By Aaron Cheng '16
SANTA CLARA, CALIF. - Santa Clara Broncos (SCB) spoke with junior defender Ali Jones (AJ) of the women's soccer team about staying focused during the season and using last year's NCAA Tournament success as motivation for the upcoming season.
SCB: How long have you been playing soccer? What about Santa Clara made you want to compete as a Bronco?
AJ: I have been playing soccer since I was six years old. My mom was my coach when I was really young, so I always loved going out and playing games with her and having her teach me fun new skills. When I first learned about Santa Clara, I thought it might be a little too close to home for me, but as soon as I met the team and the coaching staff I knew it was the right fit. I have never met a more fun and loving group of girls and I am lucky that I get to compete with them every day in practice and games.
SCB: Congratulations on making it all the way to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament last year! Does your team use that result as motivation and a goal to shoot for this year?
AJ: Making it to the Sweet 16 last year was an incredible experience. I think that our team is definitely motivated to get back there again this year. At the same time, we are very focused on our season going game-by-game, and are working to improve one step at a time. The tournament is something that we need to work towards every day, and is never a guarantee. We definitely use last year's success as motivation, but we also try not to look too far ahead and stay focused in the moment. Although ultimately, our goal is to make it to the tournament, we try to focus on our season one game at a time and take each day as it comes.
SCB: What are your personal goals for this season?
AJ: Personally, my biggest goal for the season is to step up as a leader and help the team in as many ways as I can. Whether it is on or off the field I want to have more of a presence and contribute to the team's success in as many ways as possible.
SCB: How does the beginning of conference play affect the mindset of you and the team?
AJ: It is important that we perform well in every conference game that we play, from the beginning to the end. Our team knows that every game we play in conference is going to be a grind, and we respect every team in our league. In the end, any team has a chance to come out with a win so we have to be very focused on each individual game.
SCB: Your team has a long season, what does the team do to stay relaxed and focused on the remaining games and avoid any burnout?
AJ: Our season is very long, but this year it is even longer than normal because for the first time, we stayed at school all summer to train. Around this time of year (mid-season) most of our bodies get very tired and worn down. Our strength coach, Daniel Hicker, does a great job working with each of us individually to evaluate how we are feeling physically, and make sure we are hitting the mark to keep up our strength and avoid fatigue.
Besides physical, one of the most important aspects of the game is mental, and at this point in the season it is very common that players get over-worked mentally. This is the time that we need to stay mentally strong as a team and individually. We have a lot of help from people on our staff. One of the best recourses offered to us are reflection nights, put on by Matt Smith who is a part of Campus Ministry. He is a huge supporter of our team and he holds a night of reflection for us where our team can escape from soccer and school and just talk about life. Other than this, our team is great at balancing our time between school, soccer and social, and I think that a healthy balance of the three helps us prevent burnout as well.
