Kelly Hutton in her own words

Learn more about SPCS students! MLA student Kelly Hutton is a student-athlete on the Spider’s soccer team. This month we sat down with Kelly to learn about her journey in soccer and in higher education.

Can you share how you first got into soccer and what inspired you to pursue it at the collegiate level?

I remember playing every possible sport under the sun and being too energetic to sit still. By the time I was 5, soccer was the last sport my mom tried to put me in and she always says the second I started playing I never looked back. Before the National Women’s Soccer League was established, there was a league prior that had got shut down. Philadelphia at the time had a women’s soccer team, and my parents took me when I was 6. I was inspired by the Women’s soccer league and US Women’s National team at such a young age. I was inspired by any female athlete that had achieved greatness.

What are some of the most important values or lessons you’ve learned from being a soccer player?

It’s difficult to put into words. I would say how to lead from the sidelines. Learning about your teammate’s dreams, aspirations, fears, struggles, etc. off the field will help you build relationships with them. Building meaningful and genuine relationships is probably the biggest lesson I’ve learned from all of it.

What has been your most memorable game or moment in your UR soccer career so far?

In terms of a game, beating Duquesne at home in the first game of conference play was so fun because it was a full team effort and Kiley Fitzgerald scored her first collegiate goal. In terms of most memorable moments, definitely just getting the opportunity to play with girls I had met when I when I was 12 years old and being on the field with them and ending our careers together seemed surreal.

As a student-athlete, balancing academics with the demands of your sport must be challenging. How do you manage your time between class, training, and games?

Prioritizing school and soccer have allowed me to set aside needed time to spend my little free time with my best friends and enjoy being a regular college kid. During away trips, understanding that any minute I wasn’t playing soccer it was technically downtime is an opportunity to either get work done or relax a little bit is also crucial.

How do you envision the future of women’s soccer, especially at the collegiate and professional levels?

I could not be more excited for the young girls around the world because women’s sports and especially soccer have developed such a stage, and the audience keeps getting bigger and bigger. I only see growth in the collegiate space because players nowadays are more competitive, stronger, faster, and smarter. I think not pushing them too hard from a young age and allowing them to be the catalysts of their career is the biggest thing coaches and parents need to understand.

What's next for you?

To be honest, I have never been more unsure of my future in every aspect.

What do you love most about SPCS?

I love how tight-knit the community is and the genuineness that my professors display each and every day. The professors genuinely want us to succeed when we graduate and want us to take what we learn and apply it to the real world which is definitely cool.