You did not make the pro roster. So that is it for you and sports, right? Marisa González heard that math too, and she built a whole career on the other side of it.
Marisa is the Senior Director of Girls Programming at FC Dallas Youth, where she oversees 85 girls teams from U7 to U19. Born in Puebla, she played college soccer on scholarship in Minnesota, earned an MBA in Sports Administration in Madrid, and in 2020 became the first general manager of Club Puebla Femenil in Liga MX Femenil. She holds an A Pro License from the Mexican Football Federation. She knows the front office, the technical chair, and the field, because she has sat in all three.
In this conversation she lays out exactly how a young Latina builds a path into sports leadership, and how to keep moving when the noes pile up behind every yes.
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Marisa González says the playing field is not the only door. Look at what exists in the back offices that keep you in the game. Believe in yourself first, because the world will already tell you that you cannot. Then network relentlessly and volunteer for everything, including the World Cup and local events, with no expectation of pay. Do it convinced this is what you want, because behind every yes there are a lot of noes.
Everyone gets imposter syndrome, González says, and it does not fully go away. Her approach is to trust that she is good and that she is in the room for a reason, while accepting that she does not know everything. Saying “I don’t know, let’s figure it out” is allowed. She also names the comparison trap directly: the easy, finished success people post online is not real, and the real work means getting your hands dirty on good days and bad ones.
Building a path for the top team is easy, González says, because those players already attract scholarships and pro looks. The harder, more important work is the girl on the third team. That means internal movement so every player is at least seen, better coaching education so better coaches produce better players, and real opportunities to prove herself. Less than 1% go pro. The rest carry discipline, leadership, and teamwork into the rest of their lives.
Calm down and trust the coach, González says. Parents do not walk into your workplace to tell you how to do your job, so extend coaches the same trust. Have fun with your kid, because youth sports last only seven to nine years before college ends it. Even on a competitive top team, it should still be fun, because they are still kids. And skip the hour long review of everything they did wrong on the car ride home.
To dream something, González says, you first have to see that it is possible. Representation is what makes the possible visible. Circumstances, life, and the people around you will often say no. Seeing someone like you reach the place you want to reach is the moment a girl uncovers the belief that she can get there too. That is why a Latina leading openly in sports changes what the next Latinita believes about herself.
Anjelica Cazares (studio welcome): Hola, amiga, and welcome to the Latina Leadership Podcast, a podcast by Latinas for all women. Get ready, because today’s conversation is really special.
Hola, and welcome to the Latina Leadership Podcast. I am your host, Anjelica Cazares. We are here in Frisco, Texas, at the Dallas Cowboys Podcast Studio. We are so excited to be here, and we want to give a huge thank you to Frisco, Texas, for inviting us out here and being such a gracious host. We have the opportunity to do many things, but when we get to record and do the work we love in a space like this, it is quite amazing. So for that, Frisco, thank you. Dallas Cowboys, this is a beautiful studio. I hope you enjoy these episodes. See you soon.
Claudia Macías (host): Hola, ¿cómo estás?
Marisa González (guest): Bien, ¿y tú?
Claudia Macías: Muy bien. Pues mira, Marisa, yo soy Claudia Macías y aquí estamos con el Latina Leadership Podcast. We are excited to be here recording out of the Dallas Cowboys Podcast Studio, in this amazing place that is Frisco, Texas, also known as Sports City, USA. So I am glad to be here with you, and to tell el mundo who you are and the amazing things you have been doing. Welcome to the Latina Leadership Podcast, Marisa González.
Marisa González: Thank you. Thank you so much. I am very happy to be here, and thank you for considering me. So, who am I? I am originally from Puebla, Mexico. I moved here two years ago. I have been around sports all my life. My family has been around sports, and I actually played soccer my whole life. I got a college scholarship in Minnesota, played there, then moved to Madrid to do my MBA in sports administration. That took me to a whole bunch of sporting events, Pan American Games, Taekwondo World Cups. Soccer was always a part of me, but it was kind of just there when I did not have anything else. Until one day I realized, no, what I love is soccer. It was women’s soccer. So I got involved full time in coaching, and I did pretty well. Then I was invited to be general manager for Puebla in Liga MX Femenil, which was a big deal, because it was the first one in club history and the third in league history. There were just four of us at that time.
Claudia Macías: That is amazing. You just named a beautiful history, a journey that is so amazing. From everything I have read about you and all these leadership positions you have stepped into, I want to ask you a question. Soccer is big right now. We have a big soccer game about to happen here in Dallas, and everyone in the Frisco area is going to be excited about FIFA coming. So what does it mean for you to be the first in so many places and spaces? What were some of your biggest leadership lessons launching into all those areas?
Marisa González: That is a great question. For me, it is always to be eager to keep learning, and to surround yourself with great people. In every leadership position, I do not want to assume I know it all. I like leading, I like managing, and I like having great people around me who can help me out. So I get the best of different things, because I am not an expert in everything. That, and just being eager to learn. I love to learn all the time.
Claudia Macías: I love that, because even though you broke that ground to get in there, you stay a student.
Marisa González: Correct.
Claudia Macías: Stay a student so you can continuously grow. I love that.
Marisa González: To me it is just continue to learn, continue to push the ceiling a little bit. It is a matter of never staying still.
Claudia Macías: Absolutely. Continue moving, continue learning, continue growing, professionally and personally too. Now, like you said, you transitioned from Puebla two years ago, all the way to Frisco, Texas. How did your cultural background and your international experiences shape your leadership style? And how does that support you working with a diverse group of young athletes?
Marisa González: It is funny, because you bring a completely different background, which is kind of what they wanted. They wanted fresh eyes, fresh ways to see things. To me, it is bringing that Latino culture into the work, being very proud of who I am and what I represent. So you will hear me coaching here, and I just speak in Spanish sometimes. Four or five. Dos, cuatro, seis, ocho. Now little girls tell me, oh, I got an A in Spanish. They are trying to learn, trying to tell me little words in training, which is awesome. To me, that is representation of the culture. And then it is different ways to do things. How do we do it at the non professional level in Mexico? How do we do it in the professional level in Mexico? And how do we mold that into this multicultural area?
Claudia Macías: That is beautiful. To honor yourself, come in bringing who you are, and now share it with your Latinitas and everybody else who shows up for soccer. Tell me the age groups again that you are working with.
Marisa González: I work at FC Dallas as a director. I work from U7 to U19. We have around 85 teams on the girls side, so I oversee all 85 with a group of directors. I have a juniors director I work with, an ECNL director I work with. We overlap a little, but in the coaching part I just coach one team. It is a 2013 girls team. That is it.
Claudia Macías: Wow, that is amazing. Thank you for continuing to inspire those young women, those chiquitas, no matter their background. They are learning from you, taking on these leadership tips, modeling everything you have done. Not just con el balón, not just with the soccer ball, but also character development.
Marisa González: There is a lot more in the coaching part. There is more than solo la pelota and just play. There is leadership, discipline, all this stuff you hope the players learn from you, so overall they can use it in their adult lives. That is the reality. You want to make a positive impact in someone’s life.
Claudia Macías: Yes. And that takes me into my next question. Many young Latinas look at sports careers and only think about the athleticism, the playing of the game. What advice would you give to the next generation of women watching you, listening to this podcast, maybe playing in high school or college, to lead from the front office, from the boardroom, from the technical director’s chair?
Marisa González: If they are little, or in high school or college and they do not know what to do, what I would say is try to see what is out there. A lot of times we think, oh, I did not make it as a player, that is it. And there is so much more in the back offices that keeps you in sports. Number one, believe in yourself, because a lot of times we do not. Or everyone else is telling us we cannot do it. Network, network, network. I actually had this conversation with one of my interns yesterday. I told her, you need to volunteer for everything. The World Cup is coming. Volunteer for the World Cup. Volunteer for events. Do not expect anything. Just do it because you want to, and then things start building. Do it convinced that this is what you want to do, and put everything into it. Because not every day is good. There are a lot of yeses, a lot of firsts, but behind that there are a lot of noes that make you doubt yourself, that make you ask, am I on the right track? So take those days, learn from them, and continue with the belief that this is what you want to do.
Claudia Macías: That is amazing. Those are pearls of wisdom, so needed in this time, especially when things feel like they come easy through a swipe on a screen. You order something and it shows up. But I love how you broke it down. If you want something, this is what it takes. Show up, do it, sometimes for free, because you are still building your resume. You talked about believing in yourself first. Have you ever stepped into a room and thought, I do not know if I should be here? Imposter syndrome. How do you voltear eso en la cabeza so it does not affect you?
Marisa González: That is very hard, because you get it all the time, and I think everyone has it. To me, it is to trust that you are good, that you are there for a reason, and that you do not know everything. And it is okay not to know everything. It is okay to say, I do not know, let’s figure it out. But yeah, everyone gets imposter syndrome. Am I really the right person for this job? Am I good? Then you talk to people and they tell you, yes, you should be here. So, trust that, and work hard. Everything now is quick, and everything now is fake. You look at Instagram, those stories, and you think it has to be so easy, they just got it all. But you never have it all, and it is not easy. You have to get your hands dirty all the time. There are good and bad days. It is not all good.
Claudia Macías: I love that. What I am hearing is embrace the good and the bad, the trials and the obstacles, then turn it around and use it for fuel. A ver cómo lo voy a hacer. Así como el juego de fútbol, right?
Marisa González: That is what it is. Let’s just figure it out. El balón is there, it is being moved, and you have to figure out how to make that goal.
Claudia Macías: Así es. Así es la vida.
Marisa González: Así es la vida.
Claudia Macías: ¿Verdad? Pues mira, vamos a hablar un poquito. We are going to go into driving the future of women’s soccer here in Dallas. As Senior Director of girls programming for FC Dallas Youth, what is your ultimate vision for the pathway for young female players? How do you want to elevate their opportunities compared to what was available for you?
Marisa González: Oh, wow, that is a big difference, because I lived in a different country and a different age. There was not much available. Here, you want to create opportunities and a pathway, but not only for the top players. It is easier to create a pathway for the top team, the ones getting the college scholarships and going pro. You still want to grow that. But how do you create a pathway for the girl who is not on the first team, who is on the third one? How do we do internal movement of players, so every girl is at least looked at and has an opportunity? Everyone wants to be on the top team. Whether they make it or not is different, but can we look at them? Can we help coaching education, because better coaches mean better players? Can we get them into national teams, into pro teams? We do college great, honestly. We are one of the top programs in the country, and the best women’s youth soccer right now is probably North Texas. It is very competitive. So we keep pushing the line a little and creating opportunities for the girls, because they are there for a reason. They have dreams. How can we help them achieve those dreams? That is pretty much our goal.
Claudia Macías: I love that. A pathway para cada persona. Where is your talent, and how can we support you on that path? You would think it would be no más the top, and los demás, pues, sorry. But no, you say, let me see where your thing is, and let’s find you a pathway. You might not get there, but at least let’s give you the opportunity to prove yourself. And they can take that tenacity, that grit, and apply it to other places in life.
Marisa González: That is the reality. That is what sports do for women. Less than 1% are going to be pro. The rest are going to be part of society. So what are they learning? Discipline, leadership, teamwork, how to work under pressure. Sports can change lives. That is the idea, a little bit more than just kicking the ball.
Claudia Macías: When you look at the current landscape of girls’ youth soccer here in the U.S., what gets you most excited, and what gaps do you want to keep bridging?
Marisa González: What gets me excited is how far it can go, especially here, where everything is. You have the infrastructure, the number of players, the tournaments. That is why you are world champions multiple times. You see it in the discipline and the mentality of the players. They want more, and that is awesome. Sometimes you wish you had those opportunities in other countries, in Latino countries, because we do not have the infrastructure or the number of players. So it is great to see it here. The gap is getting it to everyone. How do we get more people playing? How do we get more girls playing the game? That is what we are working on.
Claudia Macías: That is beautiful. I am assuming there is a lot of parent and guardian involvement too. I am a mom, so I think I have the best kid, right? But you have to support your young athlete. What advice would you give to a mamá with a student athlete?
Marisa González: There is a lot. Calm down. Number one, if you find a good coach, trust your coach. I always tell people, I do not come to your workplace and tell you how to do it. I promise you, I went to school for this. I know what I am doing. Then, have fun with your kid. Enjoy the time you have with them, because it is little, it is limited. There is a lot of pressure, but just have fun with them. They are going to play youth sports for maybe seven, eight, nine years. That is it. Then they are off to college, and that is it. So enjoy those Saturday games and lunches and car rides. It should be fun, and it should be fun for the kid. Even on a top competitive team, it should still be fun. They are still kids. So just be a parent, and let the coach be the coach. That would be my advice.
Claudia Macías: Thank you. Because that car ride where parents tell them everything they did wrong for an hour after the game, that does not make you want to play.
Marisa González: Absolutely.
Claudia Macías: Those are words of wisdom. Gracias. Us mamás have to hear that. Cálmense. Your dreams are your dreams. Your kid’s dreams are your kid’s dreams. Thank you for reminding me, because I have a 17 and an 18 year old, two girls. So I have to remember, I am just here to support you, everything is going to be great, so they can fulfill their dreams.
Marisa González: You are just there to help. Coaches are there too, but trust the coach. Just be a parent and let the coach be the coach.
Claudia Macías: I will. Because I have seen some of the soccer, where parents jump onto the field. I am like, ooh, I am not that bad.
Marisa González: You have probably seen it all. A lot of that.
Claudia Macías: Now let’s go a little into player welfare and safety compliance. Player welfare goes beyond physical safety. It is about mental and emotional well being too, like cálmense, mamás, what you just said. How do you plan to incorporate holistic support into the FC Dallas youth environment?
Marisa González: What is great about the club is that we actually have a safety officer who oversees that players are safe, and we take those complaints seriously. From there, we really have to look at what is going on. Are they in a good environment? We also have to separate things. Sometimes it is just your kid being in a competitive environment and getting frustrated because she did not get playing time. That is not really mental health, she is just frustrated, and that is a feeling. What we look at is whether our coaches are doing a good job, whether they are complying, whether the kids are in a safe environment that lets them just play soccer. As a club, we take it very seriously, because we want our players to be safe. It will be competitive, and sometimes it is going to be hard on them. So we also have to remind parents that this is a normal process. We study complaints, we talk to coaches, and we stay very aware of what is going on, because you have someone else’s kid’s life with you. That is a big responsibility.
Claudia Macías: As I sit here in the room with you, you emit that. Your words, your actions, and your plan, you emit it. From the moment you walked in, I noticed your energy and your love for what you are doing. Not just the actions of the game, but keeping a holistic view of that chiquita, that jovencita who is playing. Thank you for sharing that. Now we are about to close our time together, but I want to take you back to cuando estabas chiquita. Looking back at your journey from Puebla to Texas, if you could go back and talk to little Marisita González, when she was just starting out in international business and marketing, what advice would you tell her?
Marisa González: I would say just trust the process. A lot of the time it was a bit dark. It was very unsure of what was going on. I did not even want to be in sports. My plan was marketing and advertising. Sports in college were not an option for me. That came later, when I talked to a friend at a party and he told me about his MBA. That is when I thought, oh, I did not know you could do that. But it is just trust the process, because that process meant moving back home, since I went to Minnesota and was not okay with the decision. Things seemed a little dark. But trust the process, enjoy it, and do it with love. Convince yourself. I am lucky enough that I get to work every day in something I love, so there are no sad Mondays. I just love going to work. I love that I get to talk about soccer all day, about pathways. It is a lot of fun.
Claudia Macías: Thank you for those words. Trust the process, and even on the dark days, keep doing things with love. As a final question, what does a successful legacy look like for you at FC Dallas, both for the club’s programs and for the young Latinas watching your career climb?
Marisa González: To me, the biggest legacy would be a lot of girls thinking back over their time at FC Dallas and remembering how happy they were there. That is a bigger legacy, changing someone’s life for good. That is the biggest legacy you can have. You are changing the world. Having them think of FC Dallas as home, and remember they were very happy those one, two, three, ten years they were there.
Claudia Macías: On behalf of the Latina Leadership Podcast, thank you for being here, for sharing your journey, tu vida, your dreams, your hopes, your story. Because there are little Latinitas who are going to watch this and say, oh, I could do that. It is so important to have them see people like you leading and sharing, your obstacles, your journeys, your successes, para que ellas también puedan ver, I can do it.
Marisa González: Sí, la representación importa.
Claudia Macías: Importa mucho.
Marisa González: Un poquito en español, que la representación importa mucho. ¿Por qué? Porque al final de cuentas, para poder soñar algo, tienes que ver que es posible. Y la representación hace que veas que es posible llegar a donde quieres llegar. Porque muchas veces las circunstancias, la vida, tus surroundings, te dicen que no. Entonces, cuando ves que sí se puede, es cuando quizá destapas un poquito y empiezas a ver que sí es posible para alguien.
Claudia Macías: Bueno, pues, we heard it from her. Sí se puede. Marisa González, gracias por estar aquí. Thank you for being part of the Latina Leadership Podcast, here out of the Dallas Cowboys Podcast Studios. It has been a pleasure getting to know you. I cannot wait to see what else you continue doing with the organization. Thank you for being here with us.
Marisa González: Thank you for inviting me. I am very happy to talk to you. Gracias. Great meeting you.
Claudia Macías: Igualmente. This has been Claudia Macías with the Latina Leadership Podcast, here with Marisa González.
