From age 3, Stephanie Schubert has had a passion for soccer. From travel to club teams, she never stopped playing, she was seven when she won her first tournament. Once she made it to her eighth-grade year of middle school, she expected to join the middle school team, just like everyone else. Then things changed Stephanie was finishing her seventh-grade Spanish final, and Coach Rob Schretzmayer was proctoring her exam. Once she completed and handed in her test, Coach Schretzmayer walked over to her and asked if she would try out. But it wasn’t that easy. Schubert had to complete multiple physical fitness tests, and pass all requirements in order to even try out in the first place.
Most people would have been excited, and probably would have freaked out, considering all of the girls are older and probably more experienced than her, but not Stephanie. She was ecstatic there is no doubt about it. But she was cool and confident because for her playing with older girls was just another aspect of soccer. “ I felt like I had a great opportunity and I knew I had to step up and play my hardest.” Well, Stephanie did just that she tried out, and pushed herself hard to perform her best for four challenging days of tryouts. When she found out that she made the team she was ecstatic and overcome with joy. She was able to work her way into a starting position on the team. With the help and support of a great team and great coaches, she is growing not only as a player but as a person.
Very few people can say that they were on the high school team their eighth-grade year, let alone the Varsity team,“I didn’t feel like it was difficult, or strange to play with older girls because I’ve played with older girls on my club team before”.The struggle wasn’t once Stephanie was on the field, it was getting to the field,“Right when the middle school bell rang(2:30) I had to quickly get changed and run to the high school.” With soccer it isn’t just about changing your clothes, and putting your hair up, you need soccer socks, soccer cleats, and shin pads, in order to play all of which takes time to get on, and then as if that wasn’t enough, she had to run from the middle school campus to the high school. “There are some practices that are made to be difficult to try and push us as a team to improve”. That year Stephanie created a strong bond with the girls on her team, and together they went to states in Cortland.
During the school season, Stephanie experiences some difficult sacrifices in order to keep her dream alive. She juggles school soccer and club team soccer, and sometimes that means she gets home late at night and may miss eating dinner with her family as a whole, even though soccer is quite the demanding sport, she knows how critical it is to train especially considering, “In my future I want to play soccer for a division 1 college and I am striving to go professional and play for the women’s national team”an ambitious goal, but something she is definitely capable of attaining. The average teenage girl wouldn’t even dare to miss a party or the opportunity to hang out with her friends., Not Stephanie, she is dedicated, and a hard worker, and has proven others wrong with her ability to play, keep up with school work, and still make time for her friends, as well as her family. Her success is no accident, perseverance, hard work, passion and love of what she is doing has lead her to be the successful soccer player she is today. Her freshman year she rightfully took her place once again and helped to lead her team into a phenomenal season.
Soccer has shaped Stephanie into the person that she is today, she takes it seriously and it keeps her out of drama and helps her to really focus on what’s important in life“Soccer to me is something that I love to play and is a big part of my life” To Stephanie soccer is her outlet her place where no one can judge her on the basis of anything other than the sport itself. Every time she steps onto that field shes a different person. She’s focused, determined, and careful because every single move she makes is vital to the game. With her teammates counting on her, and her family and friends cheering her on in the stands Schubert’s able to play her game to the absolute best of her abilities.