University of Minnesota Athletics
Center Stage: Simone Kolander
2/1/2016 12:00:00 AM | Soccer
Simone Kolander displayed her musical talent long before she became one of the nation's top soccer players. Story by Mark Remme | Read the February 2016 issue of Ski-U-Mah There's a certain rhythmic genius to soccer. The ball movement, quick shifts and ball
control associated with time management and strategy all has a musical flow unlike any other sport.
Sometimes, watching a play develop as a forward brings the ball up the pitch, you feel as though you could add a melody to the movements - an audible soundtrack to a visual masterpiece. The type of precision that often makes the game so beautiful is sometimes eerily similar to the style and shiftiness of a Bach-like ballad.
Simone Kolander knows the beat very well. As a junior this past fall on the University of Minnesota women's soccer team, Kolander led the team with 10 goals - her six game-winners tied her for ninth in the country-and took home both All-America and Big Ten Forward of the Year honors. Her competitiveness, leadership and maturity helped deliver the program's most wins (12) since 2010 and the team's deepest run in the NCAA Tournament in that same span.
She brings a style, a will to win and a musical flow that - when they're most successful - the Gophers try to dictate throughout the game.
"Teams like us, we like to keep it on the ground, pass it, move it. There's a certain aspect of rhythm that is helpful," Minnesota assistant coach Andy Stoots said. "Getting the ball and connecting and keeping the team chasing you. Simone is that type of player that is really important to what we do in that aspect. She helps us get our rhythm and keep a rhythm, because she's a player who wants to be on the ball a lot and be under pressure and make decisions. When we're at our best, there is a rhythmic element. And Simone is really important to that."
Perhaps it is Kolander's other standout skill that helps with her movement, flow and overall athletic confidence.
Long before she was a Division-I college standout, Kolander was auditioning for and performing in musicals at some of the Twin Cities' biggest venues. She was cast in roles in Annie at the Youth Performance Company, Beauty and the Beast at the Chanhassen Dinner Theaters, A Christmas Carol at The Guthrie Theater, and Madeline and the Gypsies at the Children's Theater Company, among others. Throughout elementary and middle school, she followed both her athletic and musical passions in a way few others have likely experienced. She would go from her theater performance to a basketball game to a soccer practice all in the same day. It was an early lesson in the value of time management, working at a professional level and becoming comfortable with the performing-whether it was a song on stage or scoring a goal on the field-that stayed with her long after her time in theater ended.
"It helped me mature faster, because I was around so many adults and working in a very professional setting, which was really hard for a 10-year-old to do," Kolander said. "And I think it was really big for me. My mom said she thinks that starting theater at such a young age, it was one of the best things for my confidence."
Building strength through music
Natalie Kolander noticed her daughter's singing ability very early. It was unavoidable, really, because of the way she belted out lyrics from songs she memorized along the way.
"She was just a natural singer, in tune," Natalie said.
Turns out, that singing ability opened up doors as a child that few get to experience in their entire lifetimes. It became a passion and a pastime, but it also helped Kolander become strong and confident in her athletic and day-to-day life.
But it wasn't always easy.
She was about nine years old when her mom noticed an audition for Annie at the Mall of America. Kolander knew the songs and Natalie brought her to the mall's rotunda to try out for an audition on stage. The line zig-zagged through the concourse and into the mall's hallways, and there was plenty of talented young singers awaiting their chance to belt out a few chords.
Nerves hit pretty quickly. As the two weaved their way through an hour-and-a-half line, Kolander tried to quell those nerves by darting in and out of stores with a fellow auditioner while her mom held her place in line.
"I was mortified, terrified," Kolander said, smiling. "I was like, 'Mom, I can't do this.' But she said, 'I knew you had a good ear for music and I knew you were going to be fine.' She wasn't going to let me bail out of the situation. So I went up there, nervous as heck, and I sang 15 seconds of Annie."
The crowd roared.
"She got out there and belted it out," Natalie said. "And it was the loudest cheer when she got done."
That moment, so minor in scale compared to the rest of her theater and athletic career, planted a seed in Kolander that has reverberated through her life ever since. She was scared, but she persevered. She was overwhelmed, but she endured. And in the end, it proved to her that she could, in fact, perform musically in front of others even when those nerves seemed too overpowering to deflect.
The end result was a new level of confidence that never yielded. And theater, singing, became a passion that would always be part of her life.
"We just started it because she was a very good singer," Natalie said. "And she just started auditioning in theater, and that was her avenue to get in: Her voice. What it's done for her-she's not acting anymore-but what it did was absolutely give her confidence in herself. The ability to go on stage and perform in front of complete strangers, the self esteem to say, 'I know I can do this and have no fear.' It was just an absolutely great foundation for her to use in all facets of life."
That was a door into theater groups, many of those casts of predominantly adults. Sometimes, like at Beauty and the Beast, Kolander was one of four child actors that were cast. That level of professionalism at such a young age also played into how Kolander developed in her childhood, and it brought forth strength, leadership and communication qualities.
She turned the uncertainty she once felt during that Mall of America audition into fuel.
"[I have] not [been] that nervous, for sure," Kolander said. "It was a mix of immaturity - I was nine years old, so just not knowing what to expect. And then, when it comes to sports, it's like I'm nervous for games, but there could be 10,000 in the crowd or 200, and I'm going to feel the same nerves. My dad always says it's great to have nerves - don't let it consume you. It gives you that extra adrenaline and focus. It keeps you on your toes."
Kolander has used that focus and drive to transition into her athletic career. She morphed into focusing on basketball and soccer by high school, but those early lessons on the stage never left her.
"Her confidence through middle school, high school, those leadership positions, the way she carries herself - her confidence in expressing herself and making suggestions and her confidence in her ability," Natalie said. "I don't know if things would have been different if she hadn't done theater. But I absolutely know theater helped build the foundation for those traits."
Becoming an athletic star
Through all her performances, soccer and basketball were always part of her life. She was equally talented athletically. She had the gift, as both mother and father, Chad, played collegiately for the Gophers - Natalie in women's soccer and Chad in men's basketball. Along with that athletic ability she had in-home coaches and mentors that were able to help her develop her fundamentals and skills from an early age.
Those skills began to shine in both, as she played on AAU basketball teams and standout soccer squads through leagues like the Elite Clubs National League, among others. Through year-round programs in each sport, she not only excelled athletically, but she also gained strong friendships with players she'd eventually play with at the U.
At Lakeville North, she played four years on both the girls' basketball and girls' soccer teams, going to state three times in both. In each case, she grew from being a role player into a standout who helped lead the squad.
At 14, she first heard from the University of Minnesota about their interest in her. Ecstatic as she was, her dad gave her more wisdom about her overall development.
"My dad's like, 'That's awesome that they want you to be here, and they want you with the program, but they don't want 14-year-old Simone. They want Simone in four years that worked hard to keep improving,'" Kolander said. "Never settle. Be happy with your accomplishments, but always strive for more."
So she did. She worked hard, refined her skills and grew as a player, a person and a leader. She developed that rhythmic play that she's become known for with the Gophers, and she continued learning how to get better.
Other schools inquired, but she always compared them to the U - a university she grew up visiting because of her parents' roots here, a place of familiarity and a place near home where she could play collegiately but also be close to watch her brothers grow up.
In the end, her athletic career paved a way for her to attend school, get her degree, attend her parents' alma mater and maintain a close relationship with her family. A win all around.
Three years have nearly passed on campus, but Kolander continues to show growth, standout play and an ability to keep amazing her friends and family with her accomplishments.
"It goes so fast," Chad said. "It feels like yesterday it was her first day on campus, and now she's almost going into her senior year. But her biggest growth has been her maturity, becoming a captain and hearing some of the things she's done to help some of the younger players has been rewarding for us, too. She's doing the right things up there and leading, and we can see that on the field, too. For me, I think that's been the most rewarding thing."
Taking the Gophers to the next level
The Gophers held their own last year in the Big Ten, finishing sixth with a 12-7-3 overall record and an 6-4-1 conference mark. They beat eventual national champion Penn State, and they set the benchmark for the type of season they're looking to build in 2016.
"The sky's the limit," Kolander said. "We really exceeded expectations this year."
Now, the focus shifts toward building on that confidence, establishing consistency and getting more and more comfortable with one another over the offseason.
Kolander is right in the midst of those plans, as she has become a standout player both by example and as a leader. As a two-time captain going into her senior season, she'll be looked to as a go-to scorer as the team looks to advance farther than any Gophers women's soccer team has in history - to at least the Elite Eight and beyond.
"Simone's the type of player who wants the ball," Stoots said. "She likes to have the ball at her feet. She isn't afraid to have the ball and have some pressure on her. That's the type of player in any sport that stands out - the one that wants the ball and shows up to get the ball and do something with it after she receives it."
The team is returning nine of 11 starters and essentially 12 or 13 key players from last year. Now, the focus shifts toward improving over the offseason and preparing for what is shaping up to be a potentially special season ahead.
Kolander, with her leadership and style, will be part of weaving this next chapter.
"For us, it's consistency, and one of the hardest things is to be consistent," Kolander said. "But we've got four months of practice, and I think that will help so much. We've had ups and downs, but it's how you respond to do those depths. That's going to be huge."
Still singing strong
Kolander's musical side never left her. She still gets a nudge from her roommates now and again to sing a song or two when they're doing the dishes or working on homework.
Even athletically, she's meshed the two together. She sang the National Anthem at the Metrodome before a Vikings game when she was 14 years old -she considers that, in front of 65,000 people, perhaps her coolest performance yet - and she's even sang the National Anthem prior to her own games with the Gophers.
The gift never left her, nor did the passion. Through soccer, she's helped provide the rhythm that the Gophers need to be successful through her style of play, her tenacity and her scoring ability. She knows she's got one year left to make an impact on this program, and she's looking forward to doing just that.
After that, who knows? If opportunities arise on the pitch, she'll be ready. But one thing she does know is this: Her musical talent has always been there, and it will never leave. It's a part of who she is that always rings true.
"My parents said you only have a certain amount of time where your body will allow you to play sports," she said. "But you'll always have your voice, always have the ability to do something with that. Maybe someday I'll be singing, but right now it's all soccer, all the time."
