Amanda Parsons has quietly but surely worked her way through the ranks of the Crestwood soccer program for the last seven years. Her time has now come as she was named as the new head coach for the boys’ soccer team on April 7.
“I feel that there is a lot of trust that has been put in me,” the first-year coach said. “It gives me a lot of confidence knowing that I know that I am the right person for the job. To get that validation and call saying that I got that job meant the world to me.”
Parsons will succeed Coach Eric Sway, who coached the boys’ team for the last three years while also serving as the girls’ head coach for the previous two seasons before departing to become Kenston’s girls’ soccer coach. Despite being the new coach, Parsons is a familiar face to the boys’ program, spending the last two years working as Sway’s varsity assistant while also coaching the Crestwood middle school co-ed soccer team.
According to Parsons, her familiarity with the Crestwood soccer program, not just over the last several years, but also her experience as a student-athlete while attending Crestwood helped distinguish her as a candidate.
“I think that gave me quite the edge over some other possible candidates being so familiar with the entire ins and outs of the organization from our feeder to program all the way up through the boys’ varsity side of it,” she noted.
Becoming a head female coach of a boys’ varsity program is not something that Parsons takes lightly, but recognizes how distinct an honor it is.
“I am extremely honored, but I would also like to think that I am the best person and most passionate person for the job. I am obviously excited for the opportunity and am extremely proud that I was given this knowing that it does not happen often,” Parsons said.
When Sway announced he was leaving the program, Parsons said she seized the moment to put her name in the ring for the head coaching position of the boys’ team because of how much she had seen the boys’ team already grow in her two years as a varsity assistant.
The 2006 Red Devils’ graduate inherits a boys’ program that has captured three consecutive sectional titles and is coming on the heels of another historic season in which they played for the district championship for the first time in program history. Parsons is prepared to continue to uphold the same standards as her predecessor, which helped propel the team to new heights.
“I think that was another huge reason why I wanted to stay with this group of young men. That first group when I came in, they embraced me and never seemed to care that I was a female coach with a boys’ varsity team,” she added.
Parsons said that her love of soccer began when she was only 5-years-old when her parents introduced her to the sport to give her an outlet because of how much energy she had. She added that what she enjoyed most about soccer was how it helped her make new friends when she started competing in the Mantua Soccer Association which allowed her to meet new faces not just in the community but also from neighboring counties.
“I like that you had to work for something,” she said. “That is where my hard work ethic came in, I was young playing sports and had to work hard for something to get extra playing time and to win that starting position.”
She was a three-year starter for the Crestwood girls’ team and served as the starting goalkeeper in her sophomore year. While she was a student-athlete, she also started her coaching career at the age of 16 when she volunteered to assist her cousin’s U6 soccer team in Burton.
After concluding her soccer career at Hiram College, Parsons did not resume coaching until she enrolled her daughter in the Mantua league and served as a volunteer coach for her U5 team. She moved over to coach her son’s U7 team and was elevated to the role of head coach for the MSA U11 Elite soccer team which she still does in her spare time.
Parsons said that coaching her children’s soccer teams helped ignite a new passion for soccer she wasn’t aware she had.
“I loved getting a group of kids and working with them, starting one way and building, seeing their growth and their potential not just on the field but in other areas as well, like confidence, leadership, things like that,” she said.
