Hello, my name is Lindsay Edmonson, and I am a 2025 winger and striker. I currently play for New England Surf State Navy G2007, coached by Tim Mason. I started playing - and loving - soccer at about three years of age in Albany, New York. I had some natural talent, so I progressed quickly from recreational town teams to competitive town travel teams (including an all-boys team when a girls team was not available) to club competitive teams after that. Unfortunately, my first club experience was not overall positive, so my joy in playing soccer diminished, and I felt close to giving it up altogether. However, I decided to give a different organization and coach a try, and was very glad that I did. At my new club, I not only improved my soccer skills in general, but I also regained my love for this great sport.
I was selected for a regional team early on with my new club, and have remained teammates with many members of that team ever since, traveling over an hour for practices multiple times per week. I definitely feel that this has been worth the effort, in order to train and play in a technically challenging environment with coaches and teammates who have encouraged me to grow as both a player and a teammate, and I am extremely grateful to my parents for making this possible. In 2020, I made the national team that was supposed to play in the Gothia Cup in Sweden, but COVID-19 hit, and they unfortunately canceled the trip. My club unexpectedly disbanded at that time as well, but my team, thankfully, stayed together. For each of the following three years, I was selected and played for the Surf Select National teams, and in the summer of 2023, we played in Supercup NI, placing second in the Girls’ Premiere Bracket. Additionally, I have recently been selected for the 2024 Girls‘ 2007 team, and invited to play in the Crossfire Showcase in Redmond, WA in July of this year.
Soccer has taught me many valuable life skills, including problem-solving, leadership, and resilience. I have had to problem-solve in order to manage my time efficiently and productively in the setting of many school and soccer responsibilities, and to pursue what makes me happy in addition, including learning about biology and genetics. In 2022 I began shadowing genetic counselors at Brown University, and I will soon be starting a research project with them and some physicians in the Gynecologic Oncology Division at Women & Infants Hospital very soon. I have also learned to be a leader, both on the field and off, and have become more comfortable speaking to larger groups of people (as the president of the Baking Club at my high school and as a member of student council, for instance). Finally, soccer has taught me to be resilient, in terms of dealing with unexpected disappointments and challenges as well as standing up for what I believe in. I feel and speak very strongly about standing up against societal standards for what girls should look like, and instead emphasizing that it only matters that the things you do make you happy, like soccer makes me happy.