Jenna Taylor is the Girls Pre Academy Technical Director (U6-U8 Age Groups) at Liverpool International Academy Michigan’s Central site headquartered in Pontiac/Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Her roles include coaching soccer teams, overseeing age groups, mentoring coaches, and empowering young girls in sport through workshops, camps, and role model collaboration with older teams. Along with her Technical Director role, Jenna uses her years of sports business experience to oversee and grow the Reds Junior Academy programs (beginner soccer) at Central and Summer Camps throughout Detroit with collaboration of US Sports Camps. Finally, she is currently studying with US Soccer at the Grassroots Course level to become a Student Coach Educator and hopes to lead her own classes one day. This is an opportunity to share her background with SCLA and years of coaching experience with the next generation of Grassroots coaches and improve the sport experience for young athletes.
What brought you to the SCLA program and what did you want to do with the degree?
After completing my Division I Career and finishing my Business degree at Oakland University, I knew I wanted to work in sports but I was not sure what capacity. I really thought I wanted to be an Athletic Director but was at fork in the road: coaching or sports administration. I had been coaching through high school and college as a hobby with private training, Grassroots programs, club teams, and assisting at the high school level with my dad. I really enjoyed coaching and found joy sharing my love of soccer and helping young kids improve and build confidence in themselves. I was also working in sponsorships events and activation with Dietz Sports & Entertainment. My dad, my biggest role model as a lifelong educator and coach of pretty much any sport imaginable, and I were at the Women in Sports Leadership Conference when Dr. Gould presented and handed out the SCLA flyer about a brand new graduate degree at MSU. I applied for the program, applied for a student job at the Spartan Fund at Michigan State Athletics, started coaching with a local club called Michigan Chill, and that’s where the journey began! The SCLA program was the best thing to ever happen to me. It was flexible with the online format without losing the ability to engage with classmates and professors, has great advisors and teachers, and is academically all encompassing of administration, youth development, and coaching. It is the perfect blend with practical uses in my career today!
What is the most important thing you learned during the SCLA program?
I learned so much from the SCLA program: academically, professionally, and personally. As stated earlier, I was a Business major at my undergraduate level so learning to read academic papers, books, and sort through some scientific language was a big learning curve for me. Dr. Driska gave me the tools and resources to help me sort through longer papers and develop understanding that would be effective and flexible. He also gave me the tools to write academic papers and provided great feedback to make me better each time. Professionally, I learned so much about sports administration through experience and a lot about practical use of coaching science/sports science on the soccer field. The SCLA faculty help sort through and make the science and research applicable and encourage reflection to create connections with every day life/work. Personally, I learned about time management, overcoming life stressors, and effective communication with my colleagues which allowed me to receive help when things can feel overwhelming. Everyone at the SCLA program wants you to succeed, so feeling comfortable asking for help when struggling with concepts and language or flexibility of time when doing this degree and managing different jobs and family. Again, everything I have learned in the SCLA program has helped me in my career journey.
Tell us about something you have learned/discovered during your time in the SCLA program that surprised you. How do you think you will apply it professionally?
When I initially started the SCLA program, I was working in athletic development/fundraising. My undergraduate degree was in Business so my brain worked in case studies and budgets, not research papers and data. I thought that fundraising would be my career calling and was focused solely on how the degree would work in terms of career pathway in college athletics. I would take the courses on Skill Development/Positive Youth Development/Coaching and take the information on the surface during the course but did not think I would need it again because it wasn’t specifically related to administration. Still, I would try to connect the dots in case it ever came back around. In coaching, I always had the individual child’s sport experience in mind and was creating learning environments to help learn and grow. I had certain methodologies, feedback language, and beliefs about it but I wasn’t sure if I was alone because it was not the coaching philosophy norm of coaching sports. Today, my career is solely focused on youth sports (soccer), grassroots programming, and coaching education where all of the tools and information from SCLA have been extremely beneficial. I feel confident in the field as an “expert” through education and experience but that doesn’t change my curiosity to learn new things from other coaches/leaders so that I can continue to grow/adapt to the changing world of youth sports. The Positive Youth Development concepts came back when I served at Detroit PAL (youth development/sports nonprofit). The research and academia have come back in to view recently as I completed my National C Coaching License last summer. The SCLA content has also really made me confident in my Coach Educator Course as a Student Coach Educator. All of this experience has made me a better coach and leader which allows me to continue to share my love of sports, empower young athletes to be the best version of themselves on/off the field, and continue creating environments that are focused on positive youth development and adaptable skill acquisition/development.
What advice do you have for current or future students who want to make the most of their degree?
My best advice is to take it all in when you are doing the program whether it relates to your career pathway or not. You may be in sports administration today at the college level and not see the need for Strength & Conditioning scientific concepts… but one day you may be hiring an individual for that type of job so having the understanding loads and periodization may come into play and you want to speak the language to ensure you are hiring the right person. Vice versa, you may be a career coach and think the sports administration concepts will not relate to you one day. Next thing you know, you are overseeing 300 participants in one summer for multiple soccer camps. Therefore, the tools from SCLA can help you with understanding emergency actions plans, first aid training, or basic program management. My last piece of advice is to do your best to network and get to know your colleagues, classmates, professors, and advisers. You never know who they will know that may help you in your career or they may have insight that you never thought for your sport. I attend the Summer Coaches’ School every year and it’s so fun to recognize and engage with my coaching community and friends that I have made through SCLA.
Is there anything else you’d like us to know about your time in the SCLA program, your work today, or for future students?
I highly encourage those that are interested in growing there knowledge about sports administration or coaching to invest in this grad certificate or program. The SCLA program will give you a lot of knowledge/tools to improve, allow you to make new friends/colleagues, guide you along the way to help you succeed, and you will not regret it!
Fun Fact about Jenna
I am a lifelong soccer player that plays a ton of COED but my other passion is weekly trivia at my local bar and crosswords at home. Also, I have a pet Corgi-mix named Dabo!