The art of the crossover

I grew up in Denville, New Jersey, and played a lot of sports as a kid. Whatever my sister did, I followed along with her. Sorry, Isabel, but I think I was the more athletic child.

I hated soccer at first, but my mom kept me in, and I’m glad she did. Generally, I was usually a forward, the one scoring goals, and I think the feeling after scoring is what kept me in it.

As I grew up, I became a five-year captain on my club team. Stepping into that role felt natural, especially because of how close we were as a group. Any girl that’s played ECNL soccer, club soccer — you understand the bond you have with your team. It’s a kind of trust that lets you be honest, direct, and fully yourself.

I kept playing a lot of sports in high school, but I played soccer the longest and most consistently. Once gain confidence, knowledge, and comfort in something, it naturally becomes something you love.

I committed to Richmond because it was the best opportunity for me academically. I’ve had a passion for business since I was young, and we have a great business school. It wasn’t too far from home, but it was far enough. It seemed like the perfect fit.

Even in middle school, I wanted to be a business person. I started my own YouTube channel and stayed very entrepreneurial in high school. When I was getting recruited by college programs, I created my own highlight video and thought, “Wow, there’s a need for this.” So I started my business Goal Side Media, which helps elite playmakers take the next step in their college recruitment and professional scouting opportunities.

I’m also passionate about social media. I have over 135,000 followers across social channels and more than 300 million views, which is really cool. After graduation, I hope to move to New York City to do something in marketing. I currently have a full-time remote position as a marketing manager that I juggle with academics and soccer.

When Richmond’s athletics department asked me about trying out different sports for this story, I said yes immediately. I’m a huge sports fan, and I wanted to feel what it’s like to be fully immersed and actually play different ones. 

After posting more and more on social media, I’ve gotten past the looking stupid part. I’m totally OK with it, and I’m excited for all of it.

I feel confident going in because I played in middle school and early high school. I’ve always liked the game, and my personality fits naturally with basketball culture.

My first coach is Annika Manthy, one of the players. Early on, she asks me, “Do you know what a hook shot is?” I do, but I say, “Teach me anyway.” She walks me through the technique, keeping one arm away from the defender and flicking the wrist to follow through. I make two of my eight attempts. “The effort was 1,000% there,” she tells me.

We move on to reverse layups. After I miss one, Skylah Travis — another 6-foot-plus forward — shows me the motion. I dribble in, go under the basket, and finish with my right hand.

We also do free throws (I’m not so great) and up-and-unders (I nail a good one). About halfway through the session, we start heaving up half-court shots. My first attempt comes up just short. Skylah steps up after me and drains hers. Even Annika’s impressed.

Guard Alicia Newell shows me a two-handed dribbling drill. Shooting was never my thing, but my dribbling skills aren’t too bad. If I was playing a real game, I’d be more of a point guard than a shooting guard.

Then Alicia and I play one-v-one. She scores twice on a layup and then a three-pointer. I get the next three, but I know she’s taking it easy.

My biggest takeaway is a reminder that basketball is genuinely fun. As I move into my post-Division I life, a rec league might be in my future. This is helping me figure out what I want to do to stay in shape after soccer is over.

Every time I get an email to try a new sport, it’s the best email that day. I’m nervous but genuinely excited about football. Compared to soccer, football culture is much louder. Sometimes we practice next to football, and it sounds like they’re barking. It’s cool to experience how different team cultures feel across campus.

Though I’ve never played football before, I’m athletic, so I hope that will transition over. When they hand me the helmet, though, I immediately think, “I don’t know how I’m going to be able to see through this thing.”

Watching the players go through the lines and catch the ball is very satisfying. Their catches sound better than mine, partly because of the sticky gloves and partly because their hands are about three times the size of mine.

After some reps, I figure out the mechanics of how to grab the ball out in front and hold it. I think I would do better without the helmet. I truly have no idea where I am on the field half the time.

Then we move to field goals. Kicking is fun and obviously the most applicable to soccer. The first one goes straight down the middle. It looks perfect, and I surprise myself a little. Once I get a little bit farther back, the wind picks up, and I can’t figure out how much power to put on it. I’d do better if I knew exactly where to strike the ball, whether that’s lower or straight through the middle.

Jerry Taylor, the wide receivers coach, is fun to be around. He gives clear, constructive feedback to both me and the players training with me. And it’s fun to be separated into positional groups and get one-on-one experience with a coach. Sometimes at my practices, we split into offense and defense, but it’s not as rigid as it is in football.  On our team, all the players need to know how to defend and how to go score.

My takeaways: Football is very position-based, and it’s as hard as it looks. Also, I’d love to learn how to tackle. Maybe that’s my next step.

I’ll be honest: My dad played baseball in high school, and I always make fun of him. I’m like, “You don’t need to do much to play baseball. You don’t need to be able to run. You just throw the ball, catch it, stand still, and hit.” But no. After practice, I’m really sore. I clearly haven’t used these muscles in years.

We start with a simple warm-up of stretch jogs, sprints, and throwing, and then we go into a catcher’s drill. Putting on all the gear is crazy. I genuinely don’t understand how catchers do it every inning—and it’s a lot to move around in.

I take some underhand pitches, learning to block the ball with my chest, bring it down, and then pop up to throw it. It is a lot of fun, especially trying to throw from my knees back to the pitcher.

Then we go into the batting cages. I think we ended up at 90 mph. Sometimes I whiff, but I also get contact and hit some balls into fair play. Then we do curveballs. You think it’s going wide? No, it’s coming at you. I usually have no idea where the ball will end up. I just try to time my swing correctly. I focus more on timing than aiming — but if I hit it, that’s great.

Training in baseball is so focused on mechanics. In soccer, shooting drills aren’t about isolating mechanics; they’re high-intensity and high-pace. Baseball is very much focused on mechanics. Team culture and practice schedule must be really different, too. With soccer, you can do an individual training session, but nothing compares to doing possessional games with the whole team there. With baseball, they can all go in individually or positionally and do a whole session themselves. Yes, it’s a team sport, but it’s also very individualized.

I have a lot of fun overall, and I think I did better at baseball than football. After doing all of this, I keep thinking,  “Dang, maybe I should have tried more sports.”

Going in, I’m a bit nervous. I had friends in high school who played field hockey, but it was never something I wanted to play. I’ve always thought it’s a bit of an odd sport. Maybe it’s because you have to wear skirts to play, which has never really been my thing.

At the start, two freshman players, Caroline Simmons and Olivia Eusanio, show me how to hold the stick. You can only hit the ball with one side, which immediately raises the difficulty.

We do some dribbling, and even moving the ball side to side is surprisingly difficult. I am really out of my realm, just trying not to lose the ball. Then we move on to passing. I’m not great at first, once I get used to the motion, things start to click. They give me a 7 out of 10 for a beginner. That alone feels like a small win.

Then we start shooting. I’m a soccer forward. This should translate, right? But I can’t hit the ball. I’m whiffing, over and over. It’s unexpectedly frustrating — and a little humbling. I am stumped by field hockey and definitely have a newfound respect for it.

People said that field hockey would be like soccer, but after but after trying it, I don’t think many of my soccer skills carry over at all. My overall takeaways? Harder than I thought, still a little odd — and the freshman field hockey players are very nice.

1. Every sport is always harder than it looks. If you don’t play a sport, it’s very easy to talk smack when you watch it. I gained a lot of respect for athletes in other programs.

2. Conditioning translates across sports, but skills don’t. Being fit and having coordination from playing soccer is great, but sport-specific muscle memory humbles you very fast.

3. Everyone thinks their sport is the hardest, and they’re all right. They’re all hard, just in different ways — which is cool.

4. Spider athletes and coaches are competitive, communicative, and uplifting. When I was on the field, everyone just wanted me to succeed at their sports. They’d say, “Yeah, you weren’t the best at that one. Let’s try it again.” Seeing the respect that players had for their coaches and the camaraderie between the players was great, too.

After this, I can definitely say I appreciate soccer more. This experience reminded me why I ended up choosing soccer. I’m best at that one.

It’s going to be a lot more fun to watch games in these other sports now that I’ve tried them. I think now I’ll notice things that I haven’t seen before.