Laura Harvey, US women’s football coach

FROM F.A. TO L.A.

Football is an international game, and it’s not just the players who have the opportunity to head abroad for career success. Former Sports Studies student, Laura Harvey, has been a coach in the USA since 2013.

Football (or soccer) may not be the biggest game in America, with basketball, baseball and American football all more prominent, but the sport has been steadily growing in popularity – and the women’s game is no exception.

We caught up with Laura, 40, to see how life on the other side of the pond is treating her. She currently lives in Los Angeles, California and is under-20s (U-20) head coach for the United States Women’s National Team.

What are your memories of Wolverhampton?

“I chose the University of Wolverhampton as it wasn’t too far away from home and Walsall Campus was very dedicated to sport, which I found very welcoming. I have a lot of strong memories about being at the university, mainly around the lifelong friends I made and the social aspect of what a small campus provided.”

“My lecturers Kay Biscombe and Tony Lanaway stood out to me as they knew where I wanted to go in my career, which at the time was a hard career to see, as opportunities for female coaches in football were very restrictive.”

Tell us about your career so far.

“After graduation I got a job as women’s coach for the local county football association (FA). I moved into becoming a head coach in a club environment at Birmingham City in 2006, joined Arsenal in 2008 becoming head coach in 2009.”

“Arsenal was a huge aspect of my career and I stayed there until 2012. I moved to the USA in 2013 to join the professional women’s soccer league in Seattle. I stayed in the professional league in the USA until 2019 and then moved into a role in the international teams where I am head coach for the U-20 women’s team, and assistant coach with the senior women’s team.”

Have you always wanted to work within the sport sector?

“I always wanted to work in football and don’t know what else I would be good at! I think the women’s game in England has exploded and there are way more opportunities now than when I left in 2013. America definitely still has tons of opportunities for people to come out here and utilise their experience in different environments.”

Tell us about being head coach of the United States U-20 women’s national soccer team.

“My role is to provide an environment to players that can help them develop in their career. The under-20 age group is the last age group you get to perform in a world event before moving into the senior environment, so this gives players a real chance to prove their potential on the world stage.”

“The connection between the U-20 and U-23/ senior women’s team is huge as we have a chance to show the younger players what it takes to compete at that level.”

What would you say has had the most influence on your career?

“I was lucky to have multiple people around me who saw something in me they thought could be good at coaching. My family and my first employer after university, Tom Stack, gave me every opportunity to succeed.”

“I also think my small group of friends I’m still very close to: Rachel Dunlop, Gemma Ryan (was Adams) and Natalie Justice- Dearn, have had a huge impact on me. All three have stayed within the sports industry, Gemma works within sports development in a local council, Rachel has been a PE teacher in the Birmingham area and Natalie has been in a CEO role in different sports around the country.”

“I have a lot of strong memories about being at the university, mainly around the lifelong friends I made and the social aspect of what a small campus provided.”

How have the past year and the pandemic impacted you – and what’s next for you?

“This past year I have been lucky enough to work with a group of staff across all of US Soccer on building what we want the programme to look like in the future. Not being out on the pitch has obviously been hard, but we’ve utilised the time well to decide how we want to improve our programme moving forward.”

“I’m very happy in my current role and hope to get back out on the pitch with the U20s asap, to hopefully qualify for a World Cup.”

“I love the way of life out here and enjoy exploring the country. Living in the USA was the best decision I made both from a career, and life, perspective.”