Written by Hannah Boxerman
🇲🇽 Para leer en español, ver aquí. | 🇧🇦 Za čitanje na bosanskom, pogledajte ovdje.
For Megan McCormick, the beauty of soccer lies in its imperfection.
“We don’t have times, we don’t have objective measures that we can look at to see if you’re achieving something or not,” she said. “I think for young players it’s one of the most important things the sport can give them—to fall in love with the process of development and to trust that the end goals will take care of themselves.”
When that happens, McCormick says, kids learn autonomy. They learn control. They learn what it means to have a network that supports you.
After all, that’s what soccer gave her.
McCormick currently serves as head coach of St. Louis CITY SC U-14 Pathway Program, and more recently, Under-16 Academy. The Indiana native has a long history as both player and coach, first featuring in the Women’s Professional Soccer League with the Indiana United. She’s also held coaching and development positions with the USYS Soccer Region II Olympic Development Program, Marian University, DePauw University, the U.S. Soccer Federation, Colorado Rush, and Kansas City Scott Gallagher.
But despite the soccer-studded resume, McCormick never thought she’d work in the sport full time.
“My professional background is originally in education,” she said. “Soccer was kind of a hobby that I worked really hard to turn into more than a hobby. For me, it’s the teaching aspect of it; that’s probably my favorite part of the job. That was always the hook for me, that coaching felt like teaching.”
After choosing an academic major instead of playing at the collegiate level, McCormick feared that her time with soccer might be coming to an end. But she couldn’t stay away from the sport, continuing to look for opportunities to play on club and semi-pro teams. Coaching also gave her an opportunity to spend more time on the field, and she fell in love with the process of guiding young people through the sport—a realization that she says was transformative.
“For me, sport was such a huge part of my upbringing and who I’ve been as a person from a really young age,” she said. “It’s a really big part of my identity, and it gave me a sense that hard work, commitment, and dedication pay off.”
This passion is what fuels McCormick as a coach. The Academy program gives her a chance to foster the next generation of soccer talent, prepare them for the next step of their playing journey, and see the benefits of sports on youth in real-time.
Developing the players’ leadership skills and character are just as important to McCormick as helping them grow as athletes. It’s also important, she says, to see them as person first—not player first—and to have a strong rapport with the other soccer leaders in their lives.
“Really, I think one of the most important tools we’re working to build is relationships,” she said. “Building relationships with local club directors and coaches, to make sure that we’re getting their perspective. Those relationships are invaluable to the organization because they’re going to know the players better than anyone when they work with them every day.”
McCormick says that the signing of Caden Glover as the team’s first-ever Homegrown was a recent highlight for Academy players and staff.
“It’s certainly an objective to see those young players achieve their goals, and hopefully go beyond that and be successful in the professional ranks,” she said. “For those of us in the Academy program, seeing CITYPARK full of homegrown talent and seeing St. Louis kids wearing those jerseys in the future, is a goal. Putting ourselves on the map in terms of outperforming our population and density of players and knowing that it’s about the quality. Ultimately every player in the Academy won’t have a pro career, but we can make sure that we’ve instilled a passion for the game and a sense of autonomy.”
They might even become coaches, owners, or on the business and analytics side of soccer. After all, it takes a team of talented individuals to run an organization like CITY.
As a native Midwesterner — but St. Louis transplant — McCormick has an interesting perspective of what makes CITY so unique.
“There’s such a rich history here in terms of the international culture and influence in this city, and soccer is a global game,” she said. “It’s also such a Midwestern sensibility to root for the people around you. Having grown up in the Midwest, it’s always rang true: we root for our own and want to see people from the Midwest, or from St. Louis specifically, succeed on the highest stage and represent what we stand for in terms of hard work and dedication and passion.”
At CITY, McCormick says, that welcoming sensibility comes from the top down.
“The culture allows people to shine, and it makes all the tremendous people in the organization feel accessible,” she said. “The culture’s been built from the top; it’s an open-door policy. That’s probably my favorite part of STL CITY SC.”
And living in St. Louis? It’s been incredible, McCormick says.
“I’m so grateful for the way I’ve been welcomed into the community,” she said. “For a place with so much history and tradition around soccer, it can be easy to be cautious of outsiders and I’ve encountered none of that. The openness I’ve received both as a person into the City of St. Louis, and specifically into the soccer community, has been tremendous. I just have a message of gratitude — and a message that I’m all in.”
