AS A PLAYER:
Multi youth sport athlete
Captain of club soccer teams throughout high school
Averaged over 2 goals a game club soccer
About Coach Kroc
When I was three years old, I wanted to be the first female Detroit Tiger baseball player. No one in my family (even my Great Uncle and Grandfather) ever told me no–that it could not happen. In fact, they did everything to support my passion. Growing up as an athletic obsessed female in the 1980s through the early 1990s was not for the faint of heart. I began my sports career being the only girl on my first few soccer teams, one of two girls on a baseball team and then progressed to playing on coed teams that consisted of mainly boys. Finding playing time in organized sports in my youth basically consisted of the same unspoken rules that existed in a pick up game with my much older brother and his friends:
I had to do better than good.
I had to be good enough to play on their level, prove that I was tough, not complain, and dig deep. I had to play on the edge at all times. This is where I built the foundation of my resilient athletic mindset.
As I grew older, I became fascinated with not only being an athlete, but also studying tools and techniques athletes use to stay mentally sharp during games. Learning how to control what I allowed and did not allow within my “bubble” during competition
Coaching entered my life while I was in middle school and never left me. I was always simultaneously developing my coaching skills along with my playing skills. I am very thankful that my Dad provided me with the opportunity to help out and eventually take over some of his coaching endeavors. Coaching a middle school basketball team while I was in high school allowed me to understand that every player is uniquely different. I began to craft my coaching philosophy and how I coached each individual to bring out the best results from them while keeping the overall foundation of our team philosophy/structure.
Working with middle school girls was a crash course in understanding that your team/players will produce the best results when players have a positive mindset and are in control of what they could do and what was possible–yet always be accountable for their actions–good and bad.
While in college, I earned valuable experience as a basketball manager for an NCAA D1 women’s program. Again, I used this experience to further build upon my coaching philosophy.
After graduating from college, I returned home and was given an opportunity to be an assistant coach with my high school’s soccer program. Being thrown in the soccer coaching world with a league championship team and future college players proved to be valuable experience for me. I soon moved to Cincinnati and was fortunate to work with some of the best and most successful soccer coaches in the Southwest Ohio district.
AS A COACH:
Decades of multi sport coaching experience
Part of the coaching staff which won several League and District Championships.
2005 Ohio State Champion and State runner-up 2006 and 2007.
Coached several college athletes in both basketball and soccer
Aside from sports, I am a published writer and am currently working on a book for athletes in their pursuit of consistently playing on the edge.
I have experience as a teacher, both at the elementary and secondary levels. I approach teaching the same way I do coaching.
I have been married for over 20 years and have four children who all have played different sports. One is a Division 1 commit.