North Carolina State University Athletics
Juggling Soccer and Life
5/16/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
May 16, 2005
RALEIGH, N.C. - Michelle Crocker is tougher than a slide tackle on asphalt.
How else would you describe someone who is still competing at the highest level of college soccer after ligament tears on both knees, three different surgeries and hours upon hours of rehabilitation after each?
How else would you describe a student-athlete who will spend her second year as a co-captain of the Wolfpack women's soccer team while also doing her student teaching at a local high school? She'll spend all day teaching math at a school that will be determined in the fall, working her way up from one to four classes per day. Then she will join her teammates for practice or games.
How else would you describe an independent young girl, whose family split up when she was 8 years old with her parents' divorce? Michelle moved to Raleigh with her mother, while her twin brother Matt stayed in Wilson with her father.
But this summer, Crocker is getting ready for her toughest test yet, when she marries her fiancé of more than a year, John Massey, a former NC State cheerleader. The couple met a few years back while attending youth group at Grace Community Church. They are now members at Millbrook United Methodist Church, where they will wed on June 25.
"We felt like we might as well go ahead and get married," said Crocker, who is a rising junior defender. "There is nothing stopping us. He is not in college. He is already working [as a finance manager at Capital Ford in Raleigh]. He already has a house. So we don't have to worry about moving or furnishings. There was really no point in waiting until I got out of college.
"I have an extra year of eligibility, so I am probably going to get my masters. So if we wanted to wait until I got out of college, it was probably going to be three more years. We just knew it was right. We prayed about it and we knew it was right to get married."
Wolfpack women's coach Laura Kerrigan figures if anyone can handle the responsibility of playing a varsity sport, going through the student teaching program and maintaining a marriage, it's Crocker, who was named the team's most valuable player last fall..
"She is as tough as they come," Kerrigan said. "Her tolerance for pain is very high. Not many people can come back from two ACL surgeries alike she has and still be one of the best defenders in the ACC.
"She also has such maturity for her years. Most students you would be a little worried about them getting married this young. But she and John have been together for a very, very long time."
While it's not uncommon for college athletes to be married - Philip Rivers and his growing family got much attention during his football career and offensive lineman Luke Lathan will become the eighth married player on the football roster when he gets married this June - it's certainly not the norm. Most athletes are so focused on their sport and their academics that they sacrifice a significant part of their social lives and family lives.
Crocker sees no reason why she can't handle it all.
"I don't know that my life is going to be that much different than it is right now," she said. "I don't really lead the typical college life. I know it will be a little hard in the fall because I am doing my student teaching and our season will be going on. It is going to be hard to juggle time between spending time with my new husband, making lesson plans and being a captain on the soccer team.
"It's going to be a challenge, I guess."
But one Crocker is tough enough to handle.
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
