Day In The Life - CWU Centerback Maci Park
Story by Jake Hassebrock and Milenne Quinonez | Pictures by Dylan Hanson and Jacob Thompson | Design by Evan Brown
It is a crisp Saturday autumn morning, the sun is rising, and students sleep soundly in their warm beds enjoying the weekend. But not Maci Parke, she is wide awake and preparing for a long day ahead of her.
Parke is a senior Clinical Physiology major and Strength and Conditioning minor. In addition to being a student, she also plays centerback for CWU’s women's soccer team.
“I’m really just focusing on having fun rather than just beating myself up for bad plays or passes, I just wake up everyday knowing I want to go out with a good last year, so that really motivates me to keep grinding and pushing it out for my team and myself,” Parke says.
Parke let PULSE follow her on a big game day to see how she prepares. The following is a snapshot of an athlete before they set foot on the gameday field, an athlete preparing for a day over 17 years in the making.
7:30 a.m.
Parke begins her day drinking a glass of homemade iced coffee and watching “New Girl” with her roommates. Typically, on game days she enjoys avocado toast with a fried egg on top and yogurt with berries.
Then she starts getting ready by doing a little bit of makeup and having her hair braided by her roommate, who offers to help on big days. Parke decides to go with two braids at the top of her head, finished in a ponytail.
“Normally I don’t do anything with my hair, just a regular old ponytail, but my roommate is actually really good at hair so every once in a while, I spice it up with a couple braids,” Parke says.
9:45 a.m.
As Parke makes her way to the training room there is always one song she enjoys during her short drive. Just before she arrives, her favorite part of the song “Right Round” by Flo Rida plays, motivating her the rest of the day.
Upon arriving, her trainer immediately checks her hips to make sure they are aligned properly. After this is done she puts on a pair of NormaTec pants which compress her legs and release slowly, the graduated pressure is soothing, relaxing and calming. Once they are taken off, she describes a light, weightless feeling in the legs.
“It compresses all the way up, like super tight, where you can feel my thighs just pinched all the way then it will release slowly and just goes back and forth… they help the blood flow and make my legs feel less heavy,” Parke explains.
During this process, Parke laughs with her teammates as they goof around to shake off the game day jitters. Parke admits during warmups and the beginning of each game she gets nervous, even after years of playing.
“When we are doing the national anthem, I get really nervous. But the first time I touch the ball, all my nerves go away,” Parke says. “It’s kind of crazy.”
10:30 a.m.
After a couple of hours of training, Parke enjoys special moments with her team celebrating her and the other graduating seniors. The team decorated their locker rooms and the stadium, and families gifted them banners.
“It’s just a bittersweet moment because it's crazy I’ve been doing this for 17 years, and just thinking these are my last few times I step on the soccer field with a purpose,” Parke says.
Although playing a sport can be fun, being an athlete comes with its ups and downs. Parke recalls having a hard time one quarter, when some of her close friends were no longer a part of the team but her team was there for her.
“It was hard to navigate my team, who I was on the team without them there, but now the girls that came in, the freshman and everyone that came in and the transfers, really built that relationship and the culture on our team back up. It felt like home again," Parke says.
The team relies on one another to get through hard times. They share a lot of great moments with one another, like carving pumpkins, giving each other boo baskets, and cooking together.
“Even just the ones that I’m not as close with, if I know they are going through a hard time, we all just have each other's back and make sure to reiterate that,” Parke says. “After every practice we also have a thankfulness minute where we all just talk about what we are thankful for.”
11 a.m.
An hour before the game, Parke and the team meet at the stadium to warm up. Parke says she likes to sit by herself to think about all the things she needs to work on and spend time focusing on them.
“I take a little walk by myself and say out loud – to kind of manifest in a way – to play smart, be aggressive,” Parke says.
Game time approaches
After playing soccer for so long, this game will be the last home game she plays at the CWU stadium, closing a big chapter of her life.
“I never thought I would make it four years through college soccer and 17 years total, and I never stopped grinding and I just kept focusing on the end goal which was to make it to college soccer,” Parke says. “And I did that.”
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