High IQ Hauenstein smarts
from lack of soccer
By Chris Walker
Becca Hauenstein is a bright girl and a great athlete, especially in soccer.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t demonstrate any of that on the Wheaton Warrenville South pitch due to the coronavirus pandemic this spring. That took away the intelligent junior’s chance to show off what’s in her head while she’s in her cleats.
“Even from my old soccer coaches I’ve had in the past and the (other teammates) parents, they’ve always told me I’m a very smart soccer player,” she said. “They don’t elaborate more than that.
“They say ‘You’re so smart when you’re on the field.’ I don’t know if I notice that I’m being smart. With where I play it’s especially important to be smart in knowing where the girls are, if it’s best to go attack and make a tackle or stay back communicating and stuff like that.”
Guy Callipari, Wheaton Warrenville South’s longtime coach, said Hauenstein is one of those special players who is able to see the game differently.
“She’s young and what she’s doing is playing out of instinct, and she probably doesn’t realize she’s playing out of prior knowledge,” he said. “It’s what gives her those instincts to get out of pressure situations.
“She understands the game so well. She can handle pressure well and understands the nuances. She sees things a lot different than others. Her soccer intellect allows her to understand the tactical 11 versus 11, and that’s pretty good for her age.”
She’s seemingly always several steps ahead of the competition.
“They always say to try to be five steps ahead thinking, and I think she demonstrates that extremely well,” Tigers senior Sara Berardi said. “It’s rare when she turns the ball over, and she’s usually very good with driving up the sideline or passing through the middle. She’s a very skilled player.”
Berardi first got to know Hauenstein a couple of years ago -- Berardi often gave Hauenstein rides home from practice.
“I would give her a lot of rides home, and the summer going into (my) junior year, we’d hang out a lot and then we’d grow kind of apart until soccer season started all over again,” Berardi said. “Last year was the first year I played with her. She’s very calm and collected. She’s very easy to play with and has a lot of speed. She’d get in that attacking third when she could get up there and is a very good defender.”
Hauenstein plays fearlessly and takes in her experiences and utilizes them as learning opportunities to improve.
“She’s always had in her a competitive spirit and courage to get into situations where someone that young might not want to because of the fear of something going wrong,” Callipari said. “She typically doesn’t fear that. She goes into those environments with the belief that they’ll always work out.
“It doesn’t, but she learns from being in the experience. For a lot of kids, it takes a long time and courage to get there, and the coach’s mentality of holding onto the reins of development. But based on her tactical ability, she can go box to box, so she’s been allotted the opportunity to explore and develop an idea of space and time and been able to play up to her strengths.”
Hauenstein was one of two starters who returned for the Tigers team. She was excited to see what the team could accomplish despite fielding a team with far less inexperience than it has had in recent seasons. The Tigers went 14-5-2 season in 2019.
“I think the past two years we’ve actually had an obviously strong team and stuff,” she said. “The seniors that graduated last year took up the majority of the team and were the leaders. It was disappointing we didn’t go as far as we had hoped.
“With all of the graduating I was hoping to play a pretty big role. I think Cal (Callipari) wanted to get me higher up the field this year in hopes of scoring goals and stuff.
“We lost a lot of girls who were scoring. I thought we would’ve come out strong. It would’ve been a little rocky at first because of being a new team, but there were high hopes of making a name for ourselves.”
Hauenstein loves to get on the field and battle for her team. She finds the game exhilarating.
“I think one of the biggest things I love is to get out of the back and be part of the offense and attacking,” she said. “I feel I’m a little shorter than average, but I’ve been able to hold my own. Cal (Callipari) has played me at center mid a few times so he sees me being able to get the ball and distribute and switching. Last year we already had those forwards. I also played some center mid last year with Allie Anderson being hurt.”
The versatility bodes well especially for a Tigers team that had a lot of question marks in the lineup after graduating 11 players who had 39 years of varsity experience between them.
“Her initial forte is at a back position, preferably the left back so she can come inside and run into open spaces,” Callipari said. “She likes anticipating and stepping up and taking long runs. … She’s a fairly prominent cross country runner as well. That would definitely be her strong suit, and we’ve also seen her capable in a 1-v.-1 environment and accepting that challenge and using that extra step. Not knowing what we had coming back, but with her credentials, we might have been able to give her that dimension and open the defense a bit. So, we thought that might be a challenge for growth as a player for her.”
These days it’s been pseudo-soccer for the Tigers with a few Zoom calls every week as well as workouts that teammates can do on their own. That’s about all you can do during a soccer season that didn’t include games.
“It’s been extremely upsetting and hard,” she said. “Everyone is able to stay fit and think about it and do workouts, but it’s not the same as being with the team.
“I can kick around the ball with my dad, but he’s not like most people actually playing the game. He can pass it back to me. We haven’t played in so long now that we’re all so anxious. When you can’t do something that’s a huge part of your life, it’s super hard right now. Everyone wants to be out there.”
The thought of actually playing a game intrigues Hauenstein so much because its lengthy absence is foreign to someone whose life has revolved so much around it.
“Everyone else is in a similar position, and it’s hard for everyone,” she said. “It’s going to be hard with not playing for a few months and then to try to get a swing of things. But I’m also really excited for that. I’ve always known I loved (soccer), but now I love it more than ever. I’m anxious to even practice.”
For now, it’s been virtual practices.
“We keep in contact a lot,” she said. “Cal (Callipari) sends us workouts three times a week and my teammates will get together in group chats, and we’ll talk most days. And we did a drive-by for all our seniors.”
These days with little soccer action occurring, she’s doing a little of this and that, typical for high school athletes nationwide who are stuck with the same situation due to the virus.
While her senior teammates are beginning to wonder what lies ahead with college in the fall and whether campus will be open or shutdown and done remotely, Hauenstein is looking at her options for playing in college.
“I’ve built relationships with a few coaches,” she said. “Hopefully the next time I’ll go out and play I’ll be able to get an offer soon. I know at least one that thinks I’m pretty strong. I think the hardest thing now, even though I’ve built relationships with coaches, everyone is in a dead period and they haven’t been able to see me in a while.”
Some coaches have had the opportunity to see Hauenstein live in action. Others have only seen highlight footage or game films.
“Some have only been able to see a little of me,” she said. “I’m eager for them to see me play. I had a few colleges who were going to fly out or come out and see me this spring that had to put it on pause. Now I don’t even know when I can get to club practice again. And if fall (college) sports get cancelled all those girls will get another year. It will then be based on what colleges are still taking recruits.”
Sadly, this process of finding a school, which is often demanding and difficult, is also exciting and unforgettable for the student-athlete -- they see their hard work and commitment pay off. When a program is interested in you, and willing to commit so much time reading up on you, watching you play and traveling to see you in person, it has to produce a feeling that’s hard to beat.
Hauenstein has seen her former teammates in club go through the process when she played up a year with the Naperville Soccer Association. This is a time of her life she was looking forward to. Now it’s gotten complicated, but she’s remaining positive that it’ll all work out for the best.
“I feel good that I’ll have options, good options, and I’m excited for that,” she said. “College has been a part of me for a while. I remember being on a team in NSA in eighth grade and some people committed who were older than me, and it was always exciting to see where someone was going. I was excited for that so it (stinks) that (it’s affected) one of the most critical parts of the recruiting process. But I know a lot of other girls who are in the same boat, so we’ve talked about it.”
She’s also talked with her older sister Sarah Hauenstein, who led Wheaton Warrenville South to the girls golf state title in 2016 and was named DuPage Valley Conference Player of the Year twice, about the process. Sarah now golfs for the University of Illinois.
Cousin Billy Hauenstein helped the Tigers finish as the runner-up in Class 3A boys cross country last fall, as state champions the previous fall and has finished eighth overall individually the past two years. He’s heading to Bradley in the fall. So, she’s got a couple relative resources to turn to for advice about the recruiting process.
“I’ve never been someone that needs to go really far or close to home,” she said. “I certainly don’t want a really small school. I’m looking for a school of about 30,000 (students), but I haven’t been super picky. I’m more on the actual experience than the reputation of the school. I think if a college shows interest in me, I’ll feel out the coaches and go see the campus and then figure out if it’s right for me.”
Hauenstein is considering political science and maybe pre-law but acknowledged that she isn’t completely sure yet. She also hasn’t really considered what lies ahead with Wheaton Warrenville South soccer, although at least 17 players on their spring roster could be back next year along with whomever is coming into school in the fall.
“I haven’t thought too much about next year,” she said. “This year we only had a few weeks together, and we still didn’t get a good feel of what we were going to look like. I’m not sure how the new girls would’ve been. I trust Cal (Callipari) would’ve put the right girls in, but we weren’t able to see soccer abilities with scrimmages canceled right before.”
She’s started to run for her cross country season in the fall, hopeful that school will be back in the classroom and high school sports will be back at that time. She is also spending a lot of time at home with family, waiting this whole thing out, really just taking it a day at time.
“I don’t know much about what’s happening in the summer, but we can’t have soccer camp here,” she said. “I’m running for cross country for the fall and being outside can be a ton of fun with family, but sometimes being with them, like being with the same people for a few months, can get a little crazy. We’ve been watching lots of movies, played some games, and both of my siblings have had birthdays this so we’ve done some fun things.”
from lack of soccer
By Chris Walker
Becca Hauenstein is a bright girl and a great athlete, especially in soccer.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t demonstrate any of that on the Wheaton Warrenville South pitch due to the coronavirus pandemic this spring. That took away the intelligent junior’s chance to show off what’s in her head while she’s in her cleats.
“Even from my old soccer coaches I’ve had in the past and the (other teammates) parents, they’ve always told me I’m a very smart soccer player,” she said. “They don’t elaborate more than that.
“They say ‘You’re so smart when you’re on the field.’ I don’t know if I notice that I’m being smart. With where I play it’s especially important to be smart in knowing where the girls are, if it’s best to go attack and make a tackle or stay back communicating and stuff like that.”
Guy Callipari, Wheaton Warrenville South’s longtime coach, said Hauenstein is one of those special players who is able to see the game differently.
“She’s young and what she’s doing is playing out of instinct, and she probably doesn’t realize she’s playing out of prior knowledge,” he said. “It’s what gives her those instincts to get out of pressure situations.
“She understands the game so well. She can handle pressure well and understands the nuances. She sees things a lot different than others. Her soccer intellect allows her to understand the tactical 11 versus 11, and that’s pretty good for her age.”
She’s seemingly always several steps ahead of the competition.
“They always say to try to be five steps ahead thinking, and I think she demonstrates that extremely well,” Tigers senior Sara Berardi said. “It’s rare when she turns the ball over, and she’s usually very good with driving up the sideline or passing through the middle. She’s a very skilled player.”
Berardi first got to know Hauenstein a couple of years ago -- Berardi often gave Hauenstein rides home from practice.
“I would give her a lot of rides home, and the summer going into (my) junior year, we’d hang out a lot and then we’d grow kind of apart until soccer season started all over again,” Berardi said. “Last year was the first year I played with her. She’s very calm and collected. She’s very easy to play with and has a lot of speed. She’d get in that attacking third when she could get up there and is a very good defender.”
Hauenstein plays fearlessly and takes in her experiences and utilizes them as learning opportunities to improve.
“She’s always had in her a competitive spirit and courage to get into situations where someone that young might not want to because of the fear of something going wrong,” Callipari said. “She typically doesn’t fear that. She goes into those environments with the belief that they’ll always work out.
“It doesn’t, but she learns from being in the experience. For a lot of kids, it takes a long time and courage to get there, and the coach’s mentality of holding onto the reins of development. But based on her tactical ability, she can go box to box, so she’s been allotted the opportunity to explore and develop an idea of space and time and been able to play up to her strengths.”
Hauenstein was one of two starters who returned for the Tigers team. She was excited to see what the team could accomplish despite fielding a team with far less inexperience than it has had in recent seasons. The Tigers went 14-5-2 season in 2019.
“I think the past two years we’ve actually had an obviously strong team and stuff,” she said. “The seniors that graduated last year took up the majority of the team and were the leaders. It was disappointing we didn’t go as far as we had hoped.
“With all of the graduating I was hoping to play a pretty big role. I think Cal (Callipari) wanted to get me higher up the field this year in hopes of scoring goals and stuff.
“We lost a lot of girls who were scoring. I thought we would’ve come out strong. It would’ve been a little rocky at first because of being a new team, but there were high hopes of making a name for ourselves.”
Hauenstein loves to get on the field and battle for her team. She finds the game exhilarating.
“I think one of the biggest things I love is to get out of the back and be part of the offense and attacking,” she said. “I feel I’m a little shorter than average, but I’ve been able to hold my own. Cal (Callipari) has played me at center mid a few times so he sees me being able to get the ball and distribute and switching. Last year we already had those forwards. I also played some center mid last year with Allie Anderson being hurt.”
The versatility bodes well especially for a Tigers team that had a lot of question marks in the lineup after graduating 11 players who had 39 years of varsity experience between them.
“Her initial forte is at a back position, preferably the left back so she can come inside and run into open spaces,” Callipari said. “She likes anticipating and stepping up and taking long runs. … She’s a fairly prominent cross country runner as well. That would definitely be her strong suit, and we’ve also seen her capable in a 1-v.-1 environment and accepting that challenge and using that extra step. Not knowing what we had coming back, but with her credentials, we might have been able to give her that dimension and open the defense a bit. So, we thought that might be a challenge for growth as a player for her.”
These days it’s been pseudo-soccer for the Tigers with a few Zoom calls every week as well as workouts that teammates can do on their own. That’s about all you can do during a soccer season that didn’t include games.
“It’s been extremely upsetting and hard,” she said. “Everyone is able to stay fit and think about it and do workouts, but it’s not the same as being with the team.
“I can kick around the ball with my dad, but he’s not like most people actually playing the game. He can pass it back to me. We haven’t played in so long now that we’re all so anxious. When you can’t do something that’s a huge part of your life, it’s super hard right now. Everyone wants to be out there.”
The thought of actually playing a game intrigues Hauenstein so much because its lengthy absence is foreign to someone whose life has revolved so much around it.
“Everyone else is in a similar position, and it’s hard for everyone,” she said. “It’s going to be hard with not playing for a few months and then to try to get a swing of things. But I’m also really excited for that. I’ve always known I loved (soccer), but now I love it more than ever. I’m anxious to even practice.”
For now, it’s been virtual practices.
“We keep in contact a lot,” she said. “Cal (Callipari) sends us workouts three times a week and my teammates will get together in group chats, and we’ll talk most days. And we did a drive-by for all our seniors.”
These days with little soccer action occurring, she’s doing a little of this and that, typical for high school athletes nationwide who are stuck with the same situation due to the virus.
While her senior teammates are beginning to wonder what lies ahead with college in the fall and whether campus will be open or shutdown and done remotely, Hauenstein is looking at her options for playing in college.
“I’ve built relationships with a few coaches,” she said. “Hopefully the next time I’ll go out and play I’ll be able to get an offer soon. I know at least one that thinks I’m pretty strong. I think the hardest thing now, even though I’ve built relationships with coaches, everyone is in a dead period and they haven’t been able to see me in a while.”
Some coaches have had the opportunity to see Hauenstein live in action. Others have only seen highlight footage or game films.
“Some have only been able to see a little of me,” she said. “I’m eager for them to see me play. I had a few colleges who were going to fly out or come out and see me this spring that had to put it on pause. Now I don’t even know when I can get to club practice again. And if fall (college) sports get cancelled all those girls will get another year. It will then be based on what colleges are still taking recruits.”
Sadly, this process of finding a school, which is often demanding and difficult, is also exciting and unforgettable for the student-athlete -- they see their hard work and commitment pay off. When a program is interested in you, and willing to commit so much time reading up on you, watching you play and traveling to see you in person, it has to produce a feeling that’s hard to beat.
Hauenstein has seen her former teammates in club go through the process when she played up a year with the Naperville Soccer Association. This is a time of her life she was looking forward to. Now it’s gotten complicated, but she’s remaining positive that it’ll all work out for the best.
“I feel good that I’ll have options, good options, and I’m excited for that,” she said. “College has been a part of me for a while. I remember being on a team in NSA in eighth grade and some people committed who were older than me, and it was always exciting to see where someone was going. I was excited for that so it (stinks) that (it’s affected) one of the most critical parts of the recruiting process. But I know a lot of other girls who are in the same boat, so we’ve talked about it.”
She’s also talked with her older sister Sarah Hauenstein, who led Wheaton Warrenville South to the girls golf state title in 2016 and was named DuPage Valley Conference Player of the Year twice, about the process. Sarah now golfs for the University of Illinois.
Cousin Billy Hauenstein helped the Tigers finish as the runner-up in Class 3A boys cross country last fall, as state champions the previous fall and has finished eighth overall individually the past two years. He’s heading to Bradley in the fall. So, she’s got a couple relative resources to turn to for advice about the recruiting process.
“I’ve never been someone that needs to go really far or close to home,” she said. “I certainly don’t want a really small school. I’m looking for a school of about 30,000 (students), but I haven’t been super picky. I’m more on the actual experience than the reputation of the school. I think if a college shows interest in me, I’ll feel out the coaches and go see the campus and then figure out if it’s right for me.”
Hauenstein is considering political science and maybe pre-law but acknowledged that she isn’t completely sure yet. She also hasn’t really considered what lies ahead with Wheaton Warrenville South soccer, although at least 17 players on their spring roster could be back next year along with whomever is coming into school in the fall.
“I haven’t thought too much about next year,” she said. “This year we only had a few weeks together, and we still didn’t get a good feel of what we were going to look like. I’m not sure how the new girls would’ve been. I trust Cal (Callipari) would’ve put the right girls in, but we weren’t able to see soccer abilities with scrimmages canceled right before.”
She’s started to run for her cross country season in the fall, hopeful that school will be back in the classroom and high school sports will be back at that time. She is also spending a lot of time at home with family, waiting this whole thing out, really just taking it a day at time.
“I don’t know much about what’s happening in the summer, but we can’t have soccer camp here,” she said. “I’m running for cross country for the fall and being outside can be a ton of fun with family, but sometimes being with them, like being with the same people for a few months, can get a little crazy. We’ve been watching lots of movies, played some games, and both of my siblings have had birthdays this so we’ve done some fun things.”