Summer Garrison’s fight to become an Illini
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (BVM) – After having given up on her dreams of playing soccer on the collegiate stage, Summer Garrison was offered a scholarship by Illinois.
For Garrison, soccer has always been a constant. Having played the sport since Kindergarten, she began playing competitively in the fourth grade. She started with the American Youth Soccer Organization, but joined a couple of club teams in the following years. Her sophomore year of high school, she landed at the SoCal Academy, now known as the Los Angeles Surf Academy. Garrison was also on her school team at Westridge Preparatory Academy.
Expectedly, the sport took over much of Garrison’s schedule. She started her recruiting process for college very early in high school. Her team at the time, Crown City United (San Marino) was good, but not competitive enough to get the visibility necessary for recruiting. Once Garrison got to the LA Surf Academy, she felt more confident since it was a high-strength team that was recognized nationally.
The issue of playing on such a high-strength team, however, is that she didn’t get much time on the field. While it was helpful being on the team, a spot on the roster wasn’t enough for Garrison. She watched as most of her teammates committed to various schools and began to think she would not have the same success. In fact, she even began applying to colleges her senior year of high school with the hope that she could later join their soccer team as a walk-on.
Her big break came the summer before her last year in high school. Garrison and her club team went to the Surf Cup, the largest tournament on the West Coast. There were tons of college coaches at the tournament looking for new and fresh talent — around 70 coaches and scouts were stationed at each match.
But Garrison wasn’t supposed to play.
As the tournament began, Garrison watched from the bench, cheering on her teammates as she always does. It was the team’s first game of many. Suddenly, one of her teammates went down. Once her teammate was deemed unable to continue, Garrison heard her coach call her in as a substitute. She played a great game and went on to play the rest of the tournament where she did a phenomenal job. Little did she know, her future coach was watching.
After the tournament, the head coach of the Illinois women’s soccer team, Janet Rayfield, came out to California to watch Garrison practice. After seeing her potential, Rayfield invited Garrison on an official visit, but did not give her an offer.
Garrison recalls her first trip to Illinois. Not only did she get to meet the current players, but she also got to meet the girls that were in her class that had already received offers. Since she had not yet been given an offer, she remembers being a bit confused.
Finally, on the last day of her trip, Illinois gave her an offer. Garrison was ecstatic; she had always wanted the opportunity to play at a big school. She accepted the offer that same day.
What came next was a happy ending for Garrison’s high school career. She speaks fondly of her last season with the Westridge team.
“It was just the best,” Garrison said. “I had never felt more excited and… I can’t remember a time that I had more fun playing soccer.”
When she got to college, Garrison realized not everyone had the same enjoyable senior year as she did. In fact, some of her teammates seemed to be burnt out by the time they got to Illinois. On the contrary, Garrison said her senior season not only prepared her to play at a collegiate level, but reminded her of her love for the sport.
“It helped [me] reset so that when I went back to my club season I was able to play and be happy with playing and not feel like ‘oh I have to play.’”
Although Rayfield told her she would likely not be getting any play time, Garrison’s first season, the 2019 season, gave her the opportunity to travel with the team and she even recorded over 350 minutes of play time. But she had to work tirelessly to earn it.
Having played defense for most of high school, Garrison had a lot of adjusting to do when she joined the Fighting Illini. Once she was recruited, Rayfield told her she would be playing as a forward, despite having little experience in the position.
For Garrison, there was no transition period. She instantly had to learn how to be a forward while also gaining enough player chemistry with her new teammates. Luckily, building trust with her team was not an issue. Garrison and her teammates quickly grew close as they spent upwards of 20 hours a week together. This year, she even lives with a few of her teammates.
“It’s nice,” Garrison said of her teammates. “I feel lucky that I like my team and we all get along really well.”
Her teammates were her first friends she made at Illinois. It was really difficult for Garrison to find time to do much else other than soccer and classes in her first semester. But in her off-season, she was able to find time to join student organizations that she was passionate about.
Ever since high school, Garrison has been involved with working for equality. Now, at Illinois, she serves as the Secretary for Enlightened Minorities Pursuing Opportunities Where Everyone Rises (EMPOWER). This student organization’s purpose is to bolster student-athletes of color and provide a safe space for them.
Despite having a different college experience this year due to COVID-19, Garrison keeps a positive outlook. Team practices have remained relatively similar to last year, except now the team must wear masks around each other. In spite of this, Garrison is grateful that she still gets to play the sport she loves and looks forward to the season’s return. At this point, the women’s soccer season in the Big Ten is undetermined. While football has returned, plans about all other fall sports have yet to be announced.
