PORTLAND — Unlike most of her teammates on the Maine Footy roster this summer, Emma Badger isn’t using this summer’s slate of soccer games to prepare for the college season this fall. She completed her senior season at Florida Gulf Coast University last year and graduated with a degree in psychology three weeks ago.
When her Maine Footy teammates join their college teams for preseason practice in August, Badger will be preparing to go to London for grad school at King’s College, where she’ll study organizational psychology.
Badger, a Wells High graduate, plays this summer for the sheer joy of it. Soccer has given her a lot since she first played at age 4. Badger, in her third season with Maine Footy, is the team captain, and this is a joyous victory lap.
“It’s a full-circle moment for me. Truly, the love of the game, and the love of the state, and the opportunity to be a part of something bigger,” said Badger, Maine Footy’s center back, an hour prior to the home opener Sunday afternoon at Fitzpatrick Stadium against the Worcester Wanderers FC. Worcester won 2-1 in front of a crowd that included members of the Hearts of Pine’s Valentine Band, which played throughout the match.
Maine Footy plays in the United Women’s Soccer league, a developmental pro-am league with team’s across the country.
Maine Footy’s roster is chock full of local talent, players who moved on from southern Maine high schools to Division I colleges. Thirteen of them played for a Division I team last year, including Scarborough’s Ali Mokriski (Bryant), Portland’s Anneliese Collin (UMass Lowell), Deering’s Elsa Freeman (UMass Lowell), Gorham’s Ashley Connelly (South Carolina) and Yarmouth’s Ava Feely (Bryant).
Badger looks at the talent around her on the team, and is excited because she sees more coming in the future. Women’s soccer in Maine is changing, she said. It’s up and coming. Other than playing games, Maine Footy looks to pass the game along. In its mission statement, the team champions developing leaders and a commitment to community service. To that end, Maine Footy will hold a camp for girls ages 8-14 on July 13-16 at Deering High’s Memorial Field.
“One of my favorite things to do other than playing is coaching. I’ve gotten into it the last couple of years with a lot of younger girls. It’s so inspiring to watch their confidence grow, on and off the field,” Badger said. “You can see it in who they are as people. You watch them develop a skill and improve and get better, and to be a reason, it’s so exciting.”
Badger noted Maine Footy coach Jamie Polson-Kelley as one of the mentors who instilled a love of the game in her at age 12, when he was her coach. If she can be that for a player, it would be the perfect way to pass the game along.
“It’s been so rewarding. I think the opportunity to give back to the younger girls in the game, to see this and have us as role models, is one of the greatest feelings ever. All I want to do is inspire them to stay in the game,” Badger said.
The lessons she learned from the game are worth passing on. Things like working hard and discipline, things she carries through life every day, things that can take you anywhere, she said.
Even when you have one more summer to play the game. Even all the way to King’s College in London.
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