Building a culture

I just loved it.

My mom said she was signing me up to play soccer, as we call it. I was five years old and it was a little co-ed team in California, with boys and one other girl. I loved running around with the boys — the physicality, the competition.

When I was 11 years old, the United States won the Women’s World Cup final in my home state. The effect England’s Euro-winning team will have is probably similar to that 1999 win in the States. It transformed opportunities for girls and women in sport.

The difference in the States is the college game. Because of Title IX — which meant equal access and equal funding for women in collegiate sport — there was always opportunity at that level. By the early 2000s, the college game was huge. It was an opportunity to play at a very professional level.

I was fortunate to have that opportunity. That is credit to the 99er group, Title IX and everyone who worked towards those achievements.

My coach at Cal State Stanislaus was Nicole Van Dyke, who got me into coaching when I was still playing. I coached a girls’ high school team when I was a collegiate player. 

"As the youngest head coach in NCAA Division One, at the age of 23, I grew up and learned a lot about myself really quickly"

After I finished playing, I joined Nicole’s coaching staff at Cal State Bakersfield. Given that there wasn’t as much opportunity to be a professional player at that time, I decided to get into coaching straight away.

I have always been a bit of a builder, and in the collegiate set-up you’re not just a coach. You become so dynamic. I was across analysis, recruitment operations, kit camps, fundraising — you wear all these different hats to run an organisation. You really are the CEO of your programme. 

When I succeeded Nicole as Cal State Bakersfield head coach, there were times we didn’t travel with a physio. I was taping ankles for players before they went into a match. 

At Cal State Bakersfield and later at London City, I built team rooms. We didn’t have a changing room space that was our own, so myself and other members of staff built spaces for the team, both to change in and build a culture in.

As the youngest head coach in NCAA Division One, at the age of 23, I grew up and learned a lot about myself quickly. I tried to take the world on my shoulders, but you need so much help from people around you. Even though I failed in that environment, I wouldn’t change it. What I learned shaped who I am as a coach.

It provided me with invaluable experiences of things not going well. When you meet these scenarios later, you are more prepared to manage them. For example, understanding how to manage off-pitch scenarios and life-changing events. Or managing losses and how hard you take them, recognising that they are not a reflection of you as a character.

"We took an empathetic approach to building culture around the people we had, and developing them"

When I left Cal State, I joined the University of San Francisco as an assistant. Nicole was at Stanford, so we spent a lot of time at coffee shops together, on our off-days, planning what it would look like if we ran a programme together again. We had a clear vision about how we wanted to build an organisation to win a championship, so it was an easy decision to join her when she went to Penn. 

What we didn’t expect when going there were the resources on leadership and positive psychology that Penn’s Wharton Business School would offer. The likes of Angela Duckworth, Adam Grant and Karen Reivich, and all these unbelievably accomplished authors — who talk about culture, mindset and positive psychology — really helped us build our culture off the pitch.

That culture was people-centred. A lot of coaches will go into a college programme and clean house, in terms of having a big turnover of squad. But we never did that.

We looked at those players and asked: “If that was our daughter, how would we want them to be treated?” We would want them to be cultivated, educated, provided the choice, and brought on the journey. So we took an empathetic approach to building culture around the people we had, and developing them. And we didn’t cut a single player from the programme.

Naturally, there were a few who fell away by choice. Either it wasn’t for them, or they had other interests. We built it over time and invested a lot into those first-year players. When they were seniors in their final season, there were seven or eight who had been along that four-year journey. They ran the team, at that point. 

That was special, because we saw how competitive they were and how much drive they had. We empowered that across the four years. There was such strong leadership in that final season, that they were unwilling to accept anything less than a championship.

"We focused on being more defensively solid, having a real identity off the ball"

It is a people business. When you create a space where people feel valued and empowered to do their role to the best of their ability, you get a lot more from them on the pitch. It does take time, and it doesn’t always turn quickly. You have to build belief as a group.

We all know that results build belief, so you have to get those along the way. But there will be a tipping point, when results come because you have such strong self-identity.

By March 2020, I wanted to push myself outside my comfort zone, and get a new perspective on the game. So I took a leap of faith and went in as assistant to Lisa Fallon at London City Lionesses.

In October that year, Lisa went back home to Ireland and I became London City head coach. I took the same approach as at Penn, and we created something really special. We finished sixth in the league in my first year. The following season, we finished second behind Liverpool.

We focused on being more defensively solid, having a real identity off the ball, on our organisation among units, with more of a high-pressing strategy. We became difficult to break down and beat, backed by a tremendously high work ethic.

In that second year, we brought in players who had WSL experience. They had the quality to create a top Championship team, but needed to be inspired and believed in. It allowed us to be a lot more competitive in possession and dominate the ball. We had a clear identity, in terms of options and patterns that we were going after.

"At Brighton, I have found incredible leadership from the board and technical directors"

Success in or out of possession was always backed by a really competitive mentality. We brought a lot of the elements that the college game brings in the US — around culture and developing people, and not just focusing on results. Focusing on the environment that we created off the pitch allowed us to get through difficult times.

As a similar project to London City and Penn, Brighton appealed to me. My partner had worked for Brighton men’s team, as an analyst, during the Gus Poyet era. I always thought from the outside that they do things right, that they support the women’s side of the club incredibly well. There is a lot to be respected about the resilience with which the owner and chairman, Tony Bloom, and the CEO, Paul Barber, approach their own journey.

At Brighton, I have found incredible leadership from the board and technical directors. They have a very lofty ambition that they want to work towards, every single day. They back the women’s programme in an incredible way. The resources and facilities are top-notch, and provide a platform to be successful. 

They just needed a refreshed sense of optimism, energy and direction. People with a like-minded growth mindset, to push it forward. When I got here, it was the first time the team had hit bottom of the WSL table. We were on nine points with seven games to go, and two games in hand.

The sentiment was: “We must stay in the league.” I tried to shift the mindset away from that, towards: “What are we? Who do we want to be? How are we going to make a good account of ourselves in the next seven games?”

If we could focus on that, it would take a little bit of the pressure off. We knew we had to pick up a minimum of seven points, but we weren’t going to place emphasis on any one game. Just focus on what was going to make us more robust in the way we were playing, to be more competitive.

"In the semi final we played them in a 4-4-2, got better pressure on the back line and were able to force a few decisions"

The WSL is a completely different tactical challenge to the Championship, in terms of making in-game adjustments and spotting minor differences. How teams adapt to what you are doing, and making counter-adaptations as well.

It is something that I thought a lot about in the promotion pursuit at London City, in case we went up. I felt we needed two clear ways of playing. One way of playing against the top four, and a way of playing against everyone else.

A lot of teams sit in against the top four and then try to go for it. At Brighton, we have taken the opposite approach. We have tried to get better pressure on the ball and play them straight up. Against everyone else, we have tried to have a slightly different identity, around being compact and robust, where we take risks in possession.

Playing Manchester United away in the FA Cup semi final for my first game was not easy. We played them in the league before I came here. In that game, the team set up in a 5-4-1, sat in and didn’t really get pressure on the ball. In the semi final, we played them in a 4-4-2. We got better pressure on the back line and were able to force a few decisions, catch them on the counter and make it a really competitive game.

We built a lot of belief from that, and that carried into our game against Everton in the league. That ended in a 3-2 victory, and then followed a couple of close games. We lost 2-1 to Liverpool and drew 2-2 with Tottenham, before picking up a first WSL clean sheet in more than a year, in a 1-0 win over West Ham.

I then had to look at not just improving the current state of Brighton Women’s football, but making long-term changes to the foundation throughout the summer.

"It will be important for academies to tap into first-team PROCESSES, so that it becomes more competitive"

The WSL and NWSL are both growing and becoming more competitive. The demands on players and coaches are growing. That increases the levels of professionalism, which is ultimately what you want to see. It is an exciting space for women’s football, but the WSL and NWSL are very different products and games.

Over in the US, you are seeing large crowds, consistently. There is an entertainment factor — very exciting, transitional games, and a lot of parity across the 12 teams.

In the WSL, it is much more tactical. Crowds are growing in phases, and there is still quite a big gap after the top four, based on the league structure and how things operate financially. 

It will be interesting to see how the academies grow here in the UK. Something that is so strong in the US is the youth club soccer development scene. Not many are linked to the NWSL clubs; they are independent organisations.

In the UK, pretty much all youth opportunities are linked to WSL, Championship or National League clubs. It will be very interesting to see the growth of the youth game here, and how that shapes national teams.

It will be important for academies to tap into first-team processes, so that it becomes more competitive and more professional. In the US you have access to all of that, in terms of strength and conditioning from the age of 12, becoming an athlete first and then a footballer. In the UK, the gap between the two is now being bridged, thinking about athlete and footballer and linking the two.

"I will never lose the attitude that no job is too small for me to chip in and help out"

On the coaching side, at the moment five of the WSL’s 12 head coaches are women. In the NWSL, it is five out of 14. We’d always like to see more women in the game, and it is how you keep former players interested in becoming managers. Making sure that women have the support that they need, too; it is a very demanding profession, emotionally.

When new or young female coaches get into the game, for those of us who have been in the game for longer, it is our job to invest in them. To make sure that there is a good support network. The number will grow and the perspective of former players is invaluable to nurture. The opportunities for players to get back into the game and make a viable living is also growing.

I am definitely as competitive as I was when I started out, but I have learned so much about how to manage and lead myself after the hard times. I will never lose the attitude that no job is too small for me to chip in and help out, to make sure that we are moving in the right direction. But it is about where I focus my time and efforts, to make sure that I manage myself appropriately to give the best energy that I can to the team.

And I am always looking to develop my tactical knowledge, always looking to develop my player-management skills. I have done an A Licence in the States, and am doing a Pro Licence in England. 

I also network with as many coaches as possible, to understand different perspectives. The more perspective you have as a coach, the better you can lead people.