Staying on the sidelines

For kids, becoming an athlete is easy.

A sport is offered and mom and dad handle the preliminaries. Show up on time and a spot on the team is assured.

Sports are tried on for size, seeing which one fits and which doesn't. Making the team is simply a matter of filling out the right form.

But as the years go by, opportunities become fewer and competition more acute.

Desire and talent, rather than punctuality, is the standard. Often, tough choices need to be made.

Becoming an athlete was easy; remaining one is the hard part.

Branching out

Abbie Hause felt the change before she thought about it.

A soccer player since she was 5 years old, the Champlin Park senior went to the usual preseason meetings in June, prepared, she thought, to get ready for the upcoming season.

"But the high school program here is really intense, and I started thinking I didn't want to put that much work into it anymore," Hause said. "I used to look forward to getting ready to play. Now I kind of dreaded it."

Her decision to forgo her final year of high school soccer came on the drive home from a weekend up north with friends.

Earning a little extra money for college was something Hause (pronounced Haws) believed she needed to do. And soccer never had allowed her the chance to scratch the itch of trying out for the school play.

"I realized I didn't want to play anymore," said Hause, who was the Rebels' starting goalkeeper in 2008. "I wasn't going to go any further in soccer. There were other things I wanted to do with my senior year. Other friends I wanted to spend some time with."

Weighing the choices

For Tesia Elder, it became a matter of priorities.

A two-time letterwinner for Holy Angels, the senior was expected to be a key contributor this season as the powerful Stars, who lost to Mahtomedi in the Class 1A state championship game last fall, pursued a state title.

But last summer, Elder realized that the demands of varsity soccer conflicted with a greater need: money.

"With college coming up next year, I felt it was necessary to help my parents by saving for it," Elder said. "I asked myself, 'How is it possible for me to play in the fall and work at the same time?' "

As the season got closer, Elder felt she knew what she had to do. Soccer, which she had played for eight years -- and still referees and coaches at the youth level -- would have to take a back seat.

"Giving up soccer [in my] senior year was definitely not an easy thing to do, and the decision just didn't happen overnight," she said. "It may seem silly and bizarre to not play senior year. But it is what it is."

Star in two sports

Rachel Bona was an all-state forward as a sophomore on the Coon Rapids soccer team last season. Her speed and awareness had college coaches taking notice.

But Bona always knew that her soccer career had a shelf life.

The reason? Bona is also a star hockey player. So when she was selected to play with the U.S. Junior National hockey team last summer, she realized that the time had come to put away the cleats.

"I knew a time would come when I would have to pick just one sport," Bona said. "And hockey is my main sport. I enjoy it more than anything. That's what I want to do in college."

Common thread

It's not just soccer players who have walked away from the sport this fall.

Kayla Mork, one of the top runners on the 2008 Breck cross-country team, also is spending the fall getting ready for the hockey season.

Orono junior Gavin Kulick gave up a chance to quarterback the football team to focus on a future in tennis.

But while all have different reasons for ending their careers, there is one common thread that complicates the decision: teammates.

Jeff DeJoy, the Coon Rapids girls' soccer coach, was understandably disappointed when he heard that he would be losing a player of Bona's ability. Yet he understood her choice.

"I always knew that hockey was her first choice," DeJoy said. "She got the opportunity of a lifetime. That's what I told the team. I asked them, 'How many of us would do the same thing?' The players have accepted it. It's just like losing a good player to graduation."

Hause said that she struggled with the idea of abandoning her teammates but that it ended up being their reaction that cemented her decision.

"I had plenty of people tell me they needed me, but no one told me not to do it," she said. "They told me to do what made me happy.

"I'm happy with my decision and my life right now."

Elder admits that, more than anything, it's her teammates she misses.

"I was very worried that I would be letting my teammates down," Elder said. "Not being out on the field with them every day is really sad to me."

"But I don't have any regrets. Just lessons learned. And I'm still learning."