
The Long Game with Lisa Mitchell
From The Struggle Bubble by Chad Kutting and Craig Surgey
April 27, 2026 · 41 min · Episode 40
About this episode
Lisa Mitchell discusses her experiences as a youth soccer coach and the pressures faced by young athletes.
Our guest this week is Lisa Mitchell. Lisa is the girls varsity head soccer coach at Los Gatos High School, a PE teacher at Fisher Middle School for the last 21 years. She's also a three-time NCAA Final Four captain at Santa Clara, a pro on the 2001 CyberRays team that won the first WUSA championship 25 years ago, and mom to three, including a set of 7-year-old twins. Few people see youth soccer the way Lisa Mitchell does. She teaches PE at Fisher Middle School, then watches those same kids move into the high school program — and she's seen firsthand the pressure club coaches put on players to skip high school soccer entirely. "We see the long game here," Craig says. "A lot of the club coaches see the today and to the end of the season."
People in this episode
Hosts: Chad Kutting, Craig Surgey
Guest: Lisa Mitchell
Topics covered
- youth soccer
- coaching
- high school sports
- parenting
- pressure in sports
Keywords
- youth soccer
- coaching
- high school sports
- Lisa Mitchell
- parenting
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Los Gatos High School, Fisher Middle School, Santa Clara, CyberRays
More episodes of The Struggle Bubble
- What Sports Parents are Really Yelling At w/Jonathan Carone · June 3, 2026 · 1h 8m
- Quiet Quitting in Youth Sports · May 27, 2026 · 51 min
- Your Voice Becomes Their Inner Voice (w/ Dr. Lennie Waite) · May 15, 2026 · 58 min
- Step Up or Stay Quiet · May 11, 2026 · 1h 6m
- Your 8-Year-Old Is Not Being Recruited · May 4, 2026 · 54 min
- The Takeover of Youth Sports · April 20, 2026 · 42 min
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the The Struggle Bubble podcast page.