There was no girls soccer in Dublin when Ciara Crinion was growing up. So she played with boys.
At 7 years old they played in the park, using trees as goals. Then came club teams.
“I took a lot of stick for that,” she recalls. Fortunately, her mother supported her fully. (She also started the first girls team at their club.)
But at 12, girls were no longer allowed. So Crinion joined the one female side she could. They were U-18s.
Lacking any Irish female role models, Crinion emulated men in the Premier League. At last, when Arsenal launched one of the first major women’s squads, she had players like Ciara Grant and Yvonne Tracy to look up to.
On visits to Ireland now, she is heartened to see many more opportunities for girls. She views them today with a professional eye: Crinion is the head coach of the U-16 US women’s national team.
Despite playing for two years in the Arsenal Academy, Crinion’s soccer opportunities were limited. Women could not make a living playing professionally in Europe. Hoping to continue her career – and hearing there was college scholarship money available – she researched schools on the U.S. East Coast, closest to Ireland.
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