Ask Me Anything! with Sam Cary #6

Every week 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 women’s soccer team. She is a Big Ten Champion, the team captain, and a 4x Academic All-Big Ten Honoree. Here are her responses and her soccer advice to three of the questions you submitted. Check out the Instagram story every Friday to submit your questions to next week’s Ask Me Anything!

Q: What is something that pushes you to work harder?

A: The simple answer is my past and my future. Every day I play is a chance for me to live out the dream of the 5-year-old girl that fell in love with soccer. I love having the opportunity to live out her dream of playing soccer in college, so that little girl in me is my motivator. She is my reason to wake up on days it’s hard because this was once my dream, so I cannot waste any second of it.

I also think of my future. I have goals of playing beyond Iowa one day, so each day I play is a chance for me to get better and work toward that goal. I get to work on aspects of my game that will help me at the next level, and I get to play the game I love.

When it comes to pushing myself, I get to look in the rearview mirror and be in the driver’s seat, which is a powerful place to be.

Q: What advice do you have for someone coming back from injury?

A: Take things one step at a time. When it comes to injury, I feel like it is really easy to look at the big goal of coming back on the field and get discouraged when that doesn’t happen right away. When it comes to returning from injury, consistency and winning small battles is the key. Take each moment and each challenge one step at a time, and good things will come. This is easier said than done, but it is good to keep in mind. 

Q: What do you do when you get burnt out?

A: There will be times in your career when you will hit this wall of burnout. It happens, and it is normal! But it is important to know how to handle it when it occurs. For me, I reflect on why and why I play the sport. For me, this is my family, my team, and my younger self. On days when I am not feeling it or I don’t want to play, I do it for them. 

The other really weird thing I do when I am feeling burnt out is going to a U-9 soccer practice. This may sound weird, but I promise it is with good intentions. There is something about seeing the little kids playing soccer, smiling, and having fun that reminds me why I do this. It is a pretty amazing reset and helps me to find joy in the game. 

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