Work Hard, Have Fun, Honor God. That’s where it all started. Five years ago I had to make one of the hardest decisions of my life; where to attend college. I felt pretty burnt out with soccer and wasn’t sure if I wanted to continue playing or attend a big school and just be a regular student with the rest of my friends and live the college dream. I had gotten some scholarship offers to play for a few different schools, these all looked great on paper but none were pulling at my heart. I can so clearly recall the day I came on a recruiting visit to the University of Texas at Tyler. It was a rainy day in the middle of January in 2011. UTT wasn’t really on my list of schools because they’re D3 and don’t offer scholarships but a couple teammates had already checked it out and fell in love with everything it had to offer so I decided to drop by on my way to visiting one of my top schools in Arkansas.
Since it was raining I didn’t get the full tour of the school like most recruits did. I also didn’t get to meet any of the girls on the team since they were all back home for winter break. I’m sure these factors would have made the decision making process a little easier for me, but the only thing that played a role in my decision was meeting Coach Webb.
I got a quick tour of the school and then coach brought me to the Champions room to talk. She talked a little bit about what the school had to offer but mainly the culture of the team. That’s the most important thing, because if you don’t fit in with the culture you won’t love your college experience. She told me the girls on the team were the craziest, goofiest people you will ever meet. She told me they Work Hard, Have Fun, and Honor God in all that they do. She told me she was here to win, she was here to create champions, and by the end of our four years here she wanted us to walk out as strong women.
I left the campus with a new fire in my belly to play college soccer after talking with Coach Webb. That weekend I spent a day at a school in Arkansas and a day at a school in Louisiana. Both had offered me scholarships but neither seemed right for me which left me in disappointment. The whole car ride home my heart was being pulled to the school that I previously wasn’t even considering. After weeks of writing down and discussing the pro’s and con’s of each school I was considering, my only defense was that the other schools just weren’t UT Tyler and that was the only one that just felt right. On paper, UT Tyler didn’t make sense, but for some reason I was being led there and I knew that’s where I needed to be.
Throughout my four years of playing college soccer I learned what it meant to truly Work Hard and Have Fun in everything you do. Before college, I loved soccer but it was really more of a social thing for me. When I came in, I thought I knew what working hard meant, but boyyy was I wrong! I really had no idea about pushing my limits. I don’t think I could ever have been more sore than preseason freshman year. We came to grind day in and day out. Over the years I developed a true passion for the game that I’ve never had before. Not only did we work our butts off on the field, but in the classroom as well. This was something I had never taken pride in or put any effort into. I was always “the stupid friend” in high school so that’s what I embraced and I let that be my excuse to slack off. I had done just enough to get by. But less than your best was not acceptable for a UT Tyler women’s soccer player. The coaches saw the person we could be and did everything they could to push us to get there by the end of their time with us.
We put an emphasis on the “Have Fun” portion of our motto. Preseason challenges, locker room traditions, road trip pranks, family walks, team dinners, gnome wars.. whatever it was, wherever we were we could find a way to make it fun. I’ve never had more belly laughs in my life than my four years at UT Tyler. Playing a college sport is hard. You see all your other friends going out every weekend, going to college football games, having free time, taking naps, typical college things.. It takes discipline, dedication, commitment, determination, all those good things to stick with it. Having fun with your family is what drives you to work harder for the girl next to you. All of these things deepened our love for one another throughout the seasons. That deep love for one another is what holds the family together when things get rough. I had been on plenty of teams before where I loved my teammates, but I had never been involved in a culture that encompassed loving every single person so deeply.
It honestly wasn’t until I finished playing soccer and it was my last year at UT Tyler where the “Honor God” part clicked for me. I had a curiosity about God and when I came to Tyler I kept saying I wanted to go to church and finally one of the girls on the team dragged me with her most weekends. I went to church for four years to feel better about myself. I wrote bible verses on my orange tape for game day because they sounded good but I had no idea of the context behind them. You know, those type of things. It was a feel good about myself thing, not an honor God thing.
It wasn’t until I was completely stripped of the thing I loved most that there was room for God in my heart. How could I have gone 22 years of my life and been so blind? God was never “forced” on me while I played soccer, but He was definitely being honored through the actions of many people in the program and looking back I can see sooo many seeds that had been planted during my soccer career. By the grace of God, He finally allowed me to see it. I can see His faithfulness towards me, the people He used to get to me, and how this culture represents Him through action without a word even having to be said.
I’ve tasted and seen His goodness. How could I not want to spread it?!
I want to be around a community who pushes each other to be better every day and also extends grace for the times we fall. But also a community who’s not just focused on us, but impacting everyone around us. A community who’s actions speak louder than words. I want to help empower others. I want to see the potential in someone and let them know that they can be greater than what they see in themselves. I want to hear people’s stories, meet them where they are, and believe in them. I want to love people the way I’ve been loved and serve people the way I’ve been served. I want to be the faithful friend who shares the good news of Jesus Christ and let them know that no matter what they’re walking through, there is hope. That they matter and they are unconditionally loved. Their identity isn’t in what they do, what other people say about them, or what a culture says about them, but their identity is a child of God. That’s all that matters. I don’t want to be the Holy Spirit, but I want Him to use me in whatever opportunity He presents to me. Just like He’s done through so many different people at UT Tyler to get to me.
That day I committed to play soccer at UT Tyler I had no idea why I was being led there but I knew it’s where I needed to be. I never could have even imagined that I would be transformed from the crazy, dumb, partying soccer player to a new creation. Coach Webb did what she said. We won a lot of games. She created champions on and off the field. And even though I stuck around the team for an extra year (; I’m for sure walking out of the program as a strong woman.
What led me to UT Tyler women’s soccer seems pretty similar to the World Race. I don’t know exactly what’s in store but I know it’s gonna be great. It sounds more logical to pursue my dreams of getting a career and making money, settling down with a man and starting a family, getting invested in a local community. Well again, it just doesn’t make sense but I don’t think that is what I’m being called to do at this point in time. God’s opened the door to the World Race and for some reason I’m being led into the unknown of these 11 different countries. I’m so excited for what’s ahead. I hope to carry over all of the ways UT Tyler soccer has impacted me and share that with the people I encounter while also growing more intimate in my walk with the Lord. Wherever I’m being led in life I hope to impact lives of others by Working Hard, Having Fun, and Honoring God in all that I do.
“Sometimes you have to plant seeds… you can’t always be hovering over someone and expect them to grow. You plant seeds along the way and watch them grow on their own.”
