Carina Cooke '22 Recruiting Profile

I am a multi-sport student-athlete, currently a senior at Winter Sports School in Park City, Utah. The Winter Sports School is an accredited college preparatory  charter school with a very unique school year which runs from April through November, which gives student athletes the rest of the winter season to fully pursue our winter sports of choice. Mine is alpine ski racing, which I have competed in since I was 9 years old. It is also a school where I am able to play soccer at a high level, both for Park City High School, as well as club. 

You might ask why my commitment to ski racing is relevant to my capabilities and potential as a collegiate soccer player. I believe my two sports are very complementary. Ski racing requires passion, commitment, strength, explosiveness, fitness, and mental toughness, all qualities that I bring to the pitch when I am playing soccer. Of course soccer gives me fitness and agility that surely benefits my ski racing. Proof of this is when we do physical testing for ski racing and over the years I have consistently achieved among the highest scores for both men and women is the dreaded beep test (thanks to my soccer coaches).

Although I love both sports, as I am looking forward to my future and thinking more about what I want my life to look like in college and beyond, I have decided that I want to pursue playing soccer in college while achieving my education goals. As I have been able to ski and play soccer consistently throughout my athletic career, I have come to appreciate soccer more because of the team aspect. I really love working together with my teammates and I am always looking to see what I can give and do for my team and not what I can do for myself.