So...Who and What is 1MINDSET? Part I

There are voids that need filled. And 1MINDSET is here to do that.

There is a great need for young female soccer players to have female soccer coaches and role models. Why? Let’s face it the female psyche is much different than that of our male counterpart. Who relates the best to females? FEMALES. Now, do not take this the wrong way as there are superb male coaches out there that are coaching females but what we are getting at with 1MINDSET is when you have “walked the walk”, as myself and my partner have in women’s soccer, you are able to relate and understand what these female players are going through physically, and most importantly, psychologically, giving us the “leg up” when it comes to OVERALL player development. Yes, anyone can teach the technical and tactical side of the game, but not everyone is able to teach and develop a player’s psychological side. In essence I compare this to men’s collegiate and professional basketball, and potentially youth basketball. How many women coach men’s college or professional basketball? 0. Why is that? Is it because we do not know the technical and tactical side, otherwise known as the X’s and O’s? Highly unlikely. We can teach ourselves the X’s and O’s so that’s not preventing us from doing so. Well what is it? Besides the known “it has just always been this way for years and years”, 1MINDSET would argue it is the psychological differences that are preventing this from happening. Male athletes are motivated differently than female athletes, and a male coach has very often “walked the walk” and knows how to get the most out of his male players. So then why, naturally, do we not have female coaches, coaching females, since they are mentally wired very similarly? What we have seen through our journey as players and coaches, is that external factors drive women away from coaching. It may be the youth parents are too much to handle, the want to start a family, the lack of self-confidence, and so forth and so on. Unfortunately, our thoughts are the lack of female coaches influencing and mentoring these female players is hurting the players and ultimately the female game. Some may argue that there are plenty of women coaching women’s college soccer, but what is plenty? More importantly if Title IX did not exist, we may not have ever seen female coaches in women’s college soccer…and that is a scary thought! And look at the elite female soccer clubs in this country, how many women are head coaches? As former college coaches that scouted on these sidelines and as coaches at one of these clubs, the answer is not many. Matter of fact, my business partner attended a meeting with the top 64 female clubs in the country and she was the ONLY female in the room of DOC’s (Director of Coaching). She was just filling in for her club’s DOC who could not attend. A room full of male DOC’s (Director of Coaching) for the FEMALE side of clubs. Why is this? We need to do a better job of developing female coaches. Keep them in the game as to help our next generations. 1MINDSET wants to do something about this. Just as we focus on developing our young female players to be the best they can be so we can maintain our #1 world ranking we need to do the same for the female coaches in our sport. 1MINDSET is about leading the way.

So, in short, 1MINDSET will begin to address this bothersome issue as the professional soccer training portion of the company will be based on the “for girls, by girls” premise. And, at the same time 1MINDSET is cultivating and developing these young female players, we will also begin to mentor and guide young female coaches.

The cycle has to begin somewhere and it will begin with 1MINDSET.