Jo Fennema: Transitioning from player to coach

As a player, Joanna Boyles Fennema performed at the highest level.

She spent her four college years with the North Carolina Tar Heels, represented the U17 US national team and played for the Orlando Pride in the NWSL.

Alongside success, Fennema’s playing days came with a lot of challenges – she was drafted by the Boston Breakers just before the team folded, suffered two ACL injuries while at college, discovered she has severely degenerative discs in her back.

This back injury, and subsequent hip labrum tears, led Fennema to retire at 24.

A chance encounter led her back into the game, and she is now thriving as an assistant coach at Columbus State University (CSU).

SCW caught up with Jo to talk about the transition from player to coach, and how coaches can best support players going through injuries...

SCW: What kept you mentally strong through the ups and downs you experienced?

JF: "I think it all boils down to [the fact that] I really love soccer. 

"At times it’s probably not healthy, but I think my true love of the game and everything it teaches you, everything it embodies [and] all the different things about it, have always kept me coming back to it.

“With my retirement, I was like, ‘I’m not going to coach.’ I was mad at soccer because it took me out of the game. But then I was like ’I love it too much, I’m not going anywhere!’.”

SCW: As you made your transition from playing to coaching, has that love changed form? Is it a different experience?

JF: "I never relied on pure athleticism to be successful. I really had to figure out how to be successful in the game, understanding the technical side of things.

“At a young age, I always taught myself and thought about the game on a different level to help me go against superior athletes. 

“So for me, when I got into coaching, [I had] to see a transition of ’how do I relay what’s in my brain to 20 or 30 kids?’.

“[I needed] to see how I could teach others to understand what I did myself for so long, I think that’s been really cool."

"My head coach takes a back seat in spring. I design and run every session..."

SCW: Do you think coaches putting themselves in uncomfortable situations in order to grow and develop is important?

JF: "I love that question, because that’s exactly what my current head coach at CSU did for me.

"I had literally just retired and after a couple of weeks he’s like, ‘You’re running the session today’.

“I’m like, ‘sorry, what?’. I obviously played, but I don’t know how to run a session. He’s like, ‘You most definitely do. So just do it.’ 

“I was thrown into the deep end in a very positive way. I think one of the best ways to learn is just to be thrown in and do it.

“For my development, my head coach takes a back seat in spring and I am the head coach. I design and run every session and I’m the head coach in all of the games.

"He will sit in the press box and I do the pregame, halftime, postgame talk. So every spring I’m definitely thrown into a learning environment.

"I think it’s just [about] surrounding yourself with people who push you and ask you questions.

"My girls at CSU are phenomenal. They challenge me every day, that’s for sure.

"We can only be as good as we want to be and I have to put myself in situations that make me feel uncomfortable so I can become a better coach."