Many college athletes strive to be professional.
Ohio women’s soccer is the only team in the Mid-American Conference that sports a coaching staff with three coaches that have professional playing experience. Not only will this be a good recruiting ploy, but also their vast experience against some of the game’s best can help players grow into their potential as soccer players.
Assistant coach Allison Whitworth talked about what her professional experience means for the Bobcat players.
“It gives you a higher expectation of what the players can do when they apply themselves,” she said. “I think that coming into an environment where we know what the elite players can do, we can say, ‘I think you can do this like so and so,’ and showing them who to emulate and who to be like.
“It creates a high level of expectation of our athletes that they can grow as people and they can find different skills that they can learn from other athletes.”
After earning First Team All-South Eastern Conference honors during her senior year at Auburn and Second Team All-SEC honors her junior season, Whitworth went on to play three years professionally in the Women’s Professional Soccer league for the Atlanta Beat. There, Whitworth stopped shots against some of the country and world’s best players.
“It’s helped me see the highest level that the elite players play,” Whitworth said. “You learn from even as a young player playing professionally and the dedication, the commitment, not just when you’re training, it’s what you do to recover and hydrate and eat well and to sleep well dedicating yourself to the game and applying yourself to the game.”
Head coach Aaron Rodgers gives his staff the freedom to work to their strengths. He also played professionally in the United Soccer League with three teams from 1994 to 1997.
Whitworth works with the defensive players and goalies, whereas fellow assistant coach Elizabeth Woerle works with the forwards and midfielders.
Woerle said Rodgers gives her the freedom to teach what she is best at doing.
“We all come from a lot of different backgrounds,” she said. “Like me being a forward and both of them being goalkeepers, (Rodgers) gives me the opportunity to work with forwards and mids doing shooting. “The girls, knowing that I play that position, trust that I know what I’m talking about. I think just knowing that all of us come from a professional background and whatnot and having a lot of playing experience, they buy into what we are doing and that’s what’s most important.”
Woerle played two professional seasons in Germany for 1. FC Lübars after having a successful career at Drake.
“Playing over in Germany, it’s a very different game. It’s very tactical and technical and the pace of the game is a lot safer,” Woerle said of her playing days in Europe. “In America we definitely play riskier soccer. Just tactically, I think I’ve learned a lot from playing overseas; how to read the game and how to see the game is definitely something I’ve brought away from that.”
ak849511@ohiou.edu
@KovarAndrew
