Kicking Game: Sidelined Student-athlete Discovers New Dreams Off the Soccer Field

TITAN

Kicking Game

Sidelined student-athlete discovers new dreams off the soccer field

BY NATHAN LARICCIA | SPORTS INFORMATION DIRECTOR

This isn’t what she had dreamt of since she was only 4 years old. She had worked too hard for too long for it to come to this. It was preseason practice for the 2019 Westminster women’s soccer team. The Titans were preparing for the highly-anticipated season–a year following a heartbreaking loss to Grove City College in the previous year’s Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC) Championship game in penalty kicks and Westminster was so close to bringing the PAC Trophy back to New Wilmington. Forward Kaitlyn Jones was thrilled to be a part of this opportunity— an opportunity to be conference champs and advance to the NCAA Tournament. The PAC trophy, however, wasn’t the only thought on her mind. Kaitlyn, a native of Bradenton, Florida, transferred to Westminster the fall of her sophomore year from NAIA Webber International. She let go of an athletic scholarship for a new opportunity and a fresh start. Now, a junior, she was faced with a life-changing decision.

Earlier, in January 2019, Kaitlyn had felt an unfamiliar pain by her ribs as she was going through her standard workout routine. Something wasn’t right. Something felt off. Kaitlyn had a feeling the discomfort was coming from her heart, but wasn’t certain. Kaitlyn revealed these symptoms to the Westminster athletic training staff who advised her to get it checked out further. She talked to a cardiologist and had various tests run. Everything came back normal, except her stress test failed. After deliberation, the doctors officially gave Kaitlyn clearance to continue to play the sport she loves, but, cautioned her that the symptoms potentially could worsen if she decided to play again.

Back to the 2019 preseason practice. Kaitlyn was running through standard drills with her ultimatum looming inside. To play and try to help Westminster win the PAC Championship and risk worsening her heart condition. Or not play and do… well, she did not know what she would do without soccer. Soccer had been her life for 17 years. More than 75 percent of her existence. She even played for a semiprofessional team in Florida leading up to her first year in college to get stronger and faster and to tune-up her craft.

Practice that day was harder on her physically than it should have been. She couldn’t give it her all. That very night, she came to a life-changing realization. Kaitlyn made a decision.

“It was not even about me anymore, it was about the team,” Kaitlyn said in reflection. “As much as I would have loved to play, I was not at 100 percent and we were gunning to win a PAC Championship and go to the NCAA Tournament. It was a situation where it was bigger than myself. Is it fair of me to be out there not at my 100 percent, and probably not going to be able to get to 100 percent, if I did not want to push things knowing they could get worse?”

That was that. Her soccer playing career suddenly ended. Just a couple weeks after turning 21, her dreams of possibly playing in the NCAA Tournament or professionally overseas after graduation were quickly dashed.

“I knew there were going to be obstacles and stepping away from soccer was probably the biggest obstacle I have faced in my life. It was gut-wrenching,” Kaitlyn said. “It took some time to get over it. I saw a sports psychologist just to talk and to get perspective on what my next move was, because it was like the phrase ‘how to learn how to walk all over again.’ Soccer was a huge part of my life. I knew it did not define who I was, but it was what I was used to doing.”

But it wasn’t long before Kaitlyn learned that Westminster offered more than just an opportunity to play NCAA soccer.

“(Westminster has) given me a lot of opportunities in life. I already had tools coming into Westminster, but I really learned how to use them. Not only as an athlete, but as a business professional, studying sports management,” she said. “I have been given the opportunities to continue to network and grow my connections, but ultimately just become a better business professional and an allaround person in general.”

Kaitlyn recently landed a position with Barca Universal, a media outlet covering the top-level professional soccer (football) team FC Barcelona located in Spain. Even though the COVID-19 pandemic and its resulting restrictions changed her in-person internship plans (all four were canceled), Kaitlyn made the most of the opportunity and took the extra time to network and broaden her horizons for the next chapter of her life. She has discovered opportunities off the field that still involve the sport she cares deeply for.

“Having to overcome not playing soccer was the biggest challenge,” Kaitlyn said. “In life, you are always going to have obstacles that are going to be in your way from reaching your destination, and ultimately life is not about reaching a destination, it is about the journey. I have certainly been on a journey. I am excited to see where it takes me now.”

Kaitlyn’s new goal is to move to Spain following graduation. It turns out her dreams are just beginning and her Westminster journey has prepared her to achieve them. S