Sophomore Connor Grant: I’m Connor Grant, and this is Athletes of West, where we let athletes share their story, and today we’ll be talking to junior Kate Hardy about her soccer journey.

Grant: All right, who am I here with today? 

Junior Kate Hardy: Kate Hardy.

Grant: All right and what grade are you in? 

Hardy: I’m a junior.  

Grant: All right and word on the street is that you’re D1? 

Hardy: I am. 

Grant: Where are you committed to? 

Hardy: I’m going to Murray State.

Grant: Dang, okay. 

Grant: What are the stats looking like for this season? 

Hardy: So far, I have two goals and one assist. (0:40) 

Grant: All right. How many games have you played? 

Hardy: Two. 

Grant: Okay, okay. Now, do you remember your stats last year? 

Hardy: I think I had about seven goals. I don’t know how many assists, though. 

Grant: All right and how long have you been playing soccer for? 

Hardy: I’ve been playing soccer since I was three, so 13 years. 

Grant: Dang, 13 years.

Grant: And out of all the sports, what made you want to play soccer?

Hardy: I guess, just, I was raised playing soccer because my dad was a soccer player growing up and then all my siblings also played.

Grant: Out of all those years, what has been your best season, like best record? 

Hardy: Best record? I would say a couple years ago on my club team, we lost just one game the whole season till playoffs when we got out. 

Grant: That’s pretty good.

Hardy: Yeah. 

Grant: And has soccer helped build friendships or anything like that? 

Hardy: Yeah, for sure. 

Hardy: Especially during high school season, I’ve made a bunch of really close friendships.

Grant: All right, and say it’s game day, right? What’s the pregame music? 

Hardy: Pregame music? 

Grant: Like you’re on the bus, you’re headed to Parkway South to go play a game, right? What’s the pregame music? 

Hardy: Lots of Eminem. 

Grant: Eminem? 

Hardy: Yeah. 

Grant: Like what song? What’s your favorite song? 

Hardy: Either “Lose Yourself” or “Till I Collapse”

Grant: Dang, that’s actually pretty valid. All right, now let’s say you’re on the field, right? You’re walking on the field to start the game. What’s the mindset? 

Hardy: The mindset is just to work hard, even if my touches are off, and just give it my all. 

Grant: Now, what’s your favorite soccer move? I don’t know that much about soccer, but I just know you can rainbow.  Like, what’s your favorite move? Like, you’re one-on-one. What are you busting out of the bag? 

Hardy: I like the lunge.  Fake one way and then go the other. (2:51) 

Hardy: Simple but effective.

Grant: Does it work every time? 

Hardy: Not every time, but a good amount. 

Grant: Dang, okay, okay.  Now, say, right, you guys had just won the game. How’s the celebration looking? 

Hardy: I don’t really have a good celebration. Just go up to my teammates, I guess. 

Grant: What? 

Hardy: I know I need to work on that. 

Grant: You gotta get a good celebration. 

Grant: All right, now say you guys have won the game. How are you and your teammates all celebrating post-game? 

Hardy: We’re gonna go get ice cream. 

Grant: Ice cream where? 

Hardy: Probably like Dairy Queen or Culver’s. 

Grant: Okay, that’s pretty valid

Grant: Who’s your favorite soccer player? 

Grant: Say you’re watching soccer, who are you trying to see? 

Hardy: I actually don’t watch a ton of soccer, besides like college. 

Hardy: But, I don’t know. 

Hardy: I like watching MLS, so Messi on Inter-Miami.

Grant: Messi? 

Hardy: Yeah. 

Grant: What about Ronaldo? 

Hardy: No, Messi’s better. 

Grant: Messi’s better than Ronaldo? 

Hardy: Yeah.

Grant: Dang, okay. 

Grant: Now, say you didn’t have to play soccer, what sport would you play? 

Hardy: Well, I did play basketball, and then I quit this year.

Grant: Oh, for real? 

Grant: Why’d you quit? 

Hardy: It wasn’t my favorite anymore.

Hardy: I wanted to focus more on soccer. 

Hardy: But, I always wish I played volleyball. 

Hardy: Like, that’d be a good sport.

Grant: You got one more year to play volleyball next year. 

Grant: Why didn’t you play volleyball? 

Hardy: My mom told me I wouldn’t be good. 

Grant: Dang, for real? 

Hardy: Yeah.

Grant: That’s kind of mean, right? 

Hardy: I know. 

Hardy: I think I could have made the team, though. 

Grant: You get to show her what’s up.

Hardy: Yeah, exactly. 

Grant: Now, does soccer, like, interfere with academics or not? 

Hardy: It does sometimes. 

Hardy: Like, I don’t have time for homework, but I feel like I’m pretty good at time management.

Grant: Okay, okay. 

Hardy: I try my best.

Grant: Now, like, what do you do in your free time aside from soccer? 

Hardy: In free time? 

Hardy: I like to hang out with friends and family. 

Grant: Friends and family? 

Hardy: Mm-hmm. 

Grant: Do you ever just be running up some, just some fun soccer games at, like, you know, Lou Fuse or just random fields? 

Hardy: Sometimes I’ll come up to West and play soccer with some teammates.

Grant: For real?

Grant: Do you be cooking em? 

Grant: Where are you going? 

Hardy: I feel like going to North Carolina would be cool. 

Hardy: Plus, they’re really good at soccer, so.

Grant: Why North Carolina, so they’re good at soccer. 

Grant: But what else? 

Hardy: I don’t know. 

Hardy: I feel like the campus is just really cool.

Hardy: And I like the colors. 

Grant: That’s actually pretty valid. 

Grant: I like the colors.

Grant: And their unis are tough. 

Hardy: Yeah, for sure.

Grant: Now, what made you choose Murray State? 

Hardy: Well, my sister actually plays there right now. 

Grant: Oh, for real? 

Hardy: Yeah.

Grant: Y’all going to be running it up on the same team? 

Hardy: She’ll be graduating. 

Grant: Dang. 

Hardy: But I just know, like, the team and the campus, so I have some insight.

Grant: Now, are you excited to go play there? 

Hardy: I am excited, yeah. 

Grant: You’re hyped? 

Hardy: Mm-hmm. 

Hardy: For sure.

Grant: Are you going to make it to the league? 

Hardy: I don’t know about that. 

Grant: Where’s the confidence there? 

Hardy: Maybe someday.

Grant: Go big or go home. 

Hardy: Yeah. 

Hardy: You’re right.

Grant: Take it all the way. 

Hardy: Yeah. 

Grant: I don’t know anything about soccer.

Grant: What do they do? 

Hardy: Forward, go and score. 

Hardy: And then midfield, you’re kind of just there for, like, everything, defensively and offensively. 

Grant: All right.

Grant: And what’s your favorite position to play? 

Hardy: I would say probably attacking mid, because you get a lot of, like, play, I guess. Grant: And what do you think is the hardest position on the field? 

Hardy: The hardest? 

Hardy: I think that’s hard.

Hardy: Honestly, maybe goalkeeper.

Hardy: I feel like that would be a hard position. 

Grant: Do you think you’d be good in the net? 

Hardy: No. 

Grant: You wouldn’t be a good tende? 

Hardy: No, I run away from the ball.

Grant: What? 

Grant: Yeah, you sound like you’d be a terrible goalie. 

Grant: You run away from the ball. 

Hardy: It’s scary.

Grant: Not for real 

Grant: It’s a soccer ball. 

Grant: It’s not like a basketball.

Hardy: Yeah, but it’s being kicked at you really hard. 

Grant: All right. 

Grant: How often have you gotten into a fight? 

Grant: Like, does it get serious out there? 

Hardy: Yeah, I’ve, last year against Whitfield, I was kind of going at it with some defenders.

Hardy: And then we were out of bounds, and I pushed the girl.

Hardy: And then later on, I got taken out. 

Hardy: And we were, like, asking for the foul.

Hardy: And the ref looked at my coach. 

Hardy: I was number 12. 

Hardy:  And he was like, 12 is a criminal.

Grant: Dang, you’re a criminal? 

Hardy: Yeah, I guess so. 

Grant: You’re going to jail. 

Hardy: Yeah.

Grant: Have you, what’s like, have you ever gotten a red card? 

Hardy: No, but I’ve gotten lots of yellows. 

Grant: Lots of yellows? 

Hardy: Yeah. 

Grant: Dang, so, would you say you’re a respectful or disrespectful soccer player? Hardy: Depends on who I’m playing.

Hardy: If they’re respectful to me, I’ll be respectful to them. 

Grant: Now, who, like, is your favorite school to play and your least favorite school to play? 

Grant: Like, you look at your schedule, and you’re like, dang, let’s go get to play them. Grant: But then you’re like, I don’t want to play them.

Hardy: My least favorite school to play is probably Lafayette or Marquette. 

Hardy: Or not Marquette, Eureka. 

Grant: Why? 

Hardy: Because they’re really good.

Grant: They’re good? 

Hardy: Yeah. 

Hardy: And then, my favorite school to play, I feel like, maybe, LaDue or, like, Oakville, Westminster. 

Hardy: Because we’re pretty, like, even with them.

Hardy: So, it’s, like, always a good game when we play them, and it’s exciting.

Grant: So, you like a better game instead of just, like, a shutout? 

Hardy: Yeah, for sure. 

Grant: That’s pretty valid.

Hardy: Yeah.

Grant: Now, say you have to play frickin’ Messi. 

Hardy Alright, 

Grant: It’s your whole team versus Messi.  Who’s gonna win that? 

Hardy: Probably Messi. 

Grant: For real?  It’s, like, a 1v5.

Hardy: 1v5? He would beat us. If it was 1v11, then maybe we’d win. I don’t know. Like, he would just roll past us all, though.

Grant: That’s crazy. 

Grant: That’s crazy glaze.  

Grant: I feel like that’s not true.

Grant: Now, what is your team’s best game? 

Grant: Like, what has been your best blowout, like, ever? 

Grant: Ever in your global soccer career? 

Hardy: Last year when we played Oakville, it was, like, tied the whole game. And then I had a left-footed shot and scored, and we went out. And it was, like, our first win of the season last year.

Hardy: And that was a really exciting game. 

Grant: Was it? 

Hardy: Mm-hmm. 

Grant: How do you prepare for soccer in the offseason?  

Hardy: In the offseason? 

Grant: Mm.

Hardy: Lots of running. 

Hardy: Lots of running. 

Hardy: Kind of stay in shape.

Hardy: My least favorite part, but… 

Hardy: And then getting some touches in, shots up. 

Grant: Do you play for, like, an indoor team? 

Grant: Like, for a Vetta team? 

Hardy: No.

 Hardy: Because I don’t really have, like, an offseason.

Hardy: Because the club goes through fall and winter, and then I have high school season. 

Hardy: And then we have playoffs in the summer. 

Grant: Dang.

Grant: So soccer is, like, a year-round sport for you. 

Hardy: Basically, yeah.

 Grant: Thank you for listening, and stay tuned for more episodes of Athletes of West.

(Music from Music_Unlimited)