Young, talented and ambitious, Meehan has a vision for promoting the growth of soccer and fracturing the proverbial glass ceiling of the strangely male dominated work world of youth soccer.
Diane Scavuzzo: When did you first start playing soccer?
Lauren Meehan: I first started around kindergarten but I was exposed to the game from birth because my dad had played college and semi-pro soccer.
Diane Scavuzzo: Where did you play soccer?
Lauren Meehan: I played for my town club, Vail Valley Soccer Club, before moving to Florida as junior in high school to play at IMG Soccer Academy. I played college soccer at Northeastern University in Boston.
Diane Scavuzzo: Where do you coach now and what teams? Do you full time coach or part time?
Lauren Meehan: I coach with Rush Pikes Peak in Colorado Springs, Colorado. I have U17 and U13 girls competitive teams and a U10 girls developmental team. I am the Digital Brand Manager and Micro Programs Manager for Rush Pikes Peak. I run the club’s Mighty Mites and Turbo Tots. My coaching responsibilities are part time. I also manage the Female Coaches Advocacy.
Diane Scavuzzo: Do you think women coaches are paid the same as men?
Lauren Meehan: I am paid for coaching my team and I have not encountered wage bias using the team stipend system. However, women make less then men overall because more of us are assistant coaches instead of head coaches at the college level and we often fill lower level director positions or do not hold director of coaching positions at all at the club level.
Diane Scavuzzo: Why do you coach?
Lauren Meehan: I coach to share my love of the game, have a positive impact on the kids with whom I work, and be a part of creating a better environment for kids participating in sport.
Diane Scavuzzo: Is there a coach who influenced you significantly? Please tell us who and why.
Lauren Meehan: My club coach at IMG, Derek Leader – now head coach of the women’s program at Georgia State – influenced my coaching the most. He was the first coach who took time to explain the reasoning behind what we did in training and introduce sophisticated tactical ideas. He showed me a more intellectual side to the game, which awoke a desireto coach.
Diane Scavuzzo: Who do you think is the best woman coach in the world?
Lauren Meehan: Laura Harvey has done with Seattle Reign. As head coach for Seattle Reign FC in the National Women’s Soccer League, Harvey has done an impressive job. Harvey was previously the coach at Arsenal L.F.C. and Birmingham City in England. She has an eye for spotting talent, a vision for how different pieces can fit together on the field, and a clear voice and ability to impart her philosophy on her players. I respect that she imposed her vision of the game on her team and did not cater to individual players just because they may have had impressive playing pedigrees. I also have a lot of respect for Lesle Gallimore who is the head coach of the women’s soccer program at the University of Washington and is the winningest coach in Washington’s history. I was lucky enough to have her as my B license instructor and I admire the self assurance she brings to the field.
Diane Scavuzzo: What is your biggest criticism of women coaches?
Lauren Meehan: I would say that we don’t advocate for ourselves enough. We need to believe in our voices, believe in what we have to offer to the game, and make a bigger point about determining our own destiny, even if it’s with something as small as demanding to get assigned to boys AND girls teams. I think we can also do more to bring the dark side of coaching into the light, specifically the sexism/harassment we can face. If we raise our collective voice, there is less of a chance we can be singled out for speaking up.
Diane Scavuzzo: Why do you believe these challenges for women in soccer exist?
Lauren Meehan: I think there is a huge cultural component that creates these challenges. Soccer was a game for men first, which creates a sense that women are outsiders. This is true in the United States too, even though it has had huge numbers of female players for decades. One just has to watch 30 minutes of SportsCenter to know that sports in the US are, mostly, for men.
Part of the American coaching culture draws from the coaching legacy of different sports, which has emphasized drills, physical exertion, and the coach being right. Generally, more men have fit this cultural mold than women – but this mold is changing as it has not proven overly effective on the field.
Diane Scavuzzo: Do you feel that women coaches are different than men coaches?
Lauren Meehan: Our experience as players is different because the women’s game is different in some ways to the men’s game (e.g. physiological factors such as pace on the ball and distance of passes can change speed of play and decision making). We were also socialized differently than our male counterparts, which can affect how we relate to players, what we view as critical to a team becoming a cohesive unit, and how we share the game with our players. Not everyone fits into the same gender mold but we are products of a system that treats boys and girls differently. That has to have some influence on creating differences between male and female coaches.
Diane Scavuzzo: If you could change ONE thing, what would it be?
Lauren Meehan: I would love to stop hearing the disgusting/sexist things that are said by some men who seem to think the communication they used in the locker room during their playing days is somehow acceptable in a coaching setting. This isn’t limited to coaching peers – I had a ref this fall season tell me his time spent as an AR on my sideline wouldn’t be too bad because I was easy on the eyes. It can be ridiculous and very uncomfortable.
Diane Scavuzzo: Why do you think girl youth soccer teams benefit from a female coach?
Lauren Meehan: I think girls teams can benefit because female coaches inherently understand the women’s game, having played it. They also understand, to a greater extent, how girls are socialized and what their physical capabilities are and how that impacts the way they play sports. It can also help girls see someone who ‘looks like them’ leading the charge.
