The High School to College Transition

Senior Year- It's springtime. What does that mean? High school soccer season. By senior year you have already played for your school for three years. You are no longer that anxious freshman arriving 30 minutes early to tryouts only to realize you left your soccer ball in your moms SUV. By now you know the ropes. You are the alpha of the team and all the underclassman know your name. You know what to expect and you aren't afraid to flaunt it. You feel like a local celebrity sitting on the school stage in February for signing day while all the younger, aspiring college athletes look up at you in admiration hoping that they will be in your shoes within the upcoming years. You play almost every minute of every game the season is flying by. Then night rolls around. You walk across the field with your parents on each side of you and it hits you hard that although you will still be playing soccer next year, things are about to change drastically.

Freshman Year- You have spent all summer striving to accomplish your daily workouts given to you by your future coach the second you graduated. You aren't exactly sure what to expect, but you know that if you don't do the workouts things might not go well for you. Before you know it, it's August. All of the sudden you are the anxious freshman again, but instead of your mom dropping you off at your high school right down the road, you are dropped off in another city or state with all of your belongings and the expectation to live with someone you hardly know. You both wake up the next day with giddy hearts for the first day of preseason. A week later you are thrown on a bus traveling across the country with your new team. Within a month you look up and realize that all the hard work and daily practices or games have caused you to make 25 new best friends.

Although college soccer is a lot of hard work, especially in comparison to high school, the bond you make with you're team is ten times stronger. At the end of the day, you wouldn't want to be doing anything else with your college experience.

http://washburn.edu/alumni-friends/ichabod-communications/feature-stories/Images/Chris-Jones-Coaching.jpg

Top 5 Movies (Soccer Girl Edition)

Whether you are young or old any soccer girl at heart has a deep love for these classic films. In fact, even non-soccer playing people are bound to love a couple of these movies.

#1 She's the Man
This movie is the stereotypical soccer girl movie, but it is amazing. Where else would we have learned how to stop nose bleeds with a tampon?

#2 Bend It Like Beckham
Who ever said girls can't kick it with the boys...

#3 Kicking & Screaming
With Will Farrell and ex-Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka as soccer coaches, viewers are sure to get a 'kick' out of this movie.

#4 Her Best Move
This movie shows the story of a typical high school girl balancing soccer, romance, and grades, but also stumbles upon the chance to be on the U.S. National Team. What a tough life.

#5 Switching Goals
With Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen playing the lead roles in this movie at the age of 12, it's hard not to find this movie adorable.

http://blog.peopleschoice.com/2016/02/18/shes-the-man-surprising-movie-facts/

Preseason Problems

Ahh preseason... that first dreaded month before season begins that every soccer girl has a love/hate relationship with. It begins with getting to school weeks before anyone else is even on campus. After that, you are expected to wake up at ungodly hours of the morning to practice. 5:30 in the morning? "I think yes," says coach. But it's not over yet. After breakfast and your morning nap it's time for weights and conditioning around noon. Then you go back, sleep and eat, again, and then have practice all over again in the evening.

Don't get me wrong though, we love preseason. There are parts that we struggle with, but with free meals, sports massages, and team ice baths, it's not all bad. Plus the whole point of preseason is to make us the best team we can possibly be. That way, when it's time for season, we are ready to dominate on the field.

Although, it wouldn't hurt to push that morning practice back a couple of hours.

This video is created by official "soccer girl problems" twitter account (@soccergrlprobs). It perfectly demonstrates preseason in 45 seconds.

Ultimate Game Day Playlist

Whether you are in high school or college, it's hard to go wrong with this game day playlist. Featuring some of the top songs from 2016, as well as some classics, you'll be sure to blast these hits in the locker room in order to get pumped up during pregame.

1. Stronger by Kanye West- With lyrics like "work it harder, make it better, do it faster, making us stronger," it's almost impossible not to get hyped up.
2. The Champ by Nelly- Being soccer girls, it's hard not to relate to words like "lap after lap, mile after mile, push up after pushup everybody count it out." Because as we all know, you only get out what you put in.
3. Run the World by Beyonce- What would a warmup playlist be without Queen B? Especially since (soccer) girls run the world. Obviously...
4. Run This Town by Jay Z ft. Rihanna & Kanye West- "Feel it coming in the air and the screams from everywhere, I'm addicted to the thrill." Sounds like the beginning of a soccer game if you ask me!
   
5. Pound the Alarm by Nicki Minaj- Although the title sounds like a description to what most of us want to do when the alarm goes off for 6am practice, this song is guaranteed to get you up on your feet.
6. Clique (Clean) by Kanye West, Jay Z, & Big Sean- "Ain't nobody messing with my clique." Because your teammates are your sisters who always have your back, duh. 
7. Bad Girls by M.I.A- Every soccer girl has a "bad girl" side on the field. 
8. Closer by The Chainsmokers- It wouldn't be 2016 without this song making the list. 
9. Started From the Bottom by Drake- This one goes out to any team has worked their way up to the top.
10. Fergalicious by Fergie- If this classic doesn't play, is it even game day?

Road Trips 101

This weekend I traveled with my team to Marshall, Minnesota, so I thought it was an appropriate time to share the inside scoop on team road trips.

For starters, its crazy what goes on inside a charter bus with a team of 28. From the outside it may look like a typical bus, but inside it is a constant combination of movies, music, food, and sleeping girls. There isn't much leg room or personal space to yourself on the bus, so typically we improvise. Girls spread out all across the floor and chairs with pillows and blankets preparing themselves for the 5+ hour ride. The bus wifi is usually skeptical, so Netflix isn't always an option. But that never stopped every single girl from getting out their ten-foot chargers and trying. There's a lot of time to kill, so you get to know all the fun facts about your teammates that nobody really needs to know, but it gets shared anyways.

The trip back can either be really good or really bad. If you lose the game, then the mood is down for everyone, especially the coach. In that situation the majority of your travel time is spent sleeping or keeping to yourself with headphones in the ears. On the flip side if you win then everyone is in a great mood. If this happens then frequent stops to gas stations for snacks are usually made, as well as the opportunity to use the restroom in a place other than the cracker box sized bathroom stall on the bus.

When you finally get back to your returning destination, you never realize how comfortable your dorm bed really is in comparison to the hardwood floors of the bus. But as cheesy as it is, you appreciate your time spent with the team on a charter bus because you know that one day you'll look back at the memories made on road trips and be thankful for the laughs that were shared.

Introduction

My name is Cassie Nichols and this is my blog "A Day in the Life of a Soccer Girl." I am a womens' soccer player at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas and have been playing soccer since I could walk.  Soccer is a sport that comes with many commitments and sacrifices, but it is something that a soccer girl wouldn't trade for the world. We do a lot for the sport we love. The purpose of my blog is to share the daily struggles, success stories, and lifestyle of a soccer player on and off of the field.

Photo taken by Blue Valley High School athletics