Bella Sember answers the phone on the second ring. Despite it being the morning of a game, the senior is focused on the present moment, taking the time to thoroughly answer each question. Just like her through passes on the field, Sember seamlessly switches between right now and the future. The senior is intense, but quick to laugh and just as quick to highlight her teammates. Her wealth of knowledge about UNC and soccer reveals her joy at playing with this team in this place
It's clear soccer has been one of Sember's great loves since she started playing at age three. "Now I play soccer cuz I love it, I've given my whole life to it, it's what I love to do," Sember asserts, immediately adding "I, hopefully, plan on pursuing this further and after college and playing professionally, which I'm really excited about." She rushes through the last part, before laughing and adding, "I fell in love with it, it's what I love to do, it's my thing."
That sense of soccer being her thing helped her to decide on the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill as her collegiate home. "Honestly, I think the people make the place, and not only do we recruit the best soccer players, but I think we recruit the best people."
UNC's legacy of winning didn't hurt either and Sember willingly admits that. "I love to win, I want to be around other people who love to win as well." She adds, "I'm a competitive person, so, the competitive nature of training every day, just striving to become better no matter where you are in your game at the time is what really drew me to UNC."
The development piece has been key as Sember's role on the team has evolved over her four seasons as a Tar Heel. Going from being a player that was subbing in to being a starter and now a captain has been "a logical progression."
Sember admits though, "at the time, and I think a lot of freshmen go through it, we come to UNC and you're the best from wherever you are." That makes it hard to transition to a place where everyone is just as good as you and you might "be on the bench for the first time."
"It's hard," she offers, "but the hard is what makes the good. I wouldn't change anything that I went through up until this point because it's made me the player that I am." That doesn't mean she was happy sitting on the bench but "it wasn't my time yet and now it is my time."
"I think that if you keep a sense of gratefulness, like no matter what's happening I'm at UNC getting to play the game that I love with all my friends and how lucky am I to be doing that?" she points out, describing what got her to this moment. And she reinforces that sense of gratefulness as what can help anyone through the "hills and valleys" of a collegiate career. "It's not about how much time you get, it's what you do with the time you're given."
Not that she could have known that as a freshman. She laughs, "My first preseason was definitely scary." Sember put a lot of pressure on herself to make a good first impression. "I was around so many people that are so amazing and that I still look up to today." She acknowledges that "being surrounded by such an amazing group of people was definitely intimidating, but I also remember it being one of the most fun times of my life."
She came to Chapel Hill in January, so she had some idea of what training would be like but admits that it was still a jumble of emotions. "I was definitely excited, a little bit intimidating, but having fun, mostly."
This year, she knew what to expect. The challenge instead was "How can we get so many new people on the same page as quickly as humanly possible?" Individuals took a back seat as everyone looked at what the team needed in the span of about "five or six days before we start playing games."
If getting 15 new players, some freshmen, some transfers, on the same page in the span of a preseason seemed like a lofty goal, the Tar Heels aimed even higher with their team goal for the season.
"Team goals are definitely to win a National Championship," there's laughter in Sember's voice, "that's the team goal every year."
That was in October. Two months later, Sember would be laughing holding her National Championship trophy as confetti rained down around her. For the first time in 12 years, the North Carolina Tar Heels achieved their team goal. A key piece of accomplishing that goal lies in Sember's leadership and her intensity around caring for the team.
There is no hesitation in Sember's voice when she declares that how much she cares is something that can't be calculated about her. She laughs and adds, "I care so, so much about just everything, it doesn't even have to be soccer." Caring about soccer translates into everything Sember does. "There is no switch, I can't just turn it off." She notes that she cares so much about "this team, this season, the players on the team...and I'll care about it even when I'm not playing here anymore."
Perhaps the best way to illustrate Sember's intensity of care is to give a non-soccer-specific example. Despite admitting that while UNC would "love for me to say that I'm a student-athlete, but" there's a long pause, "I think being here, you have to be an athlete-student at times." She laughs, "Soccer has definitely been my priority."
But despite the order of the words, she immediately follows that up by acknowledging that "I get all my school work done. I have very good grades. I go to class all the time -- I have a weird fear of missing class." School is still a priority for Sember, but "soccer is my life and it is everything to me."
Being an exercise and sports science major has certainly helped to keep school and soccer balanced, as Sember utilizes what she learns in class to help her to understand what her body is going through when she plays a 90-minute soccer game. "It has definitely helped me a lot and in ways that I never expected it to be," Sember admits.
Sember's ability to find balance is one of her strengths as a leader. And, to help the team's goal of winning, or at least making, a national championship, the Tar Heels have relied on Sember's leadership. The senior defines leadership as "being able to get the best out of everyone on your team." She points out that not everyone "needs the same things, not everyone responds to the same things." But, for the team to succeed, everyone, from players who start to players who don't play at all need to be reaching their maximum potential.
She's quick to point out that each of her co-captains have different strengths and weaknesses which helps the captainship to be more effective. Sember's learned different things from them, too. For example, Tessa Dellarose leads by example. In her leadership, "I know that if I say something that I want to happen, I also have to model that behavior." And from Asha Means, "I've definitely learned to use my voice and speak up for what I want from her."
All three co-captains played a role in bringing together 15 new players and guiding a team that everyone else had low expectations for to a national championship. Acknowledging the honor that being named captain was, Sember admits that it was never a personal goal of hers to be team captain. Now, the senior will finish her career at UNC as the co-captain of the team that won a national title despite immense adversity at the start of the season. It's as close to a storybook ending as the real world gets.
The senior still has time at Chapel Hill of course, but even in October, she was focused on being grateful for her time there. "Being grateful for what you have and everything that you have worked for, because it hasn't been easy to get to where you are, or where I am," she reflects. "It's been really great, it's been really fun." Sember takes a moment to acknowledge that every teammate has "hills and valleys" throughout their career and even during a season. "I'm grateful for what I get to do every day."
Sember finishes her career at UNC as a national champion, a four-year Tar Heel, and a player with the unique ability to stay grounded in the present moment even while working towards the future.
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