As the final regular season game of Mandy Freeman's career approaches, she reflected on what brought her to USC and what she's done with her platform.I grew up in Florida watching my two sisters play soccer. My oldest sister went to Florida and my middle sister went to South Alabama, then transferred to FSU. The first time I ever came out here was to watch my sister play in the Sweet 16 --- USC vs. Florida at the Coliseum in 2007. I was about 12.
The Coliseum is breathtaking for anyone who's going for their first time, especially for a women's college soccer game. It was an awesome opportunity to watch my sister play there, because I had always admired her growing up. She was the one who pushed me towards USC, because she played against them and saw the type of players and coaching that they had.
When I came out here for one of my own soccer tournaments, I took an unofficial visit, kind of fell in love with the campus and the atmosphere, and knew right away that this was where I wanted to be.
I'm a little bit of an introvert, so coming to USC helped me branch out and become my own person. As an introvert, observing everything was already something I liked to do, so I decided to major in psychology to use that outlet as a professional means. I actually registered late, so one of the last available classes was in occupational therapy, which ended up being my minor.
Occupational therapy combines physical therapy and mental therapy, so if a person who loved to do art broke their hand, you could help find another outlet for them to be creative without using the hand. I'm passionate about arts --- I was actually a professional face-painter as a side gig in high school and painted a mural at an elementary school once. I want to help kids growing up in low economic neighborhoods use art as an outlet. I'd love to see them use that as a way to find themselves, their individuality and their creativity.
I've actually worked with kids a lot during my time at USC. Through an organization called Team Impact, I mentor a five-year-old girl named Sofia. She had cancer when she was younger, so the program helps me give her another support system outside of her family to lean on. She's come to a few games now. Considering her story, she has the most energy I've ever seen. Probably because I always give her chocolate milk. She says it gives her special powers.I'm also involved in A Day in Troy along with a lot of other student-athletes here. And when Girl Scouts come, we walk them around campus and talk to them about the importance of staying involved in the community, education, exercise, health and more.
Earning Community Service Athlete of the Month in 2014 was one of my proudest moments off the field. I was always one of the first ones to sign up for any volunteer events, because it's fun to me, but I didn't think anyone was paying attention. It was definitely something I was raised on --- my mom was big on giving back to the community. On Thanksgiving we always we go out to a homeless shelter or just walk around the street and hand out plates of food to people instead of eating. So helping people was something that I was brought up to prioritize and I hope to keep doing it.
I've also learned over the years how to help my teammates on the playing field. When I was younger, a lot of my criticisms were that I wasn't speaking loudly, which as a center back you have to do. You have to be vocal and confident. I was never in a captain position before college, but I've grown to be more of a leader on this team. I think it has to do with the way I was brought up in the soccer world --- I was in and out with the national team, so I usually had the most experience on my teams, and because of that, I wanted to help the others around me. Although my personality isn't being very vocal in the traditional captain type, I think I've grown accustomed to leading with all my experience.
It's crazy to be a captain of one of the best teams in the history of USC's women's soccer program. This year, I want to win a national championship. I feel like the team definitely deserves it. We've been working hard, and a ring would be icing on top of the cake.
Mandy Freeman plays the last regular season game of her career tonight as No. 5 USC takes on No. 18 UCLA at 7 p.m. at StubHub Center. Click here to purchase tickets!
