Leah Stringer: Building a soccer program from scratch

“I plan on taking an admissions tour,” she said. “I want to see what students see when they come on a visit.

“I want to go to the dorms, sit down with admissions and talk to the many people that are going to be involved with not just my players but the overall running of the program.

“I don’t want my only conversations with certain people to be when I or the soccer program needs something. I want to build those relationships with everyone on campus now and make them positive. That includes the academic side, getting to know professors.”

When it comes to the players, Stringer describes forming the ‘core group’ as one of her top priorities. 

But how do you sell a program that doesn’t exist in its entirety yet to prospective players? For Stringer, it’s about giving the players ownership of the program, too.

She said: “When it’s a start-up program, usually a question a recruit wants to know is ‘how’s your team culture and what’s the environment like?’.

“I tell them I can’t honestly answer that question. That’s what I’m going to depend on my first recruiting class for. I want my players to be as hands on from day one as possible. 

“If they have ownership in what we are trying to build, that will make everything ten times better for them and their experience.

“Once they get in here, I’m going to ask them: ‘What do you guys want this to look like? What do you want to be known for when it comes to Lincoln University’s women’s soccer?’”

In terms of what Stringer wants for herself, her staff and her players, it’s all about the right culture and environment.

“I’m a quality-of-life person,” she said. “I got that saying from a head coach I worked under, but it still stands for me. 

“I want to enjoy my environment. I want to be able to come into work and enjoy my players, my staff, my admin, everything like that. I want my players to have the same thing. I want them to be able to look forward to practice.

“I want to know what a good culture looks like to them. So to me, [when talking to them], it’s a lot of questions in the beginning stage: ‘What is it that you’re looking for when it comes to your recruiting process? What do you want in your team that is technically going to be part of your family?’

“I ask a lot of questions, trying to figure out what it is they are looking for.

“Obviously, sometimes things aren’t in line, which is perfectly fine. But I’ve been lucky so far in my conversations that most things have actually been lining up.

“I have an idea of what I want things to look like but obviously until I get everyone that’s going to be involved in year one here, it’s just an idea in my head.”

In terms of how the team will play, that is all to be worked out, too.

Stringer said: “Originally, my plan was: ‘All right, this is how I want to play’. I learned very quickly in the interim role last season that it doesn’t really work out as you might have planned.

 

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Leah’s journey: from a goalkeeper coach to a head coach

“When I first got into college coaching, I wanted to be a head coach at the Division I level. As I got more experience, my goals changed.

“Over the last three years, I was no longer chasing that D1 title. I just wanted to be part of a soccer program, an athletic department, a university, that felt like home, that felt like a family and that I could enjoy.

“You tell recruits: ‘if you take the soccer piece out, would you still be there?’. I had to sit back and ask myself that same question. 

“As a goalkeeper coach, I use it to my advantage [as a head coach].

“When it comes to coaching, my point of view is of a goalkeeper. When my strikers or midfielders ask me questions, I answer them as a goalkeeper. 

“I have been very blessed to work with some head coaches that have allowed me to do things outside of working with the goalkeepers.

“It helped me get that itch of, ‘Okay, I don’t want to only be a goalkeeper coach. I want to be a soccer coach.”

 

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‘goalkeeper coaches don’t get enough respect in the game’ – Leah on the value of a specialist for your shot-stoppers

“I don’t think goalkeeper coaches get enough respect in the game at all. 

“It absolutely isn’t one of the positions you can just throw anyone into, just like you can’t throw anyone into the net in a game.

“It takes someone that is actually interested in the position and knows what they are talking about.

“Every coach is different, but as long as you have the bases down, I would like to think you would be successful in it.

“If you ask any college coach, if they have the funding, would they like to have a ‘keeper coach on their team, I’m pretty sure they would say yes.

“I’ve been at several practices at college level where the goalkeepers are just standing to the side until there is a finishing drill or they are scrimmaging. That is not helping them develop as players.

“It’s when you don’t have a goalkeeper coach that you realize: my goalkeepers are not getting the development and touches they need in order to be better at their craft.”

 

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“Now, I just want to find the right players, the right individuals and, once we get together, figure out what’s going to work best for us.

“As a coach, it’s easy for me to say ‘I want to have a very fast-paced, counter-attack style of playing. But if I don’t have the players for that, it’s not going to work.

“My plan is to focus on getting the girls in here. Then, once we we’re together and we start getting some practices under our belt and building those connections, at that point it’ll be a lot easier to figure out our identity and style of play.”

Whatever the style ends up being, fans are ready and waiting to show up to support.

“From the day I stepped on campus, it’s been nothing but support and excitement,” Stringer shares.

“The boosters are telling me about the local clubs and high schools and all the good talent in our backyard. I was at an U9s soccer practice last night and the kids were like, ‘Oh, you’re the new college coach’.

“The excitement in the city is really cool. I’m excited to be a part of it and excited to be a part of this community.

“The plan is to hopefully bring out a good product that our people are excited to come out and support and watch. And hopefully we’ll bring in some wins.”

 

“The plan is to bring out a good product that our people are excited to support...”

In the run up to the big kick-off in a year’s time, Stringer has ideas for ensuring that everyone is engaged.

“My plan is to keep everyone updated with every process of starting a program,” she said. “I have an individual that I’m recruiting that will reach out to me every other day asking for updates. 

“She’s just as excited as me. I had her up on a visit and said, ‘We’re going to have to use our imagination but this is where the field is going to be. We’re going to do this, we’re going to do that, this is where the locker room is going to be’.

“She’s so excited that she got home and asked me, ‘Hey, have they started doing this yet?’.

“My plan is to use social media to my advantage and try to give as many behind the scenes updates of the progress and everyday tasks that I am doing right now [as I can].”

And when it gets to the night before the first game on the field that doesn’t yet exist, what does Stringer think success will look like?

“If I can get a good group of individuals that can help me build that foundation and we’re taking every day to continue to grow - to me, that’s a win.

“I’m just going to take things one day at a time.”