Up For the Challenge: Meet FC Harlem Player, Jocelyn

This month, TONL partnered with Nike to profile various coaches and young women in soccer as they demonstrate why diverse representation matters in sport, coaching, and the athlete/coach relationship. Throughout this week, hear from the FC Harlem Lions, a specialized program for talented and committed youth of color ages 10- 19 who often do not get opportunities to pursue soccer development at the highest levels. The number 1 goal of FC Harlem is to help the youth meet their academic and professional goals. The women on this team are "Leaders n Our Neighborhoods" (L.I.O.N.S) so be sure to read the stories of these leading ladies.

Meet Jocelyn!

TONL: Since soccer is a heavily male-dominated sport, what made you consider being a woman soccer player and get into this sport?

Jocelyn: I thought it was a challenge for me. So I chose to play soccer and follow this sport as a challenge instead of baseball and softball and all those other sports. Now I'm trying to see if I could get to professional things after high school. So I would go into a soccer career.

How has your culture, gender like as a woman played in the way that you kind of see the sport?

It’s a bit hard. But, I really just try to take my time on it.

Does it help to have a woman coach?

Yeah.

And how important is it to have like a woman coach for?

It is important because most coaches are mostly male instead of female and it shows that at least a woman could coach other females instead of a male coaching females.

Have you ever had a coach that wasn't a woman? And what was your experience?

My coach is actually a male and it’s still a challenge for me, but I take challenge and I try to go through it.

It is a challenge because what exactly?

Because he may not know how we actually feel - instead a woman would know how a girl feels.

That's true. That’s good. What is the common misconception, like something a lot of people think, that you would love to dispel as a young woman?

That we don’t know how to kick a proper ball or don’t know how to like kick and then have skills. Like, we don’t have skills at all to play. That’s what most boys think of us. When they ask us, “Oh what sport are you playing?” and then they say, “Oh soccer isn't for you,” but then every time I hear that, that actually makes me go more as a challenge.

That's really good, though. I love that. Who was your sports role model growing up? Did you have anybody that made you want to play soccer or is it that you just fell into it?

I had a role model, which was my cousin, Emma. But, I just started watching it on TV and then I fell into it. I fell into this sport and I started liking the challenge.