From Liverpool to California | Helen’s journey through sport and study

When Helen Pettit crossed the stage at graduation this week, her achievement represented far more than the completion of a Masters degree. It demonstrates a young woman’s determination to carve out a leadership career in a predominantly male profession, overcoming personal, professional, and cultural barriers to succeed in international football coaching.

Graduating with her MA Leadership in Sport from the University of South Wales (USW), Helen has spent much of her studies living and working more than 5,000 miles away in California, balancing study with a demanding coaching career in the United States. Along the way, she has overcome significant personal and professional challenges to realise her long-held ambition of building a life overseas.

Helen’s passion for coaching began early. Growing up in Liverpool, she completed a coaching course as a teenager and quickly discovered her calling. At just 18, she travelled alone to the United States for the first time, working across California with host families and youth soccer programmes.

“That first summer changed my life,” she said. “I fell in love with the culture, the opportunities, and the lifestyle. I knew I wanted to come back and make this my career.”

After returning to the UK to complete her undergraduate degree in sport and physical education, Helen continued to spend her summers coaching in the US, working in regions including Orlando and Atlanta. Her commitment and talent were quickly recognised, earning her an award for her work with Challenger Sports, where she was named Best Female Coach in the Atlanta region.

Determined to progress further, Helen enrolled with USW, through an international partnership programme, allowing her to combine academic study with full-time work in the US. What followed was an intense period of juggling assignments, time-zone differences, and a demanding coaching schedule that saw her responsible for multiple youth teams while stepping into senior leadership responsibilities.

Helen said: “Because I wasn’t living in the UK, and I was working alongside my studies, it was very different to a traditional student experience. There were times I had to join online lectures at 4am or 5am because of the time difference.”

Despite these pressures, Helen’s career continued to climb. During her studies, she progressed from Assistant Coach to Head Coach, before becoming Pre-Competitive Director, a rare achievement at just 24 years old.

Her research project became a defining moment. Drawing directly on her professional experience, Helen developed a new coaching curriculum designed to better support coaches and young players within her organisation. The framework has since been implemented across the club and is now used to mentor new international coaches, a full-circle moment that Helen describes as “one of my proudest achievements”.

Throughout her studies, Helen also faced significant personal challenges. During a tackle in a UPSL league match, Helen’s knee ligament was snapped so severely that she was bed-bound for weeks and then had to use a wheelchair. While she was undergoing therapy for her injury, she almost lost her life in a car crash. Thankfully, she walked away but her mental health suffered.

She credits the support of her lecturers for encouraging her to persevere.

“I had a lot to deal with and felt overwhelmed. Without Tom Overton (Course Leader), I genuinely don’t think I would have finished the course,” she said. “He wasn’t just a lecturer, he really understood my situation, supported me through setbacks and pushed me to believe I could get there in the end.”

That belief paid off as Helen’s dissertation was awarded a first-class result, an achievement made more meaningful as the first in her family to graduate from university.

Now settled permanently in California, Helen continues to thrive in her leadership role while launching a new business focused on supporting athletes’ mental wellbeing. At the heart of her ambitions is a desire to inspire the next generation, particularly young girls, to see leadership roles in sport as spaces where they belong.

Helen said: “I never had a female coach growing up. I want to be the role model I didn’t have and help eliminate fear for young women who are hesitant to travel, study abroad, or step into leadership.”

Returning to the UK to celebrate her graduation in person, Helen hopes her story will encourage others to take opportunities that feel daunting.

“Studying abroad changed my life,” she says. “If my journey shows anything, it’s that no matter how many obstacles appear, education can open doors you never imagined possible.”