Athletes As Educators

Marisa Gonzalez was born in Puebla, Mexico and started playing soccer at age 8. Like many other women’s soccer players she started playing with boys which fueled her competitive nature. Having supportive parents who always advocated for sports had a tremendous impact on her life.  Marisa's father played and coached soccer locally making soccer a part of her everyday life. With a desire to play in the US Marisa worked persistently to find a school to play collegiate soccer. After serious injuries, Marisa transferred schools and loved her collegiate experience at Southwest Minnesota State University.  She also studied at Alfredo Di Stefano in Madrid, Spain and earned Master's in Business Administration with a focus in Sports Administration. Marisa's love for sports operations continued as she worked with the Pan American Games and The World Taekwondo Championships. Now Marisa is the women's program director and general manager for the Noria Football Club and is responsible for recruiting players, organize and p