You’ve heard the stories about the Glendale players who go to Mizzou and have had fun and success competing with the Club team, reaching Nationals the past two years. Well, Club soccer is an equal opportunity gig as well and another Glendale player recently competed at Nationals. Rebecca “Becca” Robinson, Glendale 2005, spent Thanksgiving competing with her Truman State Bulldog classmates. She was kind enough to offer the following update on her experiences!

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Sorry it has taken me forever to get this to you. Nationals did not turn out as I wanted them to, but I expected that. It was my team and I’s first time to go, and I knew that the competition was going to be incredibly fierce. We played Illinois-Champagne, Villanova out of Pennsylvania, and Alabama. We lost two of the games, and tied Alabama.

Being a very competitive person, I was not happy about the results, but I did see the bigger picture in that I was lucky to experience such a tournament. We were the smallest school present in the entire tournament, but that really didn’t matter. Most people really have no idea the level of competition in club sports. People tend to look at a club and think that it must be easy because it is not a varsity sport.

Sure, the time commitment is drastically different, but the level of competition is very similar. Honestly, some of the teams that I saw play in this tournament could very easily beat some of these varsity teams.

I really do not have a reason as to why I decided to play club soccer. I had gotten cut from the varsity team, and thought my career in soccer was over for good. I actually went to the activities fair one day to check out some of the other organizations I could possibly become involved in to discover the club soccer team. Of course, I had to try out, but I thought, “Why not?”

I am very glad to this day that I did that. The time commitment is just right for me. It was a win-win situation: I got to play the sport I loved, and had enough time to focus on my studies as well. I get to play soccer with a fun group of girls that have become my friends outside the sport as well. Most of all, it is fun to be on the field and play. There is that competition there, but it’s not as serious as some of these varsity teams are.

Cost to play on the team is $50 for the whole entire year. It is very easy to play and be able to afford it as well. Another perk to playing on a club team is I get to travel to all these big schools and compare what they’re like to Truman. This experience has been a wonderful one, and I plan on playing my senior year, and taking them to the tournament again next year. Look for us again next year!
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This one is classified under Recruiting as well as Represent, offering another view on the post-High School opportunities available for the soccer community.