Ask Me Anything! with Sam Cary #9

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, 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 to four of the questions you submitted. So check out the Instagram story every Monday to submit your questions to next week’s Ask Me Anything!

Q: What made you play soccer?

A: Neither of my parents were athletes or ever really did sports. As the story goes, I had a bit too much energy as a kid, and my mom wanted me to channel it properly. I started off playing many different sports, and soccer was not my favorite. But I soon started to fall in love with the way soccer pushed me. 

I feel like through soccer, I was able to have some of my favorite memories and learn so many lessons, which kept pushing me to get better. This growth and learning to fall in love with the process made me love soccer.

Q: What are your tips for tryouts?

A: Find your thing! That sounds weird but know what your one thing is that you are great at. For me, it was always 1v1 tackles and left-footed service. At every tryout I went to, I tried to show this off and highlight my top skills. Be confident in whatever this thing is and own. Shine your light and your personality, and great things will come. 

Q: How do you stay in shape with an injured foot?

A: I am not a medical professional, so I don’t want to say anything your doctor hasn’t approved. That said, do what you can. If your foot is injured, this is a great chance to work on your core and your upper body and find modalities that are healthy for you, but if you can find ways to lift weights and do exercises like biceps curls and bench press, it’s a great way to stay moving while injured.

Q: Should I go to small college camps or big universities?

A: BOTH! I think a common misconception is that if you want to play college soccer, you should only look at big schools. I don’t think that could be further from the truth. In my process, I went to all different types, sizes, and levels of schools. Going to these camps helped me decide what I wanted and showed me what to look for in a school and a program. This was one of the best things I did for myself in my college process, and helped me to feel confident in my choices. 

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