When did you start playing soccer?
5 years old in Fountain Hills, Arizona on team “Hot Shots.” We were a hot mess.
What is your favorite thing about playing soccer?
It’s never boring. I love that there are new challenges everyday, and always something to learn from teammates and opponents to better yourself.
What was your most memorable game experience?
Too many to go through and pick just one. However, winning Regionals (Far West) the last possible year was amazing. I had never won before then and it was truly one of the most satisfying things I’ve accomplished because I had been wanting it for so so long. And then getting to play at nationals.
What is something you always have in your soccer bag?
Mint gum and chapstick. Absolutely necessary.
What was your most interesting and fun soccer trip and why?
Chile was the best soccer trip I have ever had. Not only did I get to live with my friends/teammates in a beautiful foreign country for a month, but I also got to miss school and have summer in November/December. Oh and we won!
What's your perfect day off?
Laying around the house with family and friends, watching GOOD tv and movies and eating delicious food, and playing any type of game or sport.
Name a sports team other than Sky Blue FC that you can’t live without?
I don’t have one particular team, but I love watching EPL teams.
What famous person most inspires you?
Beyonce!!! Such a drive to be the best at what she does.
If you could only eat one food item/meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Besides chocolate, I would have to say my favorite meal is from Pita Jungle. Its called cilantro-jalapeno hummus with chicken.
What's on your workout/pre-game iPod playlist?
Anything that gets me moving/dancing or reminds me of a particularly good soccer game or practice I once had (kind of a superstition). But mostly, if not always, Beyonce is on my playlist. Actually, always.
Aside from soccer, I'm really good at…
Eating.
Not many people know that I can…
Skateboard.
If my parents were describing me, they’d say that I…
was stubborn or lazy but what do they know! Then we would argue and I would remind them of all my many good qualities, and they would eventually agree. I'm the mild child, so I get all the negatives but I'm used to it.
I want my experience in WPS to be…
Life changing and career building. Not to mention lots of fun.
QUICK HITS – List your three favorites:
TV Shows:
1. The Office
2. Top Gear
3. Anything from my childhood
Places to Shop:
1. Tilly’s clothing store
2. Target- has everything!
3. Organic/natural food stores
Restaurants:
1. Pita Jungle
2. Sushi
3. Anywhere with good meat sauce
Professional Athletes:
1. Michael Jordan
2. Mia Hamm
3. Zidane
What are the three things you can never be without while traveling?
My Tiffany’s necklace my mom got myself and my two sisters, my iPod, and a phone because I get lost all the time and have no sense of direction.
If you could travel anywhere in the world where would you want to go and why?
That’s a very hard question because I love traveling and want to go everywhere at least once in my life. But if I had to choose than I would pick the spot where my ENTIRE family and friends were at.
Did you have a childhood pet? What was its name?
My mom didn’t want my sisters and I, or my dad for that matter, to have any responsibility over another beings life. But after years of begging she let us get a yellow bird named Sunshine. I was terrified of that thing for 2 years and wouldn’t let it touch me or land on me because I thought it would try to scratch my eyeballs out! I eventually realized she was a sweetheart and my family have been having multiple pets ever since.
What was your favorite TV show, movie, and music group?
Any and all Nickelodeon cartoons (Ren and Stimpy, Ahhh Real Monsters, Doug, Rocco’s Modern Life, Salute Your Shorts, Rugrats, etc.) Movie was Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Music Group was really anything my older sister was in to. But a few of my own groups were La Bouche, Oasis, En Vogue, and No Doubt.
What was the first concert you ever attended?
Craig David haha, how embarrassing.
What was your favorite Halloween costume that you wore?
I wouldn’t say that it was my favorite, but my most memorable costume was when I was a California Raisin my freshman year of college. Yes, I had a legit raisin costume with white cartoon gloves, black tights, and a hole for my face to show. It was so memorable because when I would walk by guys and they would say “What the heck is that?”
What was your dream profession as a child?
To either play professional sports or rescue sea otters from oil spills (both still true).
What was your first job?
Ummmmm never had one?
What celebrities have your friends told you that you look most like?
Well, one of my sisters gets told she looks like Hilary Duff, and my other sister looks like Kiera Knightley who are both gorgeous… I unfortunately look like no one!
If you had a dinner party, who are the four people you would invite (can be living or dead) and why?
1: Beyonce (so I could die happy) 2: My great grandmother (Grandma Chi Chi) 3: all my little baby cousins I haven’t spent time with 4: Robert Pattinson to see if he was a good looking in person and because he is Edward Cullen.
Surely it took a lot of hard work to get to this level, what motivated you to keep working hard?
I definetly have had many ups and downs in my soccer career and nothing has ever been easy for me. I guess what kept me motivated is the love for competition, and the feeling I get while playing soccer like everything is perfect in the universe.
When it got hard, or you didn’t make the cut what did you do? What advice could you give kids about working hard and overcoming moments like this?
Not making the cut sucks, but it’s necessary. The last thing you need to be is over-confident, because it’s by karma and you will eventually fall. I have the kind of personality where I want to prove people wrong and prove to myself that I can do anything I want to do. The only advice I can give to kids is to have positive people around you, like family and teammates, who motivate you and believe in you. And then to just practice, practice, practice!
When going through school and playing soccer at the same time, how did you fit all the pieces together (soccer, school, social life)
Very poorly ha! Just kidding. Soccer 1st, School 2nd, and social life/being normal 3rd. It took lots of tries to figure out a plan that worked…took until my senior year of college.
What advice would you give to a young girl who dreams of playing in WPS one day?
As I mentioned before - practicing, having a true love for the game, never giving up, and having a good support group around you can only help. Also, drink lots of “MJ juice” (Space Jam reference).