THE OFFICIAL HOME OF GRISSOM HIGH SCHOOL LADY TIGERS
INFORMATION
OUR COACHES
KELSIE SHIELDS
VARSITY HEAD COACH / FACULTY SPONSOR
Kelsie Shields grew up in Huntsville, AL and played club soccer for United Soccer Club in high school. After graduating high school in 2009, she continued her playing career at The University of Mobile in Mobile, AL. Kelsie was a two-sport athlete at UM for three years—playing both soccer and basketball for the university but ended her 4th year focusing only on soccer. While at UM, the lady rams soccer team earned their spot at the national tournament 3 consecutive seasons beginning in 2010, making it to the Round of 8 in 2011 and Round of 16 in 2012. Kelsie was named a Daktronics-NAIA Scholar Athlete in 2011 and 2012, as well as named to the Academic All-District Team and Capital One Academic All-American 2nd Team her senior year.
Kelsie graduated from UM with a BS in Mathematics with a specialty in education. Upon graduating college in 2013, she began teaching and coaching at Grissom High School and with United Soccer Club. She currently teaches Honors Algebra 2 Trig and AP AB Calculus. Kelsie has coached both basketball and soccer during her time at Grissom. She has been working with the JV and Varsity girls soccer teams since 2013. She was head coach of the JV girls soccer team from 2017-2020. 2021 will be her first season as the varsity girls head coach.
Kelsie is also married to Coach Josh Shields who also teaches at Grissom High School and is the head coach of the GHS Varsity Boys Soccer Team. Together, they have two wonderful children, Daxton and Rylan Shields.
SYDNEY PFANKUCH
JV COACH
Sydney Pfankuch played for St. Louis Scott Gallagher on their ECNL team in high school. After graduation, she attended University of Alabama in Huntsville. She played at UAH for 4 years and was on the Gulf South Conference Academic Honor Roll each year. She was also on the CoSIDA Academic All-District in 2015. She was the captain on the inaugural 2019 WPSL season and is on the roster for the 2021 season as well.
Sydney graduated from UAH in December of 2018 with a degree in Aerospace Engineering. After graduating, she began to work for Raytheon Technologies as a system engineer. She is currently going back to school part time to get her master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering.
Sydney has been coaching youth soccer since 2017. This will be her first year coaching at the high school level.
CHRISTINE BETTS
VARSITY ASSISTANT COACH
Christine Betts grew up in Lookout Mountain, GA and played club soccer for Chattanooga United FC. Upon graduating high school in 2013, Coach Betts headed to Bryan College in Dayton, TN. While at Bryan College, Christine played soccer at the collegiate level for 4 years, earning the role of team captain in 2016. In 2017, she was awarded the 2017 Lion od Valor as the top female athlete at Bryan College.
In 4 years, Christine graduated from Bryan College with a BA in Biblical Studies and a MA in Christian Ministries. She is currently on full time staff at Southwood Presbyterian Church. Coach Betts has been coaching with the GHS girls soccer program as an assistant varsity coach since 2018.
Christine is also married to Andrew Betts, whom she met while in college.