A-K Valley seeing influx of young, female soccer coaches in varsity ranks

By: HSSN Staff
Tuesday, September 5, 2017 | 10:45 PM

McKenzie Ehrlich was coaching under-8 and under-10 youth soccer two years ago when she heard of the vacant St. Joseph girls soccer coaching position. Although the former Burrell standout always thought she might get into coaching, the idea of taking over the Spartans' job gave her some pause.

Understandable: At the time, Ehrlich was 22, not far removed from her own playing days and separated in age from her prospective players by just a few years.

So when Ehrlich said she “fell into” her job, she means it.

“You have to kind of make them understand that even though you're not that much older than they are, that you know the sport and you're not there to be a friend. You're there to be a coach,” said Ehrlich, 23, now in her second season at St. Joseph. “The youth soccer kind of got me out of the aspect of not being a friend. I'm very structured with how I coach, even with my youth teams.

“It just became natural. You yell at the girls when they need to be yelled at. You talk to them when they need to be talked to. From there, the relationship just continues to build and makes more sense as it goes along.”

The Alle-Kiski Valley is seeing an influx of former players taking up coaching at a young age. Burrell's Shelby Noll became the latest under-30 coach in the area when she took over for Crystal Kosecki, a young former player herself, before this season.

Women lead five of the A-K Valley's 12 girls soccer teams. All five — Ehrlich, Noll, Freeport's Brittni Grenninger, Kiski Area's Melisa O'Toole and Plum's Caitlin Schuchert — played collegiate soccer, and they range in age from 23 to 32.

“When I was their age, I didn't have a ton of female coaches,” Schuchert said. “I didn't have the opportunity. But the one female coach I had growing up had a big impact on me, so I wanted to kind of leave that mark with them. I was really trying to be a good role model for them outside of the sport and also teach them the sport.”

Ehrlich, a soccer player from her youth, said she always planned to get into coaching. So, too, did O'Toole, who became Kiski Area's coach at 22, shortly after finishing her career at Slippery Rock, and Noll, who was Burrell's assistant the last two seasons.

“I knew … once I was done playing collegiate soccer that I wanted to give back to the community,” said Noll, 26. “I wanted to work with young girls and developing their skills and helping them develop an interest in playing collegiate soccer and do something they love for the next four years.”

Schuchert had a different experience. Searching for a teaching job, she became Penn Hills' coach at 22 and said she struggled with the transition from player to coach. It wasn't until her third season, after she had taken some coaching clinics, that she truly felt settled.

“It was hard to realize that everybody wasn't me,” Schuchert said. “And to make a good team, probably not having a bunch of mes is very good. I had to realize that people play different roles. It took me a while. I realized that screaming all the time as a coach probably means you should plan better practices. I didn't realize how much coaching is like teaching, as far as your practices should focus on one thing and try not to overcomplicate these practices and there should be a progression.”

O'Toole said her breakthrough came in her first season after a bad loss to Penn-Trafford. The next day's practice featured a lot of running, but the Cavaliers' players had company in their work: O'Toole did everything with them.

“I was trying to prove to them that if you guys don't do well, I don't do well, and we'll fix it together,” said O'Toole, now in her eighth season. “My assistant coach and I did all the fitness with them. From that moment on, there was never really any doubt that she's our coach, she's in charge and she knows what she's doing.”

The hands-on approach is something all five coaches follow. All of them use their own experiences to demonstrate to their players.

“I think it's huge if I can actually show them what to do,” O'Toole said. “That's 10 times better than just telling them what to do and having someone else demonstrate it.”

Their experiences also come in handy in relating to players, Noll said.

“If there's somehing that goes on that they tell me about, I can be understanding because I understand the stresses of academics and maintaining good grades during soccer season, (which) can be quite challenging,” she said.

Ehrlich said she believes more opportunities are coming for female coaches. Her assistant, Ashley Szymkowiak, is 21. Ehrlich believes the growing presence of female coaches is a positive for the sport.

“When you think back a few years ago, most of the coaches that I had and that the other coaches have had, I'm sure, were predominately male coaches,” she said. “I think a lot of those guys are retiring, and a lot of former players are stepping up that want to keep the game in their life. If you don't have the passion for it, you're not going to coach it. I just think there are more opportunities.”

Doug Gulasy is a Tribune-Review staff writer.

Tags: Burrell, Freeport, Kiski School, Plum, St. Joseph