Seeing family play a sport can influence you to want to do the same. That’s exactly what happened with senior midfielder Franchesca Polcaro. Playing sports with family is not only a fun experience, but a great way to bond as well.
“I’ve been playing soccer since I was about four or five. All of my cousins played both youth and competitive, and my mom asked if that’d be something I’d be interested in. In about fourth grade. I joined and I’ve been playing ever since,” Polcaro said.
Starting as a forward, Polcaro quickly found out that her play style fit more as a midfielder, which ultimately led to her making the switch. Polcaro was able to earn an all conference selection last season. Putting up four goals, including two game winners and a shooting percentage of 25%.
“It felt really rewarding to know that I was seen by other coaches and other teams that we played,” Polcaro said. “Getting that confirmation and being affirmed by the conference and everybody else by receiving that award. It was a nice feeling knowing your hard work does pay off.”
There have been special moments in Polcaro’s soccer career, like her first collegiate goal, or having a game winner against Buffalo State that helped her team get into the postseason. But being a mentor to the younger athletes is something she takes pride in.
“I like to help my players,” Polcaro said. “I’ll pull them aside once in a while and give them advice on different things. I like to help everyone that helped the program succeed as a whole. So seeing them do the right thing or a different thing after I helped them is a pretty rewarding, proud feeling to know you’re helping the program as a whole be successful.”
Polcaro realizes that everyone isn’t going to want help learning different things when it comes to soccer. But when her help is needed, her teammates know they can go to her for anything they may need.
“It’s a good feeling knowing that people can come to you in times of need to find an outlet for a solution. I don’t take it too far, I don’t try to push it onto people that don’t want it. I’m more of a laid back leader and will only interject myself when I see people really struggling. It’s just rewarding knowing that your fellow teammates can trust you and your opinion,” Polcaro said.
Playing soccer has helped Polcaro develop skills she can use in her personal life. A key compenent of not only soccer, but sports in general is communication. Polcaro taking on a leadership role has been instrumental in developing that skill in her personal life.
“Communicating with your coach, communicating with your professors if something fell in line with a game and you need to get something changed. I think my communication skills definitely improved because of soccer,” Polcaro said.
Polcaro is a nursing major and will be using her fifth year to come back and play another year at Brockport.
