General | 9/13/2018 1:50:00 PM

Isabella Myers is a born-and-raised Las Vegan who competed for Palo Verde High School before signing to play soccer at her hometown university. She has started 41 of 55 games as a Rebel defender and helped her team claim the 2016 Mountain West Tournament championship. Let's hear in her own words as she gears up for the conference portion of a final season suiting up for the Scarlet & Gray.
 
iREBEL by Bella Myers

    Looking back, I'm a local, so UNLV was already on my mind when I was choosing where to sign to play in college. Most of my friends from Las Vegas were coming here, too, so I thought the transition would be easy having them with me. I've always been a homebody, so going out of state never crossed my mind. I'm very family oriented, so the fact that I could have them here for every home game, there really was nothing that could compete with that. We also have The Strip, so the energy of our games, especially Friday nights, is awesome.

    There were times, especially freshman year because everything was so new and scary, that I was like 'I don't know if I can do this, do I even want to do this, it's so much work.' But I look back now and there's literally nothing I regret. This has been one of the biggest blessings of my life – I get to play on a field with my family and friends watching, I get to go to school and have amazing support and there's nothing that can match that. I've gotten to make lifelong memories with my teammates and meet people from around the country – you don't think you'll get to do that when you are going to your hometown school. Each year there were moments when you ask yourself is it worth it, but for me when I think about it – I have a soft spot in my heart for people with disabilities – so when I think about them and how they don't have the opportunities to do what I've been able to do, in those moments I remind myself to just take the opportunity and run with it.

    My head coach, Chris Shaw, actually played the same position that I was recruited for (outside back), but I played center back during club soccer so my freshman year here was a little rough. It was a lot of one-on-one teaching and sometimes it was overwhelming, but at the end of the day I wouldn't have asked for anything different because his guidance made that transition easy for me. I did get to start a lot of games the last three years and have gotten some awards, so that's a representation of his coaching and I'm grateful for that. It's been a learning experience and I'm still learning today, especially now switching back to center back for my last season.

    I've never had a coach like Chris before. Before I got to college I never really was a player that the coaches had to talk to that often, but coming here and playing for Chris, it doesn't matter who you are, where you played before, he's going to teach you his way because that's what is going to benefit the team. When I first got here there were definitely times I really wasn't sure about it, but I've seen now when I leave it up to him and trust him that it really has benefited the team. That's my main goal as a player, a senior now and a captain, I just want to make sure that our team has the best possible product on the field.

I know I'm small (5-foot-3) -- I always hear that -- and I know it probably says that on the teams' scouting reports. But one thing I've always told younger girls is, 'Yes I'm small but no one can take away my work ethic, so you may be taller or faster but I'm going to battle you as hard as a I can and out-work you.' 

       If the ball is going to my keeper I'm very protective and I'm going to make sure no one touches my keeper or gets near her. If I'm in a one-vs-one situation, I know that if the girl gets past me it's probably going to be a goal, so in my mind there's just no possible way this girl can get past me. Also, at home games my mom, who is 100 percent Mexican, is on the sidelines encouraging me in Spanish. When I'm going up against someone that pumps me up. It's kind of a joke on the team now, everyone always asks me what my mom is saying out there.

    I'm a human services major so I feel like I've become pretty good at talking to people and I hope that the newcomers can always look to me not only if they have on-the-field questions but off-the-field, too. My sophomore year, when we won the Mountain West after being picked to come in eighth place, our team chemistry was unparalleled to any other team I'd been on. That was great, so this year especially, my hope is to try to recreate that chemistry. When you are on the field and you make a mistake, it's easy to get frustrated, but my first reaction is, okay let's get the next one, you can't dwell on that, so I hope the younger girls see that and have the same mindset. I hope that our team can come together in those moments, when we are down a goal, to come back and fight. That's my main goal for this year, to not put blame on each other and just come together and grind it out.

    When people ask me what's the one thing I'm really going to miss about playing college soccer, I say that it's going to be the road trips. We just have such a great group of girls and coach – he tries to be very hard on the exterior, but he's very soft on the inside – so when he cracks his jokes it makes everyone laugh that much harder. And then me and J.J. (associate head coach J.J. Wozniak), I'm always in his van on trips and we have this connection where we are always joking around, so those are the kind of moments I'm really going to miss.

    We've all been playing soccer for so long, but being able to step on this field and represent our school and our city is really a momentous feeling - every time we step on the field, every time we put that jersey on, it's just been a complete blessing.
           
UNLV opens its home Mountain West schedule Sunday, Sept. 23 vs. Boise State starting at 1 p.m.  For tickets, visit UNLVTickets.