I had the honor of interviewing a 17-year-old senior named Hailey Hafen. She has greatly impacted our school sports by being a multi-sport athlete with offers in diffrent states. But she has greatly impacted our soccer program so much that she will move onto the next level and play in college at George Fox University in Newburg, Oregon. When asked how young she was when she started she said “She started her sophomore year of high school around the age of 15 years old and that her peers at her church youth group who were on the soccer team at the time convinced her to go and try out” and her first year she made the varsity team.

Sadly during her junior year of high school, she was dealing with minor injuries throughout the season but then went through one of the most difficult injuries in soccer when she tore her ACL the night before the girls 1st CIF playoff game. Which had her sit out for her entire senior year when she had surgery in July 2023, which made her miss almost all of her sports that year but she was then cleared in the middle of Track and Field to be able to run again.

When asked what difficulties she had to face along the way, this is what she had to say “After surgery, I had never been at such a low point and that was very difficult for me. But going through Physical Therapy and slowly gaining my strength and mobility back gave me a little hope. This has also been hands down the hardest year physically and emotionally for me and I’ve felt at times that I had to miss out on so many memories because of this injury. Having left off on such a high note my last season, it’s been super frustrating beginning to train again and having to start all over. I know I still have a long road of training ahead of me but I’m ready to put the work in and make those who have been there for me proud.”

While the school year comes to an end in a couple of days as a senior, most choose to move on to college immediately like this senior. When asked what made her choose George Fox University? She said, “GFU is a private Christian University that is a top-ranked institution for majors.” While she goes there she plans to major in Kinesiology and minoring in Business. When asked what she plans to do in college, she said “At George Fox, I will be completing first my Bachelorette in Kinesiology then hopefully be accepted into the DPT program to finish my Doctorate in Physical Therapy.”

While she plans to move away to Newburg, Oregon. Which is an 18-hour and 41-minute drive. She said she’ll miss her family and having everything less than 10 minutes away like it is here in Blythe. But when asked what she won’t miss she said the weather especially how hot it gets here or the people who do the bare minimum.”

While this interview came to a close I asked one last question, which was about who she wanted to thank, and here is what she had to say “I obviously would like to thank my parents who have always been there for me and my siblings who were forced to be in the cold watching my soccer games. I also would like to thank my coaches who taught me everything I know about these sports and who have gone above and beyond making us not only better athletes but people in general. My teammates have made these years very memorable. I would also like to thank my friends and my boyfriend for being my backbone and giving me encouragement.”