Ashley Kaufman is the Assistant Goalkeeper Director for International (Inter) Connecticut FC, located in Norwalk, CT - located in Southern Connecticut. In addition to supporting all teams with the GKs, Ashley is also the head coach of the girls 2006 & 2008 teams.

Coach:

Ashley Kaufman: Assistant Goalkeeper Director for International (Inter) Connecticut FC

Topic 1: Ashley’s Journey into Coaching

Ashley started volunteering as a coach in high school and continued working with young athletes throughout college. After a few years away from the game, at her college Hall of Fame induction ceremony, she was inspired to get back into the coaching. Ashley started as a graduate student at St. Lawrence University, then went on to be a full time assistant at Washington & Lee (VA) and eventually the goalkeeping coach at Yale. After a few seasons in the Ivy league, Ashley shifted her focus to the club side where she was brought on as a goalkeeper coach at Connecticut Football Club (CFC) and that eventually led to her to a role at Inter. 

Topic 2: Benefits of Being A Multi-sport Athlete

As a three sport collegiate athlete, Ashley talks about how she supports her players playing other sports. She explains how playing a variety of sports helped her develop new skills that she would later use on the soccer field. Ashley also mentioned that always having a game or practice on her schedule helped her gain valuable time management skills and staying motivated.

We also talk about playing soccer (or other sports) for your high school and having a sense of pride for being a part of a community. Ashley also enjoyed being a part of high school teams because it was the only way she was able to play with her friends.

Topic 3: Making the Most of the Opportunity

Ashley gives her advice to goalkeepers that are in a large club system and how to take advantage of the limited opportunities they may have. She also stresses the importance of interacting with coaches away from the field and being proactive with their training.

Topic 4: Importance of a Strong Mental Game

Ashley discusses the importance of mental toughness and confidence, especially on the girls side. She explained how she helps her teams grow by putting them in pressure scenarios during training sessions in addition to off-field team building.

Topic 5: Tips on Staying in Shape while at Home (Mentally & Physically)

Ashley discusses we can stay in game shape while being at home. She recommends mapping out a plan for each week and sticking to it. It is important to continue to get as many touches as possible (both hands & feet), stay physically fit (run, core workouts). Mentally, staying engaged with the game by watching youtube clips of past successful games, and most importantly keeping joy in the game!

Ashley Kaufman highlighted some of the most importance aspects of what it means to be an athlete. With an emphasis on a strong mental game, she shared some great insight on what makes a successful athlete.

CHRIS GORDON  

Thanks for joining us for another edition of exact club experts. Today we welcome a very special guest. She is a three to three sport collegiate athlete and the current goalkeeper Connect director at inner Connecticut FC, located right between Hartford and New York City coach Ashley coffee coach Ashley and I had a great conversation, talking about her journey into coaching, playing three sports in college and the importance of playing multiple sports while growing up standing out as a goalkeeper in tryouts and in the recruiting process, and also involving the mental side of game mental side of training and turret coaching, and also staying in shape as a goalkeeper during this time of being at home. You can check out our entire conversation at our blog, exact sports.com slash blog or on our social platforms, at exact sports on Instagram and Twitter and then exact soccer on Facebook. Looking forward to having you all here this hope you enjoy.

CHRIS GORDON

Alright, so let's get into it. So the first question I do want to ask and I saw there are our guests. How did you get into coaching, talk about your journey? You know, how did you start? And how did you get to the position you're at now?

ASHLEY KAUFMAN  

I always want to coach ever since I want to say I was 1415. I was volunteering with younger programs. So when I got to college, I decided to coach a modified girls team in New York, in the town that that my college was at, and I did that for a year and I actually I enjoyed it. And the real turning point in my coaching career was I was inducted into my University's Athletic Hall of Fame. And I realized at that point that I wanted to surround myself around athletes and student athletes and you know, just fully dive into it. So was about a month after that. I was hired on at St. Lawrence University as the graduate assistant and the rest was history. And I spent two years there, went down to Washington and Lee in Virginia for a year as the full time assistant, and then had the opportunity to jump on board with Yale University and spent two years there as the goalkeeper coach. On top of that, I was coaching at CFC Connecticut Football Club, spent two years there, and then ended up leaving there and joining a new program, Everton FC, which is now inter Connecticut football club down in Fairfield County ran by Marty Walker and Leon Olson. And it's been awesome. I have, you know, I'm the coaching developer on the girls side. And it's been awesome.

CHRIS GORDON  

That's great. I mean, definitely playing in college, I feel like you get exposure to a lot of different sides of, of the game and kind of, you know, enhances your respect for the game and you want to continue on as much as you can. So it's cool to see how you've gotten to where you're at now. I'm getting into my next question, and I feel like you're the perfect candidate for this. You know, growing up as, as we're as we're younger, we're given the opportunity to play multiple sports, whether it be at the rec level, and AAU, or whatever it might be. And then as we get into high school, we're kind of told you got to pick one. Maybe if you're lucky to sports, well, not only did you pick two, you pick three, and you carry that on into college, which is a very rare thing these days. So I guess the question I had was talking about how you were able to do that as a multi sport athlete, and what are some of the benefits that.

ASHLEY KAUFMAN  

But that carried on you know, as as as you played multiple sports throughout high school and then even in college. Yeah, yeah. Growing up playing multiple sports, it always kept me busy and I think that was the, the one piece going into college that that allowed me to not have a lot of injuries is I was able to use different different parts of my body, you know, playing ice hockey, you know, using all your legs and you go into goalkeeper and you're diving and you're, you know you're using your more your knees and exploding so having that strong base helped me there and then with playing softball, you know you're using more you're squatting, but also using your upper body and your core. So I think that I was fortunate enough not to get hurt from playing multiple sports and you have to have good time management with that too. You know, balancing the sports with the academics. I think that you know, playing year round. It kept me engaged in everything. Where I did have a lot of downtime to, to lose focus and lose track of what my goals were, you know it now, you know, I tell my kids I want them to play, I want them to play more than one sport because I want them to be able to have that, that that opportunity and to to you know use for basketball for instance you know it's hand eye coordination. So when you get on the money on the court use your hands are using you know, your eyes and quick feet and then that translate onto a soccer field where you know, now you have the opportunity to have better vision because your heads going to be up because you're looking for that path or getting down the field quicker because you haven't quick feet. So I want my kids to have have those experiences. Plus it's a social piece. You know, girls want to socialize a little bit more so, you know, limiting them to one sport. Isn't that fun? All right. They might lose interest in soccer and the love of the game. And I don't want them to do that. And I want them to be able to enjoy it and love it and not take it as a chore.

CHRIS GORDON  

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I feel like, you know, we hear a lot these days at our camps, you know, is it okay to play High School and club and I feel like it's overlooked the fact that it's not just high school club soccer, but it's other sports because it's, it's like you said that social piece is a big thing. And I think representing your school, having a sense of community, I feel like sometimes you might not get that on the club side, because players are coming from around, you know, all different backgrounds and all different areas. Whereas on the high school side, you know, you're representing the community, you represent the town, the school, and I feel like that really gives you a sense of pride of who you're playing for. Did you kind of feel that as you played in high school? Oh, yeah, totally. You know, it was great to be on the field with your friends and play. You know, you kind of it's more of you know, you have the pride of playing, but also it's a little bit more relaxed. And then when you go to club, it's a little bit more intense, and you know, a little bit stricter. And, you know, you can't get away with as much as if you were playing with your friends.

ASHLEY KAUFMAN  

Absolutely. I mean, but at the same time with my with one of my girls teams, you know, if they are late to a practice, I understand that because I know that they're playing soccer, they're getting ball touches, it's not like they're, they're sitting at home. You know, they're still they're still putting in the work. It might not be with me, but at least they're doing it.

CHRIS GORDON  

For sure. Now, you mentioned you're a goalkeeper, among other, you know, among other positions in sports now, as a goalkeeper, you're not always getting the same, same touches as as a normal player would in a game opportunity. And obviously as as, as we know, that's when you're getting recruited. That's when most of the coaches are watching you play. What advice would you give to a goalkeeper? You know, that's, that's at a recruiting event to get more exposure, I guess in a in a practice environment or an environment where they're actually getting a lot of touches a lot more opportunity. How would you tell a goalkeeper to, I guess approach their recruiting process?

ASHLEY KAUFMAN  

I mean, yes, as you said, it's a very specific position. I think going into the process, they have to be open minded. You know, a lot of us goalkeepers think big, right? We want to automatically go for that do you want and we want that scholarship but I think my first my first topic would be be open minded and look at all avenues. You know, look at division one, Division Two, Division Three, you know, don't close your door on on division twos and Division Three is because you know what, there might be a perfect fit for you. You know, and, and look at those rosters, see how many goalkeepers on the roster, see where they're they're coming from to

You know, because there might be a school that you're interested in and oh, yeah, they definitely recruit in your area. You know, they were they take kids from your club. And that's a good starting point.

ASHLEY KAUFMAN  

You know, also, you know, if you're going to a recruiting event, you know, go into an exact ID, Id camp, do your research. You know, look, look up the coaches that are there. Look up those schools Introduce yourself. Sometimes we're as goalkeepers, you know, yes, we're allowed on the field, but we're very quiet because we're, we're the backline. So you want it you want to introduce yourself, you want to? You want to do the work? 

CHRIS GORDON  

Awesome. Yeah, that makes sense. And I guess the same thing applies. I guess at the club level. I feel like there's a lot of goalkeepers that might get lost in the pile. 

You know, being being there four or five different teams. Let's say you have maybe a bad tryout and you're you may you may be on a lower team then than you were hoping for what's your advice to that goalkeeper to To stay motivated to, to maybe, you know, try to work your way up the system what's, you know, what's that process like?

ASHLEY KAUFMAN  

You know, I've had experience with that I my first club team, I didn't make the team cut. And, you know, I worked hard, you know, I went and joined another club, I got the reps in. So, I would say for those goalkeepers, you know, get the reps in, continue to work hard train, not just train at practices, but on your own. You know, go go find a soccer wall, you know, go find a kickboard, have someone do reps with you. There's so many YouTube videos out there, too, that you can do training on your own, you know, continue to work hard and, you know, don't be disgruntled or discouraged about it. Because it happens to the best of the best. You know, you might have a bad practice you might not start. So just keep keep going, keep pushing. And then you'll get your time and when you get your time you take that opportunity opportunity and you ride with it.

CHRIS GORDON  

Definitely I feel like more than most positions the mental side for goalkeepers is very important. And as obviously as you know exact focus on the mental focuses on the mental side of of the game and how that really improves confidence. So yeah, I guess if you can talk about how you incorporate the mental side into your coaching song and how important that role plays in the development of a high school girl athlete or I guess any high school athlete in general

ASHLEY KAUFMAN  

Yeah, being mentally tough, I think is a big part of goalkeepers game but also, you know, the, the game of soccer in itself. For me, with my girls, you know, during the season, we were up, we'd be up in a game and we lose the last five minutes. You know, and it's about that mentally tough piece. Like you can't check out the last five minutes of the game. So we work hard at you know, time scenarios. You know, where we're maybe we're playing a game and I call out last two minutes of a game, you know, stay tuned. We're up one nothing against a team, stay tough keep the ball moving. And let's go. I think that for for females in athletes in general, that mental toughness piece and staying engaged and staying focused and is is really crucial. So right now with, you know where we're at right now, you know, we do zoom sessions and I say, hey, last minute, let's go or up one, nothing against the team. Keep in there, keep pushing, keep going. So it's not just in a game, but it's the work you put into during the practices to stay mentally tough.

CHRIS GORDON  

Yeah, absolutely. That's definitely something that I feel like in especially in the mind of a goalkeeper, it's, when everything kind of falls on you. You know, it can go one of two ways. And I guess if it goes the wrong way, you just got to kind of learn from it be better from it. Next time, so I think that definitely helps. Um, so I guess the last question I have to wrap this up obviously right now during our time of self isolation being at home, it's kind of difficult to stay in game shape and I guess even more so as a goalkeeper because you're not getting shots on you. So I guess what would your advice be for a goalkeeper right now to stay in game shape? Not just physically but mentally, to stay involved so that when we are back on the field, we're ready to go.

ASHLEY KAUFMAN  

Yeah, I mean, like I had mentioned before, is, you know, YouTube is a great resource. The internet is a great resource to to find lots of workouts on there. You know, give yourself maybe a weekly planner. Okay, on Monday, I'm going to do this Tuesday, I'm going to do this three, Wednesday, this and so on. For goalkeepers stay engaged, I think getting as many touches with your hands, not just in your feet, I think is really important right now in this in this stage and in this time that we're in. So you don't want to you don't want to lose a step. You know, but it's not just the repetition but also the fitness piece getting out you can't want to track maybe getting outside in your backyard and doing small sided Sprint's or doing an ab workout you know we have enough space in a house that you should be able to do small workouts like that push ups, sit ups, lunges, just to stay there, you know, watch film, watch, watch the the US 1999 Women's World Cup game just to stay just a sustained gauge, you know, to to feel that excitement. You know that one day you'll be able to get back on the field and celebrate something like that. Not just not World Cup game, but I mean, celebrate a win. You know? Absolutely. That first feeling stepping onto the field for myself is going to be exciting.

CHRIS GORDON  

Yeah, I definitely find myself watching games. Obviously, my team was successful. And so I feel like definitely having that that joy, even though when you know it's gonna happen, it's still it still feels good to relive that that moment and, and then when Yeah, like you said, it's gonna we're gonna be back on the field sooner than later and get to feel that again for ourselves. So. So let's go on. So yeah, those are the main questions I have for you. I do like to end these, these little interviews with three fun questions. So if I put you on the spot, too, threatened by it, they're just fun. First question. You've had a back on a plane and not just probably some pretty cool soccer environments, but even other sports so so you can expand this to the outside of soccer. Where's the coolest place you've ever played or coached? field Stadium, whatever it might be.

ASHLEY KAUFMAN  

Oh, man, the coolest place I would have to say one of the coolest things I played with ice hockey. It was the auditorium and Utica, New York. And it is from the movie slapshot.

CHRIS GORDON  

That is awesome. And as a hockey guy, I can appreciate that I know exactly what you're talking about. Um, okay. So if you're coaching, what would you prefer? 30 degrees or 105 degrees?

ASHLEY KAUFMAN  

Ah, I would totally take 30 degrees. 105 is too hot for me.

CHRIS GORDON  

Okay, what's my last guest said 105. So I think that base that's that question is very reliant on where you're from. I feel like those those Northerners are going to pick the cold and southern desert II. And then the last question I have most famous person your cell phone.

ASHLEY KAUFMAN  

Most Famous. Brandy Chastin

CHRIS GORDON  

I think that might have taken your number one of two right now. So there's most.

ASHLEY KAUFMAN  

And I met Brianna scurry at your exact camp a few years ago.

CHRIS GORDON  

I have her number on my cell phone too. So that's a good one. I didn't realize that, but I have her number as well.

ASHLEY KAUFMAN  

So that's good to cool people.

CHRIS GORDON  

Very cool. Well, I have your number two. So that's a famous one. Yes. Three sporting athlete college. I don't think we'll ever have one of those on on the show again. So. All right. Well, that's all I got. So I appreciate your time. We appreciate your insight. And we'll be able to catch this all hopefully soon on their social media outlets. All right.

ASHLEY KAUFMAN  

Thanks, Chris. 

CHRIS GORDON  

That’s for our conversation today with Coach ASHLEY KAUFMAN. We appreciate her coming on and sharing her advice on becoming a college coach in her advice on how to prepare both on and off the field while being at home. Coming up, we're going to have more conversations with coaches on different topics such as finding a new career Coming from a new city, the differences between soccer overseas and in the US staying in shape mentally well now with their teams and several more topics that will help our soccer club families. again to see all of our interviews or if you'd like to ask a question, feel free to tag us on Instagram or Twitter with the tag exact sports, Facebook at exact soccer or on our blog, exact sports comm slash blog. We will be back again soon so we will catch you next time on exact club experts.

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