SF State women’s soccer held their first community clinic on Saturday, March, 16 at Cox Stadium.
The afternoon camp was attended by dozens of girls ranging from sixth to eighth grade. Gators head coach Tracy Hamm said she wanted to have the clinic so young girls around the Bay Area can come and gain experience.
“I wanted to create an experience where girls can be coached by girls,” Hamm said. “It’s good role models and a good experience for them to be on a college campus and hopefully create some inspiration for them moving forward.”
Hamm also thinks the clinic can help the players on her team by giving them some extra responsibilities.
“I think it is fun for them to plan a little practice and interact with girls that love the game as much as they do,” said Hamm.
Randy Clarin and Matt Cowan from Livermore received emails from their daughter’s soccer club and thought this would be a great opportunity for their daughters to learn from college athletes.
“It’s definitely a great example for the kids,” said Clarin. “They get to see kids playing college ball and it is something they can look forward to.”
Cowan said that this is the first time his daughter has had a female head coach teach her soccer. He doesn’t think it makes a difference whether his daughter’s coach is male or female.
“I don’t think it’s mandatory,” said Cowan, “you can learn from anybody.”
Cowan’s daughter Ellie, 11, thought it was important having a female coach and players teaching her.
“You can relate to them more,” said Cowan.
Ellie was intimidated to be on a college field at first, but having her teammates around her made her more comfortable.
After some stretching and warmups, the girls were split up into three groups based on their age. Each group worked on drills with the Gators for an hour followed a quick Q&A where the girls asked questions such as, “what is like to play in college?”
After the clinic, most of the girls from the clinic were able to view an on-campus screening of “coach” a documentary on Hamm’s journey to become the second American woman to receive a UEFA “A” coaching license during the 2018 Gators season. Hamm explained that fellow UC Berkeley alumna Carroll Levinsohn approached her to do the documentary because she felt Hamm’s story was empowering for women.
“[Levinsohn] felt this was a great platform to highlight my story and my journey and use it as a motivational piece to get other women involved in coaching,” said Hamm.
Hamm hopes the movie empowers the young girls to overcome obstacles that they face in life.
“Regardless of what you experience, just keep moving forward and if you got a goal, you can achieve anything if you believe in yourself.”
This was the first time a clinic like this was held at SF State, Hamm was optimistic that there will be one next year or possibly during this fall. SF State will host a camp for student-athletes in ninth grade to junior college on April 28 at Cox Stadium.
