Image courtesy of Cintia Freitas, GBC Huskies

Haley Tice had no designs on being a varsity athlete this school year. But almost two months after showing up to a lone tryout, the sports and events marketing student laced up the boots for the Huskies women’s soccer team’s first-ever quarterfinal match. And though Tice and her teammates lost that game – a 1-0 defeat to the Fanshawe Falcons – the varsity season as a whole was full of surprises.

Tice’s spot on the team was gained in an unorthodox manner. She first heard of the Huskies soccer team when searching through the college’s website to see whether the gyms were open. Instead, she stumbled upon a posting for drop-in tryouts for the women’s soccer team.

While she grew up playing the sport, Tice hadn’t played on a soccer team since her grade eleven year of high school. During her undergraduate years at Western University, however, she was on the women’s flag football team and was active in intramurals. When she came across the tryout posting, she decided that it would be worth a try.

“In my mind, I thought I might as well go to the first tryout and see how it goes,” she said. “I missed playing in a group sport. I really enjoyed doing it at university and loved doing it growing up.”

The first tryout, held on August 30, was one of six tryout dates. She noticed that there was a significantly low number of women trying out.

Although the tryout went very well for Tice and she loved the team, she had concerns regarding the commitment and travel that it required.

“I didn’t have a car and the time commitment was a lot. The practices were in North York and Etobicoke. So, at the time I decided it was not going to work for me, because I was in school and was going to be working two jobs as well,” she said.

Following this decision, Tice didn’t participate in the additional five tryouts. After a few weeks went by, she received a congratulatory email saying she had made the team. Confused, she ended up getting a phone call from her coach Leslie Fitzpatrick – who she refers to as ‘Tiger’. Fitzpatrick explained that they were short on players and thought that she would be a good fit for the team.

After a 45-minute phone call, where she was also offered a scholarship, she had a change of heart.

“I went into the phone call saying I’m not doing soccer anymore and I left as a George Brown Husky,” she said.

Tice explained the situation as “the stars aligning,” admitting that if she had received that phone call just a few days earlier, she wouldn’t have been able to accept due to a job commitment that ended up falling through.

“I’m so happy I got that call because the girls on the team are amazing. I love playing soccer and it’s just so much fun. It’s been a great outlet to get outside with a purpose,” she said.

While being a full-time student and having no vehicle access were initial concerns that Tice had regarding joining the team, she has since found that her teammates always ensure that everyone has a way to and from events. In terms of juggling the responsibilities of being a student athlete, her approach is to remain productive.

“By doing the sport, even though it takes up a lot of your time, it makes you not be distracted as easily, and you don’t have the option to procrastinate. My life is busy, but it makes me way more disciplined,” said Tice.

Tice maintains a positive outlook on her team despite their season being met with difficulty in light of the pandemic. The new vaccine requirements have complicated their travels to away games since each stadium has different rules.

“It definitely has impacted the team,” she said. “In some changerooms, we’ve had to split up the team so that half was in one changeroom and the other half was in another, just because of the stadiums regulations.”

Apart from the game, team bonding experiences have also been limited this season.

“There was a lot more team activities on campus [before the pandemic] that we really haven’t been able to do, like going to the gym all together,” Tice said.

Despite the unfortunate reality of having to make accommodations, the team continued to make the best of it.

Tice, who played mostly center-mid this season, demonstrated an incredible effort at the quarterfinal against Fanshawe College on Saturday and is proud to be among a team that will go down in Husky history.