30 Apr Reflecting on 13 Years of Training Youth Girls Soccer Players Speed, Strength, and Agility
“I’m a Youth Female Athlete Performance Coach,” I said at a holiday party with family and friends.
I received blank stares and confused faces, then someone asked, “so…you just hang out in a gym with girls who play sports?”
“Yep. And amongst many other things…”
Admittedly, I don’t always like talking about my career at family gatherings and college reunions. It’s just too much to get into that no one really understands what the heck I do, as well as how many facets there are to my work.
I can’t fit what I do in a cute little box like other careers, like nurse, lawyer, doctor, or financial advisor.
Yes, I’m a coach to young girls, but I’m also a mentor, educator, writer, speaker, podcaster, and so much more in the realm of youth female athlete performance.
You see, when I began this coaching thing-a-ma-jig 13 years ago, I was training girls soccer players one-on-one at a local high school field. All I had was a bag of balls, cones, and resistance bands. Nothing more.
Yes, I got my girls results in their speed, strength, and agility, but I also connected and created community. I was the role model they needed. I was the leader and strong woman they turned to for help with their confidence. This eventually led to copious amounts of referrals through word-of-mouth.
Fast forward a few years, and my training business was growing even more. Instead of do one-on-ones, I took on small groups. Instead of doing skills training, I went all in with strength and conditioning.
I started working full-time, while also getting my online Masters Degree in Exercise Science because I saw there was a need for education and coaching in female athlete performance and injury reduction. I saw early specialization, ACLs, and overuse injuries becoming a big problem, and I wanted to help.
I worked 7 days a week. I never had weekends off. I realized that if you’re in youth coaching, you have to be willing to serve. Truthfully, I don’t think work life balance exists in my space, especially if you want to have a massive impact on the next generation. For me, it’s now a work life integration.
Expounding further, I blogged almost every day in the first 5 years of my career, writing about youth female athlete training because I was so freaking passionate about it. I owe a lot of my now social media following to the endless blogs I wrote early on in my career. Nonstop.
It’s also worth mentioning, I never wanted to be a pro athlete strength coach. I’ve been offered on multiple occasions to take on roles at various pro women teams, and turned them down every single time.
This isn’t to brag, but it’s to make a point that my calling has always been youth.
What’s really crazy is, I have seen many of my colleagues go all the way to the apex of their careers working in the pros, only to want to get the hell out when they reach their 30s and 40s. They’re burned out. They feel disrespected and unseen. And they felt they left no impact. They realized they climbed the wrong career mountain for all those years.
I saw this bs from a mile away when I got pro offers, and even though the salary and status of having “pro coach” on my resume was enticing, I’m glad I declined to remain a Youth Female Athlete Performance Coach.
This isn’t to say the youth space is a cakewalk. It’s also busy. You dedicate a lot of your time, especially if you want to make a dent in the industry.
But it’s darn meaningful, which we will get into…
Growing Fast
As I grew faster and faster in my community, I began to look for new spaces to train. Since my groups were becoming larger, I decided to be a contractor at a local big box strength and conditioning gym.
The electric culture of a big space, the high level athletes, and the rap music blasting on the sound system were alluring. It was fun for a very long time, so I did it for several years. I grew so much that I was training entire girls soccer teams as well as consulting local youth clubs. It was crazy.
It was as if I blinked and all of this just happened, but again, it was many years of growing through word of mouth.
After several years of working in a big performance facility, the COVID-19 pandemic hits. I can’t go to work. I can’t train my athletes in the gym.
While it was a hard time for many, I wanted to make the most of helping my athletes. Mental health was suffering in preteens and teens. Kids weren’t getting outside as much. They were sedentary. Sports were cancelled. They were isolated.
So that Summer, we went outdoors to train and no one got sick. Actually, kids got better – better in their speed, strength, and agility, and mental health.
2020 was a tough year, but my athletes thanked me and made comments that it was one of the best summers of their lives because of the training and get togethers we did.
At the end of the day, young female athletes thrive in community.
The Hardest Goodbye
At the end of 2020, I did some reflecting and made the hard decision to move from Maryland to Florida (I wrote another blog HERE on why I made the decision to leave).
Breaking the news to all of my Maryland athletes was one of the hardest times of my coaching journey thus far.
Most of my Maryland athletes I saw all the way through their development – from elementary, to middle, to high school, to college, and to pro for some.
As much as I love speed development and strength training, the most memorable part of my job is seeing young girls blossom into strong women both on and off the field.
As much as I love speed development and strength training, the most memorable part of my job is seeing young girls blossom into strong women both on and off the field. Share on X
And after 13 years, this is still the best part of being a Youth Female Athlete Performance Coach.
Where Am I Now?
Looking back, I had no clue where my career was going to go when I was at the local school field with just a bag of balls. But what I did know back then was I wanted to leave massive impact in the youth female athlete space, so there was no option to put on the brakes, or have a back-up plan.
Recently, I’ve down sized my in person practice. Admittedly, I am burnt out from the big ra-ra and high volume performance facilities, so I choose to work in my own home gym. I wanted a more personalized experience for my girls.
I have a small garage space that can fit up to 6 athletes at a time, and the girls love it because they still get customized programs, personal attention, and the added bonus of working alongside other female athletes.
Beyond coaching in person, I now also work with athletes remotely across the world, host The Strong Female Athlete Podcast, as well as speak across the world to female athlete teams and their parents.
I truly love what I do. Yes, it’s a lot, it’s busy, but I don’t see it as work. It’s more a work life integration.
And the longer I train youth, it gets much harder dealing with the current times, such as navigating early specialization, dealing with over-bearing parents, feeling pressure to get athletes quick results, and adjusting to busy athlete schedules.
Yes, it is much harder than when I first started in this industry, but I fall in love with it more and more each year.
I’ve wrestled with this concept a lot, but it makes a lot of sense: the more challenge you’re presented, the more you’re fighting for something. And youth female athlete performance and health is something that is worth fighting for.
Youth female athlete performance and health is something that is worth fighting for. Share on XChallenge gives purpose. Challenge provides meaning. Challenge keeps you motivated.
I truly believe this is why I have been able to last so long in a wild youth sports industry where pressure has gotten just as bad for coaches. Too, work life balance ain’t a thing in my space, so any coach who gets into youth training who wants their weekends, leave now. You wont’ make it.
Work life balance ain't a thing in my space, so any coach who gets into youth coaching who wants weekends, leave now. You wont' make it. Share on XSo every day when I face the challenges of my career, I have to return to my why.
Every day, I have to remind myself that I’m fighting for young girls.
My mission is to continue to spread the power of strength, speed and agility for life. Yes, the sports outcomes are cool, like winning, getting a D1 scholarship, or going pro, but it’s the lifetime physical and mental health benefits that pump me up the most.
And sure, I could broadcast my list of athletes I have sent D1 and pro, and make it only about that, but I choose not to blast this all over social media. It’s not just about that.
Adding on, I didn’t build these athletes. And it’s always funny when performance coaches take credit for the high level athletes they trained, as if it was all them. LOL.
And it's always funny when performance coaches take credit for the high level athletes they trained, as if it was all them. Share on XYes, I played a tiny role, but I gave my athletes the tools, and they worked their butts off to make it happen to play at the next level.
My first client ever, Carly Wetzel, who I met at age 12 and saw all the way through her journey to college soccer at UNC is one who stands out the most when it came to executing on her own.
I always would see her at the field getting touches on the ball, studying for exams in the stands, getting her GPA up, then running her sprints, and taking her nutrition seriously. And because of her own discipline, she now plays professionally in Ireland. It was all her in the end. Too, she is now autonomous and doesn’t need me anymore. She’s got it on her own!
After 13 years of of working with young girls, I can say the best part of my job is helping girls become confident, have better mental health, feel strong in their bodies, and take these tools with them for a lifetime.
For me, it’s about the long-term health of the athlete and human.
Sport performance outcomes like improved speed, wins, and scholarships are fleeting, but the pursuit of strength and health for a lifetime is what is the most meaningful and lasting.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Erica Mulholland is a former college 3x All-American soccer player and now Hall of Famer from Johns Hopkins University. She holds a Master of Science in Exercise Science and has been helping female athletes of all sports with speed, agility, strength, power, and conditioning for over 13 years. She has worked with soccer, lacrosse, track, volleyball, softball, and basketball girls, and has inspired her athletes to strength train not just for sport, but for life.
Her athletes have gone on to play college sports at University of North Carolina, University of Maryland, Pittsburgh, University of Southern California, University of Detroit, Mercy, Northwestern, Eastern Carolina University, Georgetown, West Point, University of South Florida, University of Charleston, MIT, Johns Hopkins, Carnegie Mellon, Rutgers, Towson University, and have gone on to play for professional various clubs in Europe.
Of course, she is proud of her athletes who made it to the college and pro levels, but she is most proud of her girls who stick with being strong and healthy for a lifetime. The training she does is about getting into good habits young, so girls can take these tools with them even after sports end.
Need more personalized help from Erica? BOOK A CONSULT HERE
Interested in Remote Training for Female Athletes? BOOK A CONSULT HERE
Get Erica’s first book THE STRONG FEMALE ATHLETE
Get Erica’s second book FEMALE ATHLETE HIGH PERFORMANCE
Check out her podcast: The Strong Female Athlete
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