Our Interns Thoughts on Soccer



Alyssa Askew played soccer for Weber State for two seasons. She was then known as Alyssa Toomey. Now, she's the Big Sky Media Relations Intern.

 Hey everyone! My name is Alyssa Askew and I’m the new media relations intern for the Big Sky Conference. I recently graduated from Weber State University with a Bachelor’s degree in communication. While going to college, I also played soccer for the University of Utah for two years and at Weber State for the last two years of my eligibility.
Which brings me to what I’m going to talk about in this blog. What is it like to be a student-athlete during the season? What should soccer teams look like at this point in the season? What are the feelings of the players on a team that isn’t winning?

Being a student-athlete is really like having a full-time job. If you’re not in class or at study hall, you’re on the field or in the weight room training for upcoming matches. On weekends when you have to travel, it makes school that much more difficult. When games are played on Friday, teams usually travel on Thursday so they have time to let the jet lag wear off before the game. After the game, it’s time to go to another location to play the second game of the weekend. Sometimes it’s close enough that teams can just bus from place to place but, more often than not, another plane ride awaits. While on the road, it’s the same story as when you’re home. If you’re not studying or doing homework, you’re training for or playing in your game. After the Sunday game, it’s time to take the trip back home. Most of the time this means getting back home between midnight and 1 a.m. And let me be the first one to say, it’s almost impossible to get up for the first class on Monday mornings. Once you get used to being home, you do it all over again the next weekend. It’s hard to keep up with what is going on in class. But if you stay in close contact with your professors and let them know exactly when you’ll be gone, it’s a lot easier to stay caught up in all of your classes.

At this point in the season (almost five weeks in), teams should now be used to all of the new freshman on their squad. Teams should also be used to playing without seniors that they lost from the previous season. Players should be fit enough to last an entire match, even an overtime match. At this point in the season, teams should have worked out all of the kinks. Really, the only thing that could possibly change how a team plays from this point on would be injuries.

For teams that aren’t winning, it’s tough to stay positive. It’s hard not get mad at other players on your team for every mistake they make. Things seem like they aren’t going your way no matter how hard you try or how hard you work at it. But don’t worry, there is a bright side. The only thing that matters for Big Sky soccer teams are conference matches. In order to get to the NCAA tournament, a team must win the Big Sky Championship. So for these teams that are having a rough preseason, the trick is to put those games behind you and start training and focusing on the conference matches (which start Sept. 30). This doesn’t mean giving up in the rest of the preseason games, it just simply means don’t worry about the results of the preseason games. Look at them as a way for your team to get better while playing against some quality opponents.

Alyssa Askew – Big Sky Conference