Anna Kauffman '23 Recruiting Profile

I became interested in soccer at about 5 to 6 years old. My parents decided that it was time for me to play a sport, so they placed me in soccer. During my first years, I became great friends with my teammates and we would do combo plays where one of us would pass the ball to the other person who was across the field and this would end in us always splitting the defense and scoring. As time has passed I have learned that I can be a strong, tenacious person that doesn’t let herself get pushed around while playing soccer. At school, I’m a very relaxed, friendly, funny, and somewhat shy person. But when it comes to soccer, I’m a very aggressive, determined, and talkative person. I also adore my teammates more than anything in the world and I feel as though they should be a big part of my life. My academic goals for high school are to remain on the honor roll and pursue the subjects that I love. I take my education very seriously and look forward to continuing my studies in college. I have definitely had to overcome several challenges to get to the point in my life that I am at right now.  One particular challenge for soccer included a younger me struggling to kick the ball high and far. I was great at passing to feet and firmly on the ground, and I still am, but I could never get the ball high and far off the ground. So, I practiced soccer on weekends with my dad. Of course for goal kicks, I would need to kick the ball far, so I practiced several ways to step up to the ball and worked on planting my foot and many other factors. I struggled finding my perfect kicking strategy for a while, but I eventually was able to get one down. I still use it to this day, and it’s actually the same as how a football player would get ready to kick a football, but it works for me. Now I am able to kick the ball really far and get it to my wings or strikers. Of course, I still need to work more on my aiming for long balls, because I can slip up once in a while, but we can always improve on any skills. Some unique characteristics and skills I possess include being fairly fast. I’m able to have bursts of speed so if a striker on the other team has a breakaway, I can catch up and either kick the ball away from them, or I can delay them enough so that my teammates can get back to support me. I’m also fairly skilled with my footwork at times, but of course I pass to the outside most of the time so I don’t normally get to use it unless I have a breakaway or lots of open space. But, this helps me if I play a different position. I have played striker and center midfield, along with outside back, so I know how to play more than just one position. Overall, I look forward to advancing my skills in soccer and exploring my talents academically.