Full plate for Fallon mother

Newport Beach resident Kathy Fallon, a mother of three highly

successful soccer athletes in the Corona del Mar system, has nothing

short of a full plate.

With a full-time job as a real estate agent and a full-time job as

a mother, wife and soccer mom, friends and family look to her in

amazement.

Fallon’s daughters -- Vanessa, 18, Taylor, 16, and Scarlett, 12 --

have climbed their way to the top of the soccer world at the right

fullback position and they owe it in part to their mom.

The woman, who was a stay-at-home mom for 15 years, was deeply

involved in her children’s education as a PTA Vice President at

Lincoln Elementary and decided hands-on parenting was the key to

overall success.

“I want my kids to be comfortable and get the best experiences out

of life,” she said. “I want to be there for them as a parent, and

better their lives.”

Fallon had no soccer experience, but she entered all of her girls

in American Youth Soccer Organization.

When Vanessa was 9 and Taylor was 8, the managers and the team

decided they wanted to expand to a traveling club team, so Terry

Mazura created the Slammers Soccer Club, which is based in Newport

Beach and is considered the gold level for that age group.

For eight years, she held the title of “Coach Kathy” for Taylor

and Scarlett at the AYSO and Slammers level.

“It was awesome that my mom was my coach,” said Scarlett. “It

meant a lot that she was always there. She was at every game.”

At Corona del Mar High, Vanessa was a four-year varsity soccer

player, student body president and a first-time all-league soccer

player in her senior year. She won a United State Youth Soccer

Association national championship with the Slammers in the under-14

division in 2002, and is planning on attending Loyola Marymount

University in the fall.

Corona del Mar senior Taylor, who will have competed on the

varsity soccer team for four years, has two national championships

under her belt with the Slammers in the under-14- division and in the

under-16s.

In junior high, she played volleyball and basketball, but her

focus remains with soccer. She plans to continue playing during her

senior year at CdM and the Slammers. She is considering offers to

play soccer at Dartmouth, DePaul and the University of Maryland.

Scarlett won the USYSA Western region championships, which is the

farthest an under-12-year-old team can go, and hopes to continue the

path of her sisters. She played on the All-Net basketball team for

one year, which was coached by former NBA player Karl Malone in

Newport Beach, and hopes to experiment in tennis.

Scarlett will attend CdM Junior High as a seventh grader in the

fall and plans to play on the soccer team.

“It’s fun to be known,” said Vanessa. “We have always been known

as the soccer family.”

The Slammers team has taken Vanessa and Taylor all over the United

States, such as Hawaii, Utah, Colorado, Nevada, Arizona, Washington,

Texas, Maryland, New Jersey and Florida, and wherever they went,

either their mother or father, Bill, traveled with them.

“I’m really lucky they’ve always been there,” said Taylor. “It’s

awesome to have them support me in whatever I do, and my mom is so

motivational. Just hearing her yell from the sidelines is motivation

in itself.”

Fallon said her favorite part of coaching her girls was the

relationships she made.

“It was fabulous,” Fallon said. “It was very challenging, but very

rewarding. It was great being in a role-model position, where all

these kids look up to you. They were the greatest kids in the world.”

Fallon works at Strada Coldwell Banker about seven days a week,

but because of her partner, Katie Rollins, she can work out her

schedule to attend games. She considers herself to be a strict mother

and sets specific goals for her children.

“I want to see my girls be happy and complete their school years

with high success and integrity,” she said. “I want them to have

confidence and be strong in the decisions they make.”

Fallon and her family has not had a Thanksgiving dinner in eight

years because of tournaments, but she wouldn’t change a thing.

“I am having a ball right now,” Fallon said. “You do get tired,

but it’s a bonding experience. It’s taught them life lessons they

wouldn’t have learned otherwise.”