Junior Mackenzie Heman knew that she wanted to go to school at Wake Forest, but she also knew that she was unwilling to give up playing soccer on a regular basis. So she joined Wake Forest’s Women’s Club Soccer team.
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Heman’s case is not unique.
Most of the girls on the club team were good enough to play collegiate soccer somewhere, but for one reason or another, they ended up at the university. Some did not want to put in the time and effort that playing a Division-I sport demands. Others were unwilling to sacrifice missing out on Wake Forest’s academics just to continue playing.
“Club soccer gives the girls on the team an opportunity to play the sport they love at a competitive level,” coach Jesse Konig, junior, said, “but without the pressure that comes from a varsity sport.”
With a high level of competition mixed with a laid-back atmosphere, “you really get the best of both worlds,” co-captain Heman said.
Regardless of the girls’ personal decisions on choosing to play club soccer, each girl on the team is highly skilled.
Tryouts are held in the fall, and with a few dozen girls coming out each year, “you definitely have to show your skills,” co-captain Lindsay Fox, junior, said.
In the fall, the team posted a .500 record, with two wins, two losses and three draws.
A roster full of talented women has done nothing to take away from a very “social” atmosphere, however.
“We practice hard, and everyone wants to win and stuff,” Fox said. “But at the end of the day, it’s really fun, and the coaches are part of the reason it’s really fun.”
Konig, a club soccer player himself, teams up with Brian Aller, sophomore, to coach the Women’s Club Soccer team.
“We have some very talented players that have been playing for a very long time,” Konig said. “They don’t need to be taught much.”Of course, talented soccer players will not play too well without getting and staying in shape.
Konig views makes games out of conditioning drills and calls it “fun fitness.”
“I’ve always just seen soccer as something I love to do,” Heman said, “but the fact that it’s good for me isn’t that bad either!”The team practices on Monday and Thursday afternoons at 4:00 p.m.
The club will host UNC Asheville on Sunday, March 24 at Poteat Field, where members of the Wake Forest community are encouraged to come watch the team play.
The girls will compete in tournaments at Clemson and UNC in April.“It’s awesome to be on a team and compete against other teams in the region while representing Wake Forest,” Fox said.