Charlotte R. (’23) is a Rashi Grade 7 student and athlete. Read below for an interview with her about Rashi soccer.
How long have you been playing soccer?
I’ve been playing soccer for 9 years. I started playing on my town team in first grade.
What do you like most about soccer at Rashi?
I really like that I can play soccer with all of my friends, when I play town soccer I don’t get to play with my friends. I love that it’s a Middle School team so I get to play with people in the 6th and 8th grade [in addition to those in 7th grade].
I’ve played on the Rashi team since 5th grade. In 5th grade I got to play with some people who were older than me, I got to play with the Middle School team sometimes.
What position do you play?
I play mainly goalie but not for the whole game. When I’m not playing goalie, I usually play center forward or center mid. I like playing half, half the game as goalie. I’ve been playing goalie since 2nd grade, that’s when we were allowed to start playing goalie!
What do you like about playing goal?
I like that I can…it’s different than the other positions. I can use my hands, I like punting, I can get it pretty far. I learned how to do that in 2nd grade. In Kindergarten and first grade we used the little goals.
Do you play other sports at Rashi?
Yeah. At Rashi I play basketball. I play point guard, for my town [basketball] team I play everything.
Do your seasons overlap?
Next week I start basketball. I have two weeks that overlap.
How do you manage town sports and Rashi sports and overlapping seasons?!
I don’t know! I’m usually very tired in the morning, by the middle of the day I’m ok. I have practices after school. I have soccer 5 days a week, one in school and three after school, and every day for town, and two practices every Monday. I have a Rashi practice every Monday, I go home and eat and go to town practice.
So I don’t have soccer after school on Thursday, but I have it in school. We have it as an elective as a whole grade.
Elective?
The fitness elective. We have it once a week on Thursday. Everyone who plays soccer in our grade–the boys team and the girls team together. We usually do scrimmage or drills. The only time we wouldn’t do it is if it’s pouring rain.
On Sundays I volunteer at my brother’s soccer. That’s the only day I don’t have practice usually.
What has soccer taught you?
It’s taught me a lot about teamwork, because soccer is a team sport. I’ve learned a lot about being able to play as a team, not being selfish. Being selfish in soccer is not going to get you anywhere. You need to pass the ball and communicate. As a goalie you need to communicate a lot, especially with the defense. I do a lot of calling the ball if it’s at the top of the box and I can run and grab it. But if you don’t communicate–especially as goalie it won’t end well.
What is one way what you learned in soccer has translated to the classroom?
Group work. If you’re not working well with your group, it’s going to be difficult. But with soccer, since I’ve been on a team–I’ve learned how to work well with a group, I’ve gotten a lot better at it.
On making friends through soccer, and what surprised her
I wasn’t expecting to make so many new friends! Because I knew everyone in my grade. I made friends in other grades. I’m also surprised how well we did this season. Our team is better this year than we have been the past few years.
Especially at Rashi, I love playing and I love that I can play with my friends!