CITY SECTION SOCCER PREVIEW : Breaking Ground : Granada Hills Boys Soccer Coach Joined by 3 Other Women in City Section Ranks

Midge Miller’s mood brightened as she surveyed the room at the annual meeting of City Section soccer coaches. For the first time since she became soccer coach at Granada Hills High four years ago, the first female soccer coach in City history saw other women at the meeting.

When City administrator Lee Joseph introduced new coaches, much to Miller’s surprise there were three women in the ranks. Joining Miller this season are Kathy Lambert at Van Nuys, Nancy Carr-Swaim at Belmont and Margaret Lockre at Locke.

“I just kind of walked in and noticed several women, which was nice to see,� Miller said, “and when they were introduced as coaches I was pleased.�

Miller welcomes the company. Over the years she has had several minor incidents involving other coaches--Miller would not identify them--who have annoyed her, in several instances, because of her sex.

“One coach called me ‘honey.’ Another one came over and started telling me what to do; things like how to stretch and warm up, like I didn’t know what I was doing out there,� Miller said. “It’s kind of irritating. Usually I’m not prepared for it, but later I think of a good retort.�

There have even been problems at Granada Hills. In Miller’s first year, a coach asked the principal to bar her from the boys locker room--where the equipment room is located--and the coaches office. Since then, Miller has worked out of a previously unused storage room and “the trunk of my car.�

So far Lambert has not had to face those obstacles at Van Nuys, but if she did, it would not be something new.

Lambert, the daughter of an Air Force master sergeant, was a pioneer in women’s Olympic weightlifting in Australia, where she has lived the past 10 years. In 1985 and ‘86, she was the Australian national champion. Upon returning to the United States in 1987, she placed second in the U. S. Nationals. While in Australia, she played soccer in high school and college and also played two years on the Australian national softball team.

“The initial reaction from the staff was shock I guess,� said Lambert, who also teaches physical education at Van Nuys. “But then they figured out that I just wasn’t a person assigned to the job, that I knew what I was doing.�

Lambert got the same reaction from the soccer team.

“Sure, it was a little different the first day,� said Louis Gomez, captain of the team. “But then we realized that she knows more about soccer than the other coach we had.

“There’s even a better attitude on the team this year. There’s more team work and everyone follows orders.�

There are few similarities between Miller and Lambert. Miller started playing soccer in an adult soccer league in Simi Valley when she was 35; Lambert started playing in elementary school in England. Miller taught at Granada Hills for 15 years before being offered the coaching job; this is Lambert’s first year teaching.

But one point they do have in common is they were not employed to satisfy affirmative action quotas.

“None of the coaches were hired because they were women,� said Joseph, the City administrator in charge of soccer. “It was just a case of the schools going out and looking for the best qualified people, and these were the best people available.�