Ask Me Anything! with Sam Cary

Every Monday on our Instagram story, we ask our Socceristas to submit questions to our content creator Sam Cary. Sam is a senior at the University of Iowa, where she is on the womenโ€™s soccer team. She is a Big Ten Champion, the team captain, and a 4x Academic All-Big Ten Honoree. Here are her responses to four of the questions you submitted. Check out the Instagram story every Monday to submit your questions to next weekโ€™s Ask Me Anything!

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Q: What is something that really surprised you about being a college athlete?

A: One of the biggest things that surprised me about college soccer was the way I have grown as a person. I love soccer, and through my time at Iowa, I have grown as a player, but I have grown even more in my character.

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I have been challenged and developed into a leader, an advocate, and a more empathetic person through college soccer. I expected to grow as a soccer player, but I never thought about how proud I would be of the person I would become in four years. 

 

Q: How old were you when you started playing soccer?

A: I started playing when I was four years old. As the story goes, I had a lot of chaotic energy that my parents did not fully know how to channel, so they put me in sports. I did not really like soccer at first, I didnโ€™t like to sweat, and I was often found picking daisies on the field. But slowly, I fell in love with the game, and it has been the center of my life for the past 18 years. 

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Q: Do you think itโ€™s good for girls to be involved with a boyโ€™s team as well as a girlโ€™s team?

A: I think this is a great idea. Growing up, I never played with a boyโ€™s team, but it was always a dream of mine. At Iowa, we have male practice players who train with us, and I absolutely love it. They are all great athletes that push me to be stronger and faster, but they also play a different style of soccer which adds versatility to our training sessions. Training with boys surely isnโ€™t a requirement, but I do think it can add to your game. 

 

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Q: How was your recruiting process?

A: This is a hard and very broad question. First, I want to acknowledge that the recruiting rules were very different when I went through my process than they are now.

I knew I wanted to stay in the Midwest and go to a big school, this made the Big Ten Conference a very clear choice for me. I went to a lot of ID camps and contacted a lot of coaches to come to my games (I played in the ECNL, so a lot of these games were at national showcases). From there, I started going on visits and receiving offers.

This is very stereotypical to say, but I knew that Iowa was my home as soon as I stepped on campus. I love Iowa City, but it was the program and staff that really drew me to commit there. I loved the values of the program, and what they were building and I knew I wanted to be a part of it. This decision was made 8 years ago (which is terrifying), but I am so happy with my choice.

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