Soccer’s beloved head varsity coach, Coach Parsons, retired after her 9 years of coaching leaving the legacy of her 8 state championship wins. Previously Parsons’s assistant coach for five years, Allison Klink has returned to girls varsity soccer for her turn at the helm.
“Lucky [Coach Parsons] is one of my best friends and I coached with her for many years so I think that it will be hard not to have her around, especially for me too,” Klink said.
Klink attended James Madison University and played club soccer there for four years and was the captain her senior year. Directly after graduation, Klink scheduled an interview at Falls Church City Public Schools and became a faculty member. She has worked in the school system ever since and is now going on her eighth year in the city as a special education teacher at Mount Daniel.
She began to coach in the George Mason soccer program her first year working in the school system as the head JV coach. Later her second year she was bumped up to assistant varsity coach and was along for the ride for 5 state championships that Mason won.
“I think that we have such a strong group of student athletes, they are really focused on keeping up their academics, [and] being able to do that while playing sports is so important,” said Coach Klink.
In terms of expectations for the season, Coach Klink wants what about every other coach at Mason wants: a State Championship. Although Coach Parsons will not be accompanying Coach Klink, the team has the talent and potential to become nine time state championship winners.
“We have a strong group of girls who have been playing in the program for many years, so I think that we are hoping to continue to have a strong team,” said Klink. “[Also] I think that we have a lot of room to grow in certain areas but I obviously would love to have a state championship and that is a goal of ours.”
Since Klink and Parsons coached together for years, their coaching tactics are very similar.
“I think that her and I share a lot of the same philosophies of coaching and style. We worked a lot together for many years so I think that I will be able to do a lot of those same things and then bring some new things to the table as well, that are areas of strength of mine,” Klink said.
Even though Coach Klink has large shoes to fill in the Mason soccer program, her ideas and drive are certainly on the right track to be returning state champions.
