Rachel Hill is a senior at East Central High School located in southeast Indiana and will graduate in June of 2020. Earlier this week, she took part in National Signing Day as she signed her NLI to play for Trine University Women’s Soccer and intends to major in Exercise Science. She has worked hard over the last 5 years to make this day a reality. She started playing soccer at the age of 3, but didn’t start playing club ball until she was 10. A turning point for her was when she decided to tryout for the Indiana ODP team in the fall of 2016. ODP provided a new level of training that was lacking in her club training. Her first year, Coach John Carter taught concepts and strategies that helped her increase her view of the field and anticipation of the ball. The following year, Coach Stacey Peace continued to build on those skills while revealing one of her many coaching attributes. She fostered team building and added a layer which focused on building the emotional side of the player. This resulted in increased confidence in all of the girls. Good coaches can not only teach the mechanics of the game but also have the ability to connect with his/her players on a personal level. ODP was the first place that treated Rachel like she belonged there and with respect.
Rachel spent three years on the ODP team, playing a center back role, and was selected captain for multiple events. In those three years, she received two invitations to attend the ODP RII camp. She has built relationships with young ladies from all over the state because of this program. When she is warming up for a game and notices a former ODP player on the other side, it puts a smile on her face. A few of the ODP teammates that she has played against at the high school level over the last few years are: Katelyn Jansen (2017 '02 Team), Emma Lopp (2017-2019 '02 Teams), and Katie Hofbauer (2019 '02 Team), and there are way too many club contacts to name. Last summer Rachel attended the Trine ID camp as a top prospect. As she was warming up, she looked at some of the other girls at the camp she noticed Andrea Wright (2017 '00 Team) warming up. Rachel had a flashed back to her first year in ODP where she had fond memories of training with Andrea. That may have been a defining moment for Rachel as the last few years of ODP have come full circle with her dream of play college soccer, and choosing Trine University and the Woman's Soccer team home for the next four years.