100 of the Most Influential Women in Sport: Jill Ellis

Sport360 staff 03:52 07/03/2019
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  • Jill Ellis

    100 of the Most Influential Women in Sport >> Coaches

    Jill Ellis, USA

    Football

    Inspiring young women to reach their dreams in football is key to Ellis’ philosophy. The English-born American coach has been involved in US soccer for over 20 years and continues to cement her status in the pantheon of all-time great coaches. Aside from her success with many national underage teams, the 52-year-old’s crowning moment to date came when Team USA clinched World Cup glory in 2015. Away from the dugout, Ellis never rests on her laurels and is constantly focused on the present in a bid to get the best out of the players and coaches she works with on a daily basis. She is a firm believer that the right coaches inspire players to recognise their full potential and judging by how her current squad trains and plays, they are certainly on the cusp of achieving further greatness. Now, in her fifth season as head coach of Team USA, Ellis will be aiming to seal back-to-back World Cup titles when football’s global showpiece event takes place later this year in France.

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  • – Under Ellis, America enjoyed a 28-match winning streak from July 2017 til January 2019. A successful run which ended when they fell to a 3-1 defeat to France last month.

    – She won FIFA Coach of the Year for women’s football in 2015.

    – Her brother Paul is also a football manager, coaching high school teams and serving as an assistant coach at George Mason in Virginia.

    Did you know…

    Her mother Margaret was disappointed when she decided to give up her job as a technical writer at Northern Telecom to work as an assistant coach on restricted pay with NC State in 1989. Thirty years later, it’s a risk that has paid off in droves.

    “When you’re in it, it’s a grind. You’re pushing through it. The feeling at the end, pure elation, it was worth every second of it.” – Jill Ellis (Source: The Daily Press)

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