Justine Garcia: Varsity-level Soccer Player
-Junior at Monta Vista High School
-Varsity soccer player for Monta Vista and plays club soccer for FC Bay Area Surf in the Girls Academy League and ECNL RL League
How do you manage soccer, school, friends, family, etc.?
“It’s definitely a struggle because soccer takes up so much of my time and so does school. So what I do is I talk to my parents about which practices I’m going to that week. I also work on trying to get my homework done right away. When I get homework, I try to finish it. During tutorial and lunch, I spend my time doing it. It definitely is difficult managing all of them. I definitely feel, at times, that I’m neglecting my family or my friends when I go do this stuff. So, I work out a schedule for myself. It’s really important to have a planner and use your calendar a bunch.”
How do you deal with burnout?
“It’s difficult. I feel like at times it’s just really hard to continue soccer alongside school because I start to think ‘How will this benefit me in the future?’ and things like that. I kind of just watch the videos of me playing soccer because that’s really where I fall in love with soccer. For example, being able to score a goal or being able to play with your teammates and friends. You have to remember why you started. You first have to evaluate why you’re doing this. Is it because I enjoy doing it or am I doing this for someone else like my parents or my teammates? Once you got that covered and know you want to continue soccer, you should know why you like it and that can help reduce burnout. Being organized is important because if you’re not organized, the burnout really starts, especially when you start to get stressed out.”
How do you deal with stress during and before games/tournaments/showcases at the NPL level?
“I definitely get a lot of anxiety before playing. I feel like it’s also because we’re playing at a high level and you really want to do well. So yeah, I still struggle with this. I do get very nervous before games. It’s difficult because I still struggle with this and I feel like I have a hard time so what I do is that I set little goals for myself in the game. For example, break a line with my pass. I don’t want to create this giant goal that I don’t think I’ll be able to achieve. My first goal can’t be to score a goal immediately - it has to be something smaller like passing the ball to someone, breaking lines, or doing a move.”
Is there any parental pressure? How do you deal with it?
“I feel like when I was younger, there definitely was some parental pressure. We were playing at a young age and of course, my parents want us to be the best that we can be - me and my sister because we both play club soccer. Definitely, there was a bit of pressure in the beginning because we both wanted to do well and we both really wanted to make it to the high level because I wasn’t playing girls academy or NPL soccer in the beginning. I was playing at low levels like bronze and silver. But because they pushed us to be our best and to work harder, we were able to move up levels and get better at soccer. I feel like now, though, my parents have definitely eased off because soccer was bad for my mental health for quite a bit. They eased off and don’t want to pressure me or anything. They say that it’s okay to retire with it - you don’t have to continue if you don’t want to.”
What kind of environment does your club team have(intense and competitive VS supportive and positive)? Which one does your high school have? Which one do you thrive in and would you like to see any changes?
“It’s definitely more intense and competitive rather than super supportive. I think it’s also because a lot of my teammates are going D1. My teammate last week just committed to University of Arizona. It’s really competitive because everyone wants the team to do their best because it gets more college coaches to watch us and it’s just better overall for our club and team. But, with that, there’s a lot of competitive pressure to always be your best. At practice, I don’t like to slip up or anything. I need to be on it all the time. That can definitely be very difficult but I did find a couple of friends along the way. I think that’s very helpful - even having just one or two friends to talk to during the games makes all the difference. I feel like my high school team has a lot less pressure. I can joke around with my teammates and play the way I want. I get a lot more freedom when I play with my high school team because there's not as much pressure from college coaches, club coaches, and teammates. I can dribble the ball all the way, make all these passes, and play different positions - I can play midfield (I typically play winger or wide-back for my club team) and so it’s cool to be able to play different positions and try different stuff. I feel like it’s a lot more supportive, especially because that’s the environment that my teammates create. I definitely do feel like I thrive in a competitive environment. It does help me get better at soccer because I’m always pushing myself to be the best I can be - I’m always trying to be the best on the field. I feel like that’s definitely helpful. Of course, I’d like it to be more supportive - I want it to be more buddy-buddy but of course, there are things that stop that from happening because everyone has their own goals and dreams with soccer. They might want to take it in a different direction and it’s hard to make friends along the way, especially when you’re that focused. This is my first year doing high school soccer and it was definitely very enjoyable. I got to be creative and I liked that it was a bit of a break from the intense and high-pressure environment. Of course, I’d want it to be more competitive but at the same time, I do enjoy this relaxed and chill environment.”
Is mental health talked about on your team? Would you like to see it talked about?
“I don’t think mental health is talked about on teams. For competitive soccer, I definitely struggled a lot mentally. This is my spring season and it was hard for me to get back into it and go back into this high-pressure environment after doing high school soccer because it’s super different. So, I don’t think mental health is talked about enough. Because I was so stressed out, it definitely led to poor mental health for myself. I was dealing with a lot of anxiety and my physical health started to deteriorate so I had to stop a bunch of stuff. I had to not come to club soccer for a bit and I had to stop doing mock trial during this time because I was having a hard time. But yeah, I definitely feel like it’s very important to talk about mental health on both sides - club and school soccer. I feel like club soccer especially needs to talk about mental health. I know some of my friends are going through a lot of things mentally and they’re not going to practice because of it - it’s just one more stressful thing. You can see in competitive environments the toll not talking about mental health takes. Katie Meyer, for example, could have been avoided if we just talked about it more.”
What other external pressures affect soccer? ((1) peer pressure about college, school, and college soccer (2) social media - athletes feel a little bit of pressure when others post about what they are doing, posting just the good days and wins)
“It’s definitely stressful because, for the longest time, my plan was to play college soccer because a lot of my teammates are committing to colleges as I said before. Even the age group above us has all committed to D1 colleges like UCLA and Stanford. I feel like it’s difficult because all this time I’ve been expecting myself to play college soccer but when I got into my sophomore and junior years, I was unsure and started to doubt myself. So, I feel like it’s difficult for sure because if you play D1, it’s a large time commitment and I also really want to focus on school because that’s what’s super important to me. This means that I would have to commit to D3 schools where I can commit less time to soccer but I also start to wonder if I actually want to go and play at a D3 school. Definitely, before I did. I feel like it’s an ‘Oh my Gosh. What am I doing?’ or a ‘How could I not score yet’ type of thing. I did go through a scoring dry run where I couldn’t score a goal for some reason. So, I definitely think there’s some stress with that but it’s also more that I’m proud of that person to be able to reach that goal. That’s really impressive. Being able to do that and grind during the summer. I love that type of thing.”
Are you comfortable talking to teammates about mental health and pressure? What types of teammates help with your mental health/wellness: examples include “good work” and “nice shot”?
“I don’t know, I want to say ‘Yes, of course!’ but at the same time, it’s also really personal to me, especially when I was going through some stuff. I didn’t want to talk about it with anyone. I kind of internalized it. That’s why I don’t want to say ‘Yes, of course!’ but I do think it’s a conversation that needs to happen. I feel like it should not necessarily be me starting that conversation, even though I should be, but I feel like it’s really stressful to talk about it and what happened. Oh yeah, that helps for sure. When teammates say things like that, it makes me feel a lot better. I feel like ‘Oh, I really did it’ or when I make a mistake, they say ‘It’s Ok. Next one!’. It’s stressful when there’s a lot of yelling afterward. I feel like you also have to be your own biggest fan because recognition doesn’t come easily. I could score a bunch of goals and my team might not congratulate me or anything. That’s kind of just the environment because we’re all pushing each other to be our best and so you have to earn your teammates’ respect. I definitely think that when my teammates talk to me or compliment me, it makes me feel a lot better.”
Does your coach emphasize mental health and provide support for your mental health? Would you like to see changes?
“I feel like our coaches check on us if we’re not doing well - my coach talked to me and asked where I’ve been for the past month because I wasn’t there at soccer. He was telling me that it would be okay, which I thought was really supportive. They go out of their way to talk to you which I think is really helpful and supportive and it does show that they care about you as a person and as a player. They want to see you thrive. My team isn’t always super focused on winning. It’s focused on translating what we learned in practice into our games.”