Coach Heidi
As long as I can remember I have always been on a boys’ team, even at 4 years old. There was AYSO and CYSA and we always had three girls and the rest boys. It never bothered me because I was competitive and going against the boys made me a better and more aggressive player. Each season I would make the all-star team and of course it was co-ed. When I was 12, a man named Nik Laytart decided to take all the girls off the all-star teams and start the first girls club team and called it Temecula Heatwave. We were pink and white. Coach Nik was way before his time. He never played soccer before and learned about soccer through studying a text book. It took a keen and brilliant mind to collect the best girl soccer players in the valley and create a team. I played for Coach Nik for 5 years and he planted a seed in me that little did I know, was going to impact thousands of others down the road. We were a very successful team and made a lot of memories together. I also regularly played pick up with the Hispanic men and some of my teammates. It was during that time I learned my skills and I really developed a love for the game. I was also selected to the Cal South district 5 Olympic Development Team.
I played varsity soccer for 4 years at Temecula Valley High School. There originally wasn’t a girls’ soccer program there until a girl, three years my senior, named Tamera Pulse walked onto the boy’s team. Tamera was a heck of a player but the boys coach cut her. Tamera and her dad fought the school district for equality and that fight combined with Title VI, forced Temecula Valley High School to have a girls’ soccer team. Tamera paved the way for me to have an opportunity to play high school soccer. It goes to show that there will always be trailblazers that carve the path for other players. To this day, I am truly grateful Tamera was courageous enough to try out for the boys’ team. We won the Sunbelt league almost every year and I received many high school honors academically and athletically. My senior year I was captain, received 1st team All-League honors, and was MVP of the Sunbelt League.
Also in my senior year, I received a letter from Yale University asking me to play there. I dismissed the letter not even knowing where Yale was located and how prestigious it was. At this time, my mom was a single mom and we had no college graduates in my family, so it was hard to advise me on the right thing to do. I decided I wanted to attend Cal Poly San Luis Obispo for Nutrition and walk on. I had no idea about the recruitment process back then and colleges were just getting soccer teams due to Title VI. To my dismay, I didn’t make the team but the coach allowed me to train with the team for the season. When I came home, I decided to play two years at Palomar Junior College where I was a captain and earned Midfielder of the Year and Player of the year honors. From here I was able to transfer to San Diego State to play D1 soccer and earn my Bachelors of Science degree in Psychology. I played and starting coaching club in the off-season. I fell in love with the kids and enamored by how much these kids can absorb the skills. After graduation from SDSU, I decided to get my teaching credential at Cal State San Marcos. My college playing days were over but I stayed involved in coaching. My journey includes coaching a boys’ team at Pegasus in San Diego, girls’ teams at Valley Center for the Hurricanes club team, Valley Center girls’ varsity soccer, Southwest Soccer Club, FC Murrieta, Legends FC, Chaparral High School and Arsenal FC.
The first 10 years of coaching I taught myself through Coerver tapes, constant research, and watching better coaches teach skills to young players. I knew it was the skills that helped me have success in my earlier playing years and I wanted to be committed to make the next generation of players better. I studied video for thousands of hours and worked out the skills in my living room until they were perfected. I learned the Coerver methodology, Dutch skills training by Wiel Coerver, and started to implement them. I networked with better coaches and learned from them. Just like my club coach Nik, I also became self-taught. In 2005, I started coaching my daughter and as an experiment I wanted to see how skilled I could make her and her teammates. My experiment deemed successful as many of those players are graduating this year in 2019 and going on to play D1 college soccer.
In 2016, I decided to get my Masters of Arts degree in Coaching and Leadership from Concordia University Irvine. In taking these classes I developed a love for sports psychology. With the help of my instructors and other resources I brought mental training to my club and high school players. Teaching mental toughness and helping the players figure out how to get the most out of their performance was innovative and proven successful. The players were more in tune with themselves and learned positive self-talk, how to motivate, get in the zone, breathing techniques, stay focused, and set reachable goals.
My goal with RISE is to teach players to be creative and expressive on the ball. I strive to inspire young female soccer players to not be afraid to try new moves and to encourage them to put several skills together in order to be unique and innovative. I want to give girls the tools and watch them paint their own canvas. Having ball skills can make girls feel strong, powerful, and that they are special in their abilities and what they can do. What is awesome about the program is that is doesn’t matter what level you are at, everyone can learn! When girls gain confidence in sports, I also see them raising the bar in their studies, on the field, in setting goals, and with their peers. It’s truly amazing to see the girls grow and for them to realize they are worthy, valued, and that they have a purpose.
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