Leah Fortune, associate head coach in her fifth season with the Lady Bisons soccer team, finds herself, happily, in a place she never expected when she was a young soccer star in Brazil.
She didn’t just grow up around soccer–she was in it every day. And it was all she knew from a young age. Her parents played, and they opened a soccer complex when she was younger, so she spent most of her time there, learning from and playing with older people.
She was born in Brazil, and when she got an opportunity to play for the Brazilian national team at the age of 16, she took it and became the youngest player on the team. She played there for five years until realizing soccer wasn’t going to sustain her for the rest of her life. She knew she needed something more.
“To some extent you are wrestling with finding your worth in something,” Fortune said, whose success pushed her deeper into her faith. “You are getting so much affirmation from playing on a national team and playing for World Cups… I decided either Jesus is real and I’m gonna follow Him or I’m not.”
She has continued to follow and grow her relationship with Jesus since then, and she has become a leader and a mentor to the girls on the team in their walks of life and in their walks with Jesus. Kate Mason, former Bisons goalkeeper and current goalkeeping coach, sees the way Fortune leads the girls in the right direction and admires it.
“Leah’s heart is not only to make the girls better soccer players, but I think off the field…setting them up well for life,” Mason said. “Through her leadership of Bible study and mentoring the girls, it has just been great to see her heart…just wanting to set them up well for the rest of life.”
Sophomore defender Summer Ellmore is a huge Leah Fortune fan, on and off the field.
“Her words give people dignity and they make you feel known,” Ellmore said. “Just getting to do life with her outside of soccer in Bible studies and one-on-one conversations, she respects the word of God and she is obedient. She is also one of the best soccer players any of us have ever played with, she’s a beast on the field.”
Fortune has had many opportunities to leave Lipscomb and pursue other careers, but she says she is content right where she is. “It has just been a really sweet spot and a sweet role (to play),” she said. “I’ve had a lot of really flashy attractive opportunities, and at the end of the day you sit down and this place is really special. …I want to continue to invest and build this program.”
Overall, she just wants to be an advocate for the girls, someone that makes a difference in their lives and someone they can go for anything.
After winning the West Division of the ASUN regular season, what the Bisons are going for now is an ASUN championship. They open their ASUN tournament run in the quarterfinals against Jacksonville State at 2 p.m. Friday. That match will be broadcast live on The Bison, Lipscomb’s on-campus radio station.
Photo courtesy of Lipscomb Athletics