SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News)– In the world of college athletics, club sports tend to be overlooked. High Schools don’t advertise clubs as an option to student-athletes, but for some, like senior Julia DeSanto, it is the perfect opportunity to have a typical college experience without parting from athletics.
DeSanto says, “It’s such a good opportunity for kids to not have the sport that they love so much essentially ruined for them by how much of a commitment that it is on the varsity level because I feel like I’ve heard that story many times… I wish I knew more about it when I was graduating high school so I didn’t have to freak out and think ‘oh my god I might never play soccer again.’”
Julia DeSanto is a senior player and captain for the Syracuse University Women’s Club Soccer Team. DeSanto played soccer her entire life and knew she wanted to keep with it as long as she could. Coming from a small town, she didn’t feel she had the proper recruiting opportunities and accepted her fate to not play on the varsity-level.
“I think everything happens for a reason like if I came into college just playing soccer at the varsity level, I would’ve not gotten to explore who I am off the field as much as I did being able to do club and I value that at this age so much more.”
DeSanto tried out for the club team her sophomore year and never looked back. She says this experience has shaped her time at Syracuse University. While club soccer allowed her to play for four more years, it also made a big campus feel more like home.
“It’s given me a place of people that are just like me, and on and off the field I get to spend so much time with them and really create friendships that wouldn’t be in my typical social circle to be honest… like sororities are so big, this school is so big, but to have a team of twenty-two girls, you’re like a family at that point.”
DeSanto shared that the level of commitment demanded by varsity level sports is known to be overwhelming. She finds her club team to be the perfect amount of competition and time to participate in other activities while getting to keep that competitive side of her alive.
“When we need to win games and all want to channel that inner competitiveness, it’s really easy because it’s such a high-quality group of players, when we wanna go to practice and laugh around on a Monday night after we’re really tired, you can have that too.”
The Women’s Club Soccer Team qualified for regionals and competed this weekend in a series of games at Stony Brook University. They lost in the finals against Boston College.
