Lekeisha Gumbs: My kind of town!

During that time, she was also part of the Football Association’s Mentee Development Programme, devised to support women and people from diverse backgrounds.

 

After going through a rigorous application process – including a self-taped video and in-person interviews – she was accepted on to the scheme, and now credits it with giving her some of the drive she needed to progress in her coaching career.

 

She said: “I’ve had so much support from the FA that’s helped me realise that there is somewhere I can go, and a direction I can go – whether here [the US], in England, or anywhere in the world. As a female coach there is opportunity.”

 

Lekeisha did have a female coach in her younger years, but would often be the only person of colour at a match.

 

“It was fine – I grew up in a school like that,” she said. “But I was always looking for somebody who knew what it felt like to be the only person [who stood out for being ‘different’].

 

Lekeisha names former England head coach Hope Powell as one of her icons, adding: “I look at her, and think, ‘She’s done it, so I can.’”

 

However, it is important to make sure those coaching chances are shared equitably. She is a great believer in the mantra “If you can see it, you can be it”.

 

“The younger generation, they just want to feel included,” Lekeisha said. “Girls can see it. They know they can get to that level. It’s really important to have representations from all walks of life.”

 

And she says that the women’s soccer community is overwhelmingly happy to help and support those coming into the game.

 

“I would say 90% of people that I’ve approached or networked with have been absolutely fantastic – probably even 95% – and they’re willing to help,” she says.

Being part of the FA’s programme has even helped Lekeisha get her latest job – as a coach at Chicago City in the USA.

 

Her profile had raised to such an extent that she was approached on social media and asked if she would be interested in the role.

 

She had previously spent time in western Illinois as part of her study for her degree at Birmingham City University in the UK, but had never been to Chicago itself.

 

Even when she accepted the role, initially as head coach of City’s USL W League team, she still did not quite believe it was going to happen, keeping the news relatively secret, and informing only those who really needed to know.

 

She did inform the personnel department of the local police service, where she worked as a detective – but not her colleagues. Well, not until the last moment, anyway.

 

“Everything just happened quickly, but I kept it very close to my chest because of a fear it wasn’t going to be successful,” she added.

 

Moving to a new country has meant some adjustments to the way she works – most notably being able to adapt her schedule according to her own requirements – but her coaching is much the same.

 

“The game is the game,” Lekeisha says. “It doesn’t matter where you are in the world, or what language you speak, it’s the same thing – a ball, two teams, two goals, and the rules are the same.

 

“It’s very easy to get into football if you know what you’re talking about and what you want.

 

“Your coaching philosophy is there. It might need to be tweaked. You’ve got to learn a new game model, or at least adapt your game model to fit into where you’re going.

 

“I wouldn’t say it was the biggest challenge moving over. Maybe the sunshine [was different] – I didn’t have to worry about taking a jacket everywhere any more!”

 

One of the differences she has noticed with her American players is their athleticism and their automatic draw towards a high-tempo running game, rather than a possession-based approach.

 

She said: “I have a style, and I don’t believe in punting the ball up the field. I’m very aware of head injuries, so I say: ‘Realistically, are you going to head that ball if we punt it forward?’

 

“‘No, coach.’

 

“‘So why are we doing it? Let’s play with the ball on the floor.’”

 

It paid dividends, as Chicago City reached the USL W League playoffs in 2023, her first season at the helm.

 

Lekeisha’s role now is entirely youth focused, but – regardless of where she is coaching, or the age group she is working with – one of her key principles has never changed: every player matters.

 

“They’re not just football players, they’re people; treat them as people,” she says. “From my playing days, I knew how I wanted to be treated, so I’ve carried that into my coaching journey.

 

“You’re not going to have the best relationship with every player, but it’s making sure that you treat each player with the utmost respect, that they come to training happy and joyous, and they’re developing.

 

“That continues to be my focus – making sure every player is as happy as possible, and supporting them.”

 

With junior teams, she says, every player in the squad should get a chance on the field. This doesn’t just boost the confidence of less developed players; it helps stronger players adapt their game to their team-mates.

 

“I would never take a player to a game and not play them,” she says. We can’t call it ‘equal minutes’, but I call it ‘fair minutes’. Everybody plays a part of each half, because everybody should feel included.

 

“It’s not just about who’s on the field and what they’re doing. It’s about ‘how can we support everybody to keep developing, whatever speed they can develop at?’”

 

Regardless of the age group she is working with, Lekeisha works hard to find out as much as she can about her players.

 

“If you don’t know them, you don’t know how to respond to them,” she says. That includes what to say when delivering directions – and, importantly, how to say it.

 

“I know which players want me pushing them: ‘Come on, that touch wasn’t great. Can we get the next one?’. Another might want me to say: ‘Head up. It’s fine, you made a mistake.’”

 

This approach also helps Lekeisha understand what her players want from the sport, whether they are playing as part of their social life or because they want to turn professional at some point in the future.

 

Many of the Chicago City youth players are looking at playing college soccer. But, if they don’t move into the pro game after that, there are relatively few opportunities to continue their career, in contrast to the recreational and semi-pro leagues in the UK.

 

Lekeisha said: “In England, I was once up against one of my old primary school teachers! So the game there is never ending, whereas here there is more of a cut-off point.

 

“If you finish high school, but you don’t go and play in college, you don’t play any more.”

 

That is partially down to travel; the US is so vast that, unless there were enough teams in one area to make a competitive league, a recreational team would face prohibitive journey time and costs for their away games.

 

Even with Chicago City, the travel norms have taken Lekeisha by surprise.

 

“You could be travelling eight hours for a game,” she says, “and that’s just normal for American families.

 

“They just see it as, ‘Oh, we’re going on an away trip,’ and I’m sitting there, like, ‘Eight hours in the car?!’. But they’re used to it!”

 

So Lekeisha continues on her road trip as well as her greater coaching journey, a long way geographically and philosophically from that Leicester City player who didn’t think coaching was the right road for her.

 

What advice, then, would she give her younger self, and the same sort of soccer-mad teenagers she coaches right now?

 

“Keep working hard. Don’t give up. You are going to have lots of obstacles. That’s life. Push on, and opportunities will come.

 

“Follow what you are, follow what you are capable of. Believe in yourself.”

’Time is precious’ - Lekeisha on networking

Lekeisha says that, when a coach is building their network, it’s crucial to be focused – and not expect a more experienced person to give you all the answers.

 

“Time is so precious,” she says. “When I do speak to people, it’s for 10 minutes – it’s not a half an hour phone call and me being like, ‘Tell me what to do!’. [It’s more like] ‘I have this already, what do you think? Is this the right platform? Is this good?’.

 

“It’s being ready with your own direction of where you want to go.”

 

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‘IT WEARS YOU DOWN – BUT I DECIDED NOT TO LET IT AFFECT ME’: LEKEISHA ON SEXISM IN THE WOMEN’S GAME AND HER MALE ALLIES

 

Lekeisha says that she wants there to be more women across football, but does not underestimate the importance of male allies supporting and amplifying female voices.

 

She has seen that in her own career, notably when opposition coaches have opted to approach her male assistant rather than her.

 

“It wears you down, but I decided not to let it affect me,” Lekeisha said. 

 

“I’ve had some really great assistants who would be like, ‘I’m not the head coach. You know I’m not. She’s over there, go and speak to her’, or we’ve built relationships where I know they’re going to say that, but they can also just deal with it as well at the same time. 

 

“It’s about the support you get from others.”