It has not yet hit senior midfielder Bryce Chan that this is her last year on the NYU women’s soccer team. She hopes to make it as far as possible this season, win more games and make it to the championship — but above all else, doing so means she would be able to spend more time playing the sport she loves with the friends she loves.
Chan credits the team and university for giving her a “realistic perspective” on life and hopes everyone can learn that “comparison is the thief of joy.” She says in a place like New York, where everyone is so driven, it can be difficult to stay true to yourself and follow your passions. Continuing to play soccer in college and developing deep connections with teammates has helped her solidify her own path.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
WSN: What is the team trying to add to its game this season?
Chan: We’re trying to add adaption. I mean, this is a brand new team, as it is every year, so it does take a while to get used to each other. So we’re adapting to different playing styles, adapting to stronger teams that we play and adapting our game to try to make it to the NCAA tournament again this year. Everyone wants to start — wants to go on the travel games — so we’re all making each other better. And yeah, the level plays super high because we drive each other to do our best.
WSN: What about personally?
Chan: I am just trying to enjoy the season as much as possible. Of course, we all have that innate competitive drive, want to make the tournament and want to do really well. We have three key values before every game that we reiterate — 100% positivity, 100% effort and 100% having fun. So, if I have all three of those things checked off by the end of the season, then I’m a happy girl.
WSN: This is Scott Waddell’s second year as head coach of the team. How has the switch been, especially halfway through your college career?
Chan: Scott used to be the assistant coach for NYU, so a lot of us have been coached by him in one way or another throughout our careers. The adaptation, honestly, has been pretty easy — he’s pushing us every practice, and it’s working. Last year we did so well getting to the round of 16, and this year we’re on track to do well again. He brings such an air of lightness and just makes sure that we are having fun. He created those three goals that we reiterate before every game, and we’ve honestly stuck to them. We’re really grateful for him. He’s a very tactical guy, and I love that we adapt to how other teams are playing, but still play our own game. He tailors our formation to the way the other team wants to attack and defends to the other team’s strengths. It has really made a positive difference.
WSN: Okay, to the fun stuff now: What are you listening to before a game?
Chan: We have a giant JBL speaker that has so many things wrong with it — it is possessed, basically. It turns on about 50 times during the game with no one touching it, but we love it.
We’ve always had a shared team playlist, and the team can add whatever songs they want. We’ve been listening to a lot of German club music — none of us speak German. It just really gets us going. We love a lot of EDM and a lot of girls like rap. We like, of course, pop songs, something that’ll get us dancing. We’re a very dancey team.
WSN: What do you like to do when you’re not in season, and have a little bit more free time?
Chan: All of us have talked about this, and we’re like, ‘Oh, we love in-season so much!’ It’s my favorite time of year, and it always will be. But in the spring, when we’re offseason, we forget that we have so much more free time — we’re students, too.
I love to go Citi Biking, as do a lot of us. We love to go kick the ball at Pier 40, regardless of practice or not. A lot of girls just like to play soccer in a really casual sense too.
I’m learning the guitar again, picking it back up, which is fun, and we do dinner party nights, little bake nights and restaurants. It’s all just fun — a good time.
WSN: What is your favorite memory with your team?
Chan: Off the field, my teammates are my best friends. In January, Kelli Keady extended an invite to Lake Tahoe if anyone wanted to go stay at her place over break. It was really nice to just be people who don’t play soccer together and honestly one of the best moments of my college life. A lot of us were abroad the fall before so being able to connect as friends — and not only as teammates — was a really cool experience.
Contact Sidney Snider at [email protected].
