Margueritte Aozasa

UCLA Women’s Soccer Head Coach

United Soccer Coaches API Coaches Community Member

Who or what inspired you to pursue coaching?

Great mentors like Albertin Montoya.  He was my coach since 3rd grade, and he was the best youth coach in the country. I would go to training way before the actual team training session started and also stayed after training to get more work in and he would give me extra training as well.  I was always on the field training because it’s what I loved most. Albertin was such an inspirational coach and had a lot of time with him and learned a lot from him. When I tore my ACL (twice in high school) – I had the chance to do a mini-internship with him while injured. Injury showed me behind the scenes of what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, which was coaching.

She started coaching officially in her sophomore year of college and had two club teams under 8 years old all while maintaining good grades.

How has being a United Soccer Coaches member benefited you?

I officially started being a United Soccer Coaches member in 2015.  In my opinion, the coaching network has been the biggest support system. Especially during quarantine, it was so much fun jumping on calls once a week with a bunch of coaches. Learning how to coach on zoom, how to make time meaningful, and what options are available to coach remotely were extremely helpful during the last two years.

 

What do you feel has been the hardest part of coaching?

The hardest part is balance all while addressing everything on and off the pitch. You want to win and develop good people and be a support system all while coaching and finding balance in your own life. As a coach, you wear so many hats and it is important to remind yourself that balance is the goal while not losing sight of coaching. That is what makes the job so hard but also so great!

 

How do you measure success with your team?

Winning is a byproduct. Individual development is huge. I want players every season to feel they are getting better. They get better over time, but individual development reflects the investment, and that matters to players. I love when players play the game the way they train. Consistency in approach and demeanor is important. Structure and predictability are very valuable in today’s athletes- be reasonable as possible.

I will feel like a failure if after 4 years players don’t enjoy the game. If players start feeling like they don’t enjoy the game, they need to speak up.