Fujiwara Follows Footsteps of Elders as Only Freshman on Varsity
courtesy of Uki Fujiwara
Uki Fujiwara, here with Mackenzie Patterson, was the only freshman on the varsity soccer team this season.
Uki Fujiwara is the only freshman on the Las Lomas Women’s Varsity Soccer Team.“At first I thought I was going to be alone and out of the group but I don’t feel like that at all. Everyone is super nice to me and make sure I understand how things work. Even though I have to take gear all the time because I’m a freshman, I’m glad to follow the footsteps of our captains/seniors who were also on vasity as freshman,” Fujiwara said.
Fujiwara played with WCSC competitively for 4 years and recreational for 2 years before that. Her coach in WCSC is Sissi doAmor, who went to the World Cup for Brazil and she got the Golden Boot Award for scoring the most goals during the WC. Fujiwara recently went to Phoenix to play against other states with her Olympic Development Program CalNorth team. Unfortunately they lost in the semi’s but she said it was a great experience.
“My teammates don’t treat me different. But they help me out to understand how the program works and they give me tips about Las Lomas,” Fujiwara said.
When talking about tryouts and the summer workouts, Fujiwara said, “I would tell them to just be you at tryouts. Just have a good time and stay positive! No one wants a negative mean person on the team. I highly recommend to go to the summer workouts. Those get you in shape and he gets to see you play before the tryouts.”
Fujiwara feels that she has improved a lot in the short period of time she’s been playing for Las Lomas.
“With my club team it’s just my same age players but with LL, people are bigger and stronger so you have to toughen up. LL has showed me different ways to think about soccer and the players have shown me different skills/techniques that I never have thought to use before,” she said.
