Olivia Nielsen has played soccer for 12 years, she originally got into soccer and then decided to quit and focus on volleyball. She has faced many challenges deciding which sports she wants to be in. She has always held onto soccer.

To get ready for games the soccer team all gets ready in the locker room. They play music and spend time together before the game.

‘We all bark when we walk outside,” said Nielsen. They do this to scare the other team and to get hyped.

Olivia is also one of the captions on the team. Besides her commitment to soccer she also participates in Hockey. She spends her free time with her friends outside of school.

“I hangout with my friends, I like to get food and go shopping,” she says.

When deciding to rejoin soccer after 2 years off. Olivia says that the people helped encourage her to join. The soccer team was really happy for her when she decided to rejoin.

“They were excited I was playing with them again and I was excited too” she said.

She didn’t play soccer during freshman or sophomore year and she rejoined because she missed the community and she wasn’t enjoying volleyball like she used to. 

 “I didn’t play sports during the off season” Said Nielsen about soccer “I kind of had to just jump into it”

When Olivia decided she wanted to join soccer again she was nervous about her skill level and about joining a new team.

“It was stressful at first because i was a little rusty and I wasn’t as good at first “

Her worries about her new team quickly vanished because they were all very accepting.

“Me and Paityn Pendergrass go way back,” said Nielsen about co-captain Paityn Pendergrass.

Nielsen says that a lot of her friends really helped her with rejoining.

“Me and my friends from other schools go way back” Says Nielsen about the encouragement from her friends who she used to play soccer with.

When Nielsen was in volleyball she felt less included. She didn’t feel like she was an important part of the team because she didn’t think she was as good.

“I felt really down on myself and like I was letting my team down,” She said. 

Olivia doesn’t regret her choice in deciding to rejoin, even though it was hard and stressful for her she knew she could be an important part of the team. She had to take time to improve her skills and get back to the skill level she was at previously.

“I had to get back into it and push myself harder”