Club soccer president there from the beginning

Kristina Schenck: What is your major and your year?

Nicole Wellman: I’m a biology major and I’m a junior

KS: How long have you been playing soccer and what is your favorite soccer memory?

NW: I’ve been playing since I was seven. My favorite memory is high school soccer in general. It helped me transition into college. We went to playoffs and we had a lot of traditions, and being on a team makes you feel like you’re part of a family.

KS: When you were in high school, did you consider playing NCAA soccer?

NW: I did. I got hurt senior year — I tore part of my patellar tendon — so that made me not want to play and risk overdoing it.

KS: Differences between NCAA and club soccer

NW: The NCAA team is an intense experience. They work harder for what they’re doing because they’re on scholarship and most of them are there for soccer. For club, it’s more of your own kind of thing. You get to choose, you’re not bound by anything. It’s still competitive, but it’s more relaxed.

KS: You’re one of the original members of the team. How have you seen it grow and change over the past three years?

NW: Now, we’re more established. We have more people who know about us, more people come to tryouts. People realize that we’re competitive and we’ve branched out more. We’ve built a foundation. We have a coach. This spring, we’re going to three tournaments, where last year we only went to two.

KS: Rumor has it you can hit a crossbar from mid field. Care to explain?

NW: Oh, my gosh. Yeah, that’s true. We had a competition once and it happened … but when I do it in a game, it makes me mad because I obviously want it to go in the goal. I think one of my stronger points is actually passing — I can say that I’m an accurate passer, and I think that translates to shooting, too, but I’m not one of our top scorers by any means.

KS: What is your team’s relationship with Cabo Bob’s and how has that affected your personal life?

NW: We have a tradition where we go every Thursday and they’ve helped us fundraise on certain occasions. Because of our tradition, I met my boyfriend of a year who happens to work at Cabo Bob’s.

KS: If you could take any famous soccer players to lunch at Cabo Bob’s, who would it be and why?

NW: I’d choose Sydney Leroux. I follow her on Twitter and she’s really super quirky and funny. I think we’d get along. Her tattoos are cool, too.