October 6, 2008
Senior women’s soccer player Elizabeth Redmond is in her final season as a Rattler. Over the last two years she has established herself as one of the top defenders in the region and is off to a strong start in 2008. Recently she talked about her team, scoring her first goal as a Rattler, why she came to St. Mary’s and what she wants to do after college.
Q: Originally, you are from California, but you transferred here after your freshman year. What was so enticing about coming here to St. Mary’s?
Redmond: Well, I had talked with Coach Ritch on the phone a couple of times and he made it sound like this was such a good program and how he ran things was what I was looking for.
Q: What do you miss most about California?
Redmond: Just having my family and my friends come and see me play, not being able to see them after the games.
Q: You were named the captain this season? What does that title mean to you?
Redmond: For me it is all on the field. I can talk and tell them how to do something, but what is going to motivate them to do something right if I can’t even get it done myself. I try to lead by my actions.
Q: In the past month or so, you managed to score your first goal ever in a St. Mary’s uniform. What was that like?
Redmond: It was off a corner kick. Both of us went up for it and I think it hit me, then it hit her and then it came back and hit me again and then went in. I didn’t know I scored until after the game. But it was pretty cool because my family was in Arizona at the time so they had a chance to come to that game. I mean, they were like ‘hey, you scored!’ and I was like, ‘oh, I did…cool.’
Q: Who has been your biggest influence in your current soccer career?
Redmond: Probably my parents. I mean, my parents had no idea what position I even played until a couple of years ago when I decided to play in college. For them, it has always been have fun and enjoy it, and when it’s no longer fun you can stop whenever you want to. Today I see a lot of parents that keep their children in sports, but my parents told me to do what I want and to have fun with it. Now, my brothers and my sister, they all look up to me. I am the middle, with two older brothers and a younger sister and they all got into soccer when I started playing in college, and so for me, like, it makes me feel good because, they don’t brag but they get to say ‘my sister plays soccer in college.’
Q: What is your favorite part about playing here at St. Mary’s University?
Redmond: I like the team camaraderie. If one person goes down, we all go down. If someone messes up on the field, or even off the field, the whole team has to run. There is no individual punishment. Everybody works for each other; we’re like a family. So when one person does well we all do well.
Q: What do you plan to do after college and what specifically do you want to do with that?
Redmond: I plan to go to grad school back in California for sports nutrition, exercise physiology or health teaching of some kind. Well, there are a variety of ideas that I have at this point. Like with sports nutrition, it’s just being a sports nutritionist, professional, collegiate, or whatever I can get into I will be happy with. And then with exercise physiology, I have been in a few classes over the years that have opened my eyes to what is possible.
Q: The past two years you have been honored by the Heartland Conference. What does these awards mean to you, how are they special?
Redmond: I think it’s not about what I have done; it is more about what the whole team has done. So, I mean, yeah it is an honor to be awarded, but as a team we have overcome a lot the past two years; going from a very high to a very low. Now it’s just like “what’s going happen next?” I feel that it is more of a team honor than an individual honor.