Before winning gold in Paris, US women's soccer coach inspired players on LI
Hayes served as the manager for the Long Island Lady Riders, now known as the Long Island Rough Riders, in 2002.
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Before Emma Hayes helped the U.S. women’s soccer team take home an Olympic gold medal in Paris, the London-native inspired young soccer players on Long Island.
Hayes served as the manager for the Long Island Lady Riders, now known as the Long Island Rough Riders, in 2002.
Ronkonkoma native Brooke DeRosa first met Hayes when she coached her on the Lady Riders. She said Hayes was always there to support her on and off the field. DeRosa says Hayes was the type of coach that always saw the best in each of her players.
"It's an honor to know that I got to play for her,” she said. "Whether that player was confident or not at the time, she did what she could to get that confidence out of that player. To get that player to play to their maximum potential."
As the head coach for the Adelphi women's soccer team, DeRosa now uses the skills Hayes taught her.
"Am I saying and doing what I can to get the maximum potential out of the players?" she said.
Hayes’s legacy lives on with the Long Island Rough Riders. Coach Aimee Heeks says she's following in Hayes’s footsteps to take what she learns back home to the United Kingdom.
"I'm going to step into kind of her shoes," said Heeks. "She took what she learned from the U.S. out to the UK and that's something that I hope that I'm going to do."
Long Island Rough Riders General Manager Tanner Sands says he hopes Hayes’s path can inspire other young girls on and off the field.
"Soccer opens pathways and doors, not only for the community to connect, but also to live out what you want to be doing,” he said.
One of the players Hayes coached on the Olympic team was Rockville Centre’s Crystal Dunn.
