Soccer Community Helps San Diego Coach Achieve Her Goals

SAN DIEGO, CA — An Escondido soccer coach who sent a Twitter plea for help was met with overwhelming support from the soccer community this week, as coaches rose up to help her meet her financial goal. It started with Jessica Montiel's call for emotional support more than anything else, she said, "half-joking, half-serious."

This week, she was offered a spot to register for the National C-License class in Carlsbad. She soon realized the up-front cost was too much for a family living on a coaching salary and student loans just after the holidays, according to Montiel.

"Anyone wanna gift me $1400 for my C License?" Montiel tweeted, along with some sad-faced emojis.

"I had to come up with $1,400 in two days!" she said. "I didn't know what I was going to do. I would never have guessed in a million years that people would take me seriously," she told Patch Wednesday.

Cal South Soccer hosts the invitation-only C License class annually in Carlsbad, which prepares coaches to work with youth teams up to age 19 and puts coaches on their pathway to coach at the college level.

Montiel believes that coaching is all about education and getting to the next level, especially for women in the soccer world.

The longtime player and coach, she has earned her National D License, affording her the ability to coach at the community college level. She has coached youth soccer for 12 years and coaches the Varsity girls soccer team at Mission Vista High School. Most recently, she joined Palomar Community College as an assistant soccer coach. With goals of coaching at the highest level possible, she knew she needed additional the additional US Soccer credential to go further.

"There is a whole other world of coaching: the recruiting, competitively coaching at a high level. There is so much that I want to achieve," she said. That next level comes with a hefty price tag for a working family.

Still, by Wednesday evening, she had received $1,150. That was enough support to reach her financial goal and register for the class that will take place over the summer. Waitlisted now, she is hopeful that she'll get her spot. Anything extra she has earned will go toward helping other women coaches afford their coaching licenses, she said.

During the online fundraiser, coaches shared their support and challenged others to join in supporting her efforts. She received gifts from $20, $100 to $500 in some cases.

Zac Crawford (on Twitter as @Zaccraw4d) was moved by her plight and wrote:

"Hi Jessica. I don’t know you but I believe education is an investment. I’ll give you $100 towards it. I just humbly request that you pay it forward how you see fit and share the story.
Can we get 13 other people to do the same?"

Others commiserated in her similar boat. Some suggested her soccer club may pay her to take the class, which she agreed they would, once she provided proof of passing the course at the end of the summer.

"I will be reimbursed but have to pass first…still something but fronting $1400 to get started is steep for my family. I have a 5&7yo who also play sports and you know, life lol," she wrote on

Montiel, a soccer coach, wife, and mother grew up on the soccer fields of San Diego. She played soccer in college and now coaches in Oceanside and at Palomar Community College.

"We had our first winning season last year," she told Patch. "The whole other world of coaching - the recruiting, competitively coaching. That is what I am most looking forward to with the National C License."

She marvels at the financial support from friends, family and strangers, saying "what a small world it is on the internet."

"I expected my friends to commiserate with me over Twitter about the expense," she said. "It blew my mind. It keeps blowing my mind."