Karla Schueler '19 Recruiting Profile

I started playing soccer when I was barely 6 years old. At the beginning, I only went because my best friend at the time played in AYSO - so I went, too. After a while, my dad became the coach, and I learned the game and developed a passion for it. My family is from Germany, so it is maybe natural that soccer runs in my veins. After 2 years I noticed: I really love this, and I wanted more, wanted to get better. So, I made the switch to play travel soccer, and joined the Eclipse Select Soccer Club in Oak Brook at U8 level.

I had a fantastic time, enjoyed the camaraderie as much as the game. We had lots of success, also several setbacks - but what ever happend, the team always stuck together. We played in hail, storms so strong it blew over porta potties, we played a legendary state cup game in snow that blew sideways. After all, this is Chicago winter, right?

Over the years, I got better and learned a lot; but eventually, I felt there was a wall. When I was playing at the U14 level, there was not the progress I was looking for. I felt that I needed to make a change. Yes, we had pretty good success. We played in the MRL Premier 1 division, managed to stay in the division. In this environment I ran the risk of losing the love for the game, so I had to make a change, otherwise I would not be able to achieve my goal of becoming a student athlete at the collegiate level.

During the fall of 2014, I met this great coach Jorge Noval, and joined his academy. He re-ignited that fire in me, that I was afraid would go out. He put me and a few other girls on a team he entered in the Platinum division in the boys league of NISL. It was a weird feeling at first, a little bit scary - how would it be to play against boys? Did we even stand a chance? The short answer is, yes. We were clearly outside of our comfort zone at first. But we finished the season with a 3-1-3 record, and in face of this challenge, this random group of talented girls had become a team. 

In the spring of 2015, Coach Jorge Noval offered me a spot on his newly created Elite travel team, and I was excited to accept. Then, after a difficult time of almost one full season, I was ready to start something new and exciting. Happy to be part of a start-up group of players, led by a great coach, who have something in commong: the love for game, played with great teammates and friends, and the desire to compete at the highest level.

What have I learned from this past year? When circumstances change, we have to be ready to make changes, too. If we are truly passionate about it, and outside factors take away from our passion, we have to move on, and find or even create that environment where we can thrive. Soccer isn't everything, but it is too important to let anything or anyone take this away from me.