Mentoring program gets investor
Shawna Gordon, Football for Her creator and former soccer pro, invests in female-to-female tutoring for athletes
A trend in coaching young girls and women by other females instead of the traditional male has been evolving in the past decade.
And the perfect example is Shawna Gordon, a former pro soccer player and founder of the nonprofit Football For Her, who is proud that an all-girl, inperson clinic she launched Wednesday in the Lab Five outdoor soccer complex in Pacoima was all filled up.
“I’m so excited to have a full clinic,” said Gordon, a former National Women’s Soccer League player. “We started in December 2019, right before the pandemic and this is the first year we can do both in peeps and virtual events. I’m so thankful for the support and excitement around the August Clinic from girls and parents.”
Gordon, a Southland native, wasn’t surprised Wednesday’s clinic was packed since there has been interest prior to the coronavirus shutting down sports gatherings all together.
In fact, she plans to have multiple in-person and virtual clinics annually and
grow her staff as they move forward.
“We started (Football For Her) because there is a need and there is a community of girls who play seeking female mentors,” she said. “We are thrilled to be able to provide that.”
Gordon, 31, believes soccer is a physical, mental and social empowerment platform for young girls and that it can be a positive way forward when it comes to life choices and career decisions.
Gordon, who attended Los Osos High School in Rancho Cucamonga, where she was named most valuable player as a senior, enlisted other former female pros and women’s club players, some of whom have played in the Olympics and World Cup, to coach.
But there will be much more than sports training taking place.
Plenty of female-to-female mentoring and life coaching are anticipated.
Gordon, a Cal State Long Beach 49er from 2008 to 2011 and a Big West Conference midfielder of the year, and the others will share stories about overcoming adversity and taking advantage of the opportunities soccer creates.
Sixty girls signed up for the daylong clinic, including 13 from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Jaimaine Lee, who is related to Gordon through marriage and happens to be a sports enthusiast and an operations manager at United Healthcare, has sponsored three young women at $150 apiece for the upcoming clinic for the first time.
He also was a catalyst in getting the insurance giant to donate $3,000 for the clinic and equipment that can be used in the future, as well sponsoring 10 girls.
“I wanted to bring it into the (United Healthcare’s Employee Engagement Committee) because I really wanted to help,” Lee said. “(I said) So put me down for two or three.”
Lee pointed out that inequities exist for females within the game of soccer.
“(I believe) girls participate in about 40% of all sports and at the age of 10 there’s a precipitous drop,” he said. “And about one-tenth of all funding of sports is provided for girls and about 3% of the media coverage is allocated to girls.
“I understand there is a lot of interest there, there’s a lot of participants but not a lot of representation,” Gordon said.
For more information, go to footballforher.org.