What is being a Soccer Player Like?  

  

 

 Starting the Interview 

      The library was crowded and noisy as it was packed with so many students.  Nathalie was not in class that day but messaged me and told me to meet her in the library at four o’clock in the afternoon as we originally planned, but she came in six minutes late. When Nathalie walked in, I saw that she was dressed in a pink hoodie, blue jeans, and white shoes. Before I started to talk with her, I let her come in and get comfortable before I began to ask her about soccer.  

  

The start of Nathalie’s Journey  

     Nathalie started playing soccer when she was in the fifth grade at ten-years-old. At the time, one of her friend’s dad was a soccer coach who had a team and was looking for extra players to join his team. Nathalie never played soccer before but decided to try out for fun and ended up making the team. Nathalie’s position on the team was and still is a defender, or as Nathalie told me, ‘either a stopper or a sweeper. ” I later did my research and found that a stopper is a term used to describe someone who plays just ahead of the defensive line while the sweeper is someone who gets the ball if the opposite team manages to hit the ball passed the defensive line. Nathalie also mentioned how soccer helped her in real life by teaching her how to be good at managing her time.  

  

 

Are Our First Thoughts of Things Always Right?  

        Nathalie talked about her expectations of joining a college soccer team. Nathalie explained that she knew that she would be coming into a good team as she followed City College’s games and knew the girls’ soccer team at City College had made it to the Championships the years before. Nathalie explained that during this past semester the City College team did make it to the Championships, but sadly they didn’t win. Nathalie also revealed that her coach was not like how she imagined him to be. Nathalie explained that her coach was old and at the point of his life where he should not coach students. Nathalie also mentioned how the others on the team did not like the coach.  

  

             

Disadvantages of Playing Soccer as a Girl  

       Nathalie stated that she had faced sexism a lot of times as a female soccer player. Nathalie explained that her coach is sexist towards the girls he coaches, which is ironic.  I was so disgusted to hear how her coach is sexist to the girls because he is supposed to be their leader who guides them to win, not make those girls feel like they don’t have any skills to be professionals in the future. Nathalie also talked about how over the summer, she was in a soccer camp for both boys and girls, and the boys there looked over her abilities as a soccer player. Nathalie mentioned how these boys felt they were forced to play with her as she was a girl and didn’t even want to include her. Nathalie also explained how she must work twice as hard to prove to the boys who do not think she can play soccer that she is capable of being on a soccer team. 

  

        

Should I continue to play Soccer? 

        Nathalie then explained how she had joined the track team in high school for two years because she had thought track may be a better sport for her, but she then realized that she loves soccer. During her junior year of high school, her mom got cancer, and she ended up not playing on the soccer team that year. Nathalie didn’t want to play soccer that year because she wanted to be there for her mom. When talking with Nathalie about her mom having cancer Nathalie was so sad and looked down. It was very hard for her to talk about a time where she could almost have lost her mom, who is very important in Nathalie’s life.  Nathalie mentioned how when her mom’s health started improving, she decided to return to the soccer team. When she did return to the soccer team, as a senior, the coach at the time had it out for her, and so she didn’t get to play in the games. I was so surprised to learn that she didn’t play for almost all her high school years, yet she wanted to play in college because she realized that soccer is what makes her happy.  

  

       

The joys and not so joys of being on a Soccer team  

         Nathalie mentioned how some of her best experiences on being a soccer player is going to the tournaments winning, going to the championships, bonding with team members, having movie nights as a team, and going to parties as a team. Nathalie had said in the subculture sheet that soccer players are “snobby,” so I asked her why? Nathalie revealed that even though she made friends through the soccer team, she also met girls who are cocky and brought other teammates down. I was so shocked by this because I had always thought that if you were a part of the same team, then you would be respectful and kind to your other teammates.  

              

My final thoughts 

    Throughout this interview, I learned Nathalie is a very strong person for going through a lot of tough times, from her mom’s illness to being treated badly by men for playing a sport that she loves. Nathalie made me see how I wish I could be like her in the sense that I could fight for what I want, no matter what everyone else says. I also learned that soccer is for tough people because they go through so much to achieve their dreams to be recognized as one of the best players you can meet.