by Anna Kennedy '12 (Evanston, IL)
So many people warned me that college was going to fly by… I didn’t believe them until now. Here I am preparing for my last ever season of collegiate soccer. It is crazy. But I’ll tell you this much- it helps when those days come around and you feel like rolling back over and not going to your morning workout, you pop RIGHT up. Knowing the end is so close… I’m not going out without putting my all in.
This summer has been a catch-up and getting myself back to the old, dare I say pre-cancer, Kennedy. I am not working at a job; I took classes to replace my dropped classes from last year so I can graduate on time (why I want to enter the real world I do not know…), and I am preparing for the upcoming amazing soccer season Case Women’s soccer has coming up. The great part about this summer is I am finding it’s not me getting back to where I was pre-“the big C”, it’s me becoming a new and better athlete, student, and person in general.
I have been SO fortunate to have the opportunity to train in a way I haven’t ever in my summers going into season before. For the past two and a half months I have been training with Northwestern University’s Goalkeeper Coach, Bayard Elfvin and two Division I goalkeepers. I couldn’t have asked for a better group to be involved with. From the great coaching and training from Bayard to the intense and focused atmosphere from the two D1 (DePaul and Valparaiso) girls, twice a week my body AND GKing mind got a great workout. For goalkeeping, running, lifting, sprint workouts, all of that will not come CLOSE to preparing you for season. Training for 2 hours twice a week with focusing on just our position is something all three of us were so grateful for. To put it in perspective of how good this training was, the Valparaiso keeper drover 1.5 hours one-way to come… It has really helped, and hopefully will show come season!
This summer has been great preparation for what is to come August 19th. I cannot wait, and all the girls I have talked to this summer can say the same, this season is about to be something special.
