Why I Started Cleats and Coffee

When people hear that I'm a football mom, they often assume I've always loved football.

The truth is, I wasn't even sure I wanted my son, Evan, to play.

As a former Fire Chief and someone who has spent a career responding to emergencies and helping people through some of their worst days, I understood the risks. I worried about injuries, especially head and neck injuries. Like many parents, I questioned whether football was worth it and whether the rewards outweighed the risks.

But football was something Evan loved.

So, like many parents, I found myself navigating a world I didn't fully understand.

I quickly learned that being a football parent is about much more than Friday night lights.

It starts with learning about training, skill development, strength programs, nutrition, camps, combines, recruiting timelines, highlight videos, college visits, academic requirements, and countless other things no one hands you a guidebook for.

I wanted to make sure Evan had every opportunity to succeed. If he was going to pursue football, I wanted him to do it safely, develop properly, and have the best chance possible to use the game as a pathway to higher education and future opportunities.

What I didn't expect was how difficult it would be to navigate that journey.

As a single, working mom balancing a demanding career, I often felt like I was carrying the responsibility of keeping everything together. Managing schedules, researching camps, communicating with coaches, tracking recruiting information, handling travel, supporting academics, and making sure life kept moving forward often felt like a second full-time job.

At times, one of the most frustrating parts wasn't the workload—it was feeling dismissed.

I've heard versions of the same message over and over:

"You're just a mom."

"You don't understand football."

"You don't know how recruiting works."

Sometimes that came from coaches. Sometimes it came from other people involved in the process. Occasionally, it even came from my own son.

Yet I knew something important.

No one would ever care more about Evan's future than I did.

No coach, recruiter, trainer, or scout would spend more time thinking about his opportunities, his safety, his education, or his long-term success than his family.

And that's why I kept learning.

I studied the recruiting process. I researched camps and combines. I asked questions. I sought advice. I made mistakes. I learned lessons the hard way. And I discovered that many parents were experiencing the exact same frustrations and uncertainties.

What camp is worth attending?

Which camps are simply revenue generators?

How do you know if a coach is truly advocating for your athlete?

When should recruiting conversations start?

How much should parents be involved?

How do you balance dreams of athletics with the reality that education and life after sports matter just as much?

Those questions don't come with easy answers.

What I've come to believe is that football can open doors, but it should never define a young person's future.

I want Evan to pursue his goals and maximize every opportunity available to him. I hope football helps him earn the chance to attend college and continue playing the game he loves.

But I also want him to experience college fully.

To build relationships.

To develop leadership skills.

To learn.

To grow.

To discover who he is beyond the field.

Because football eventually ends for everyone.

The education, experiences, friendships, and life lessons remain.

As parents, we have a responsibility to help our children prepare for both.

That's why I created Cleats & Coffee.

Cleats & Coffee is a place for honest conversations, practical resources, shared experiences, and guidance for parents navigating youth sports, high school athletics, recruiting, and everything that comes with supporting a student-athlete.

It's especially for the moms who have ever felt overlooked, overwhelmed, or unsure of where to turn next.

It's for the single parents trying to keep all the balls in the air.

It's for the families trying to make sense of camps, recruiting, academics, and athletics.

And it's for anyone who believes that supporting the person behind the player matters just as much as supporting the athlete.

I don't claim to have all the answers.

But I do have experience, lessons learned, and a passion for helping other families navigate the journey.

So grab a cup of coffee, pull up a chair, and join the conversation.

We're in this together.

Welcome to Cleats & Coffee.