Gracen Schwabe was an anchor for the North Montgomery girls soccer team this past fall on the defensive end. Her passion for the game of soccer and being in a team environment along with her successes with the Chargers led Schwabe to officially sign to continue her academic and athletic career at Johnson College in Knoxville, TN on Tuesday. She will be majoring in missions while getting to continue to play the sport that she loves.
“With soccer I really fell in love with how you get to know your team and being closer makes the game easier,” Schwabe said. “I chose Johnson because I love the lord and my relationship with the lord. I knew by choosing Jonson they are going to have people who can mentor me and get to know my professors and coaches who share the same relationship with the lord that I do. “
The intensity that Schwabe plays with out on the soccer field is one of the many things that has stood out to Charger soccer coach Julie Hodges who noted the great day for the Charger soccer program at Schwabe’s signing.
“She’s one of the few players that can actually practice like they play,” Hodges said. “As she moves on to college that’s the biggest thing that she has going for her. Her teammates here didn’t want to go against her in practice because she went all out and I told her just to take that same mentality to college because not many people have that trait that Gracen has.”
While the success Schwabe has had in high school as a member of the Chargers, she knows that the college level will provide it’s unique set of challenges, but she’ll be ready to face them head on.
“The pace of play is something that I’ll have to get adjusted to,” she said. “I know it will be more fast paced so working on that will be something that I’ll be working to get used to.”
One thing with Schwabe is for certain. The combination of her faith and soccer ability will be able to guide her success as she gets ready to write her next chapter.
