Athletes In Action<\/a>, which taught her that there\u2019s more to life than just being on the field.<\/p>\nAthletes in Action, a Christian sports ministry with chapters on 200-plus campuses and in 60-plus countries, helped Homan realize that her life doesn\u2019t revolve around sports.<\/p>\n
\u201cGoing home the winter of my freshman year and going into summer, I really found my faith and learning through AIA,\u201d Homan told The Michigan Daily. \u201cThey taught me \u2018you are more than your sport. You are a child of God, and what you do, what you produce as an athlete, does not define who you are, and your sport is an extra thing in your life that you can be proud of and work really hard at. But that\u2019s not all of who you are.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
But still, like any big transition, going from playing consistently and racking up awards in high school to now sitting on the sidelines in college wasn\u2019t an easy shift in perspective.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a transition for a 17-18 year old girl to have her whole idea of what soccer is kind of flip around,\u201d Homan said. \u201cBut faith, my coaches, my family and my teammates all supported me through that, and I learned very quickly what my role was and how to be successful and where I could find joy and success in whatever role I was in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/aside>\nDespite the major shift in the time she\u2019s spent on versus off the field, Homan\u2019s faith gave her strength as she established herself at a new post. Homan kept faith that even off the field, she could make an impact. So she became a vocal supporter for her teammates competing on the field. Embracing her role, Homan channeled her faith by uplifting others. Through this, she redefined what contributions matter to her. It\u2019s not just about tallying minutes and saves. Rather, it\u2019s her contributions and her constant presence that have made a positive impact on the team\u2019s culture.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s always been a teammate and has understood the concept of \u2018We over me\u2019 and what is best for the team,\u201d Michigan coach Jennifer Klein told The Daily. \u201cHer foundation in her faith has helped her keep that at the forefront of \u2018We over me,\u2019 and that\u2019s something that she definitely models every single day. And I think it has impacted our team and our team environment and our team culture.\u201d<\/p>\n
That \u2018we over me\u2019 culture, while crucial for team success, can be difficult to hold on to with multiple talented goalkeepers bringing their own individual accomplishments to the table. And as Homan experienced early in her career, having multiple, more seasoned veteran goalkeepers meant not everyone could get equal playing opportunities, as the team typically leans heavily on one or two goalkeepers.<\/p>\n
Despite the setbacks and the long wait for her moment on the field, Homan\u2019s perspective remains forward-looking. Her faith may have grounded and humbled her, but it\u2019s her determination \u2014 and the unwavering support from those around her \u2014 that fuels her persistence. With each season, the goal hasn\u2019t changed, and neither has her belief that her time will come.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlaying for an awesome program and that ultimate goal of getting the chance to play is something that always keeps me motivated,\u201d Homan said. \u201cMy teammates are incredible. The staff is incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/aside>\nAnd this year, Homan\u2019s patience and strong sense of faith is beginning to pay off. She was voted captain by her teammates for the upcoming season, proving that success isn\u2019t solely about doing the most on the field. Now, with just five games under her belt, she\u2019s going to be the leader for the goalkeeping unit this fall.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s great about Sophie is, because she\u2019s been here for three years, she is expected to lead that group,\u201d Klein said. \u201cSophie knows the routine, she knows the habits, she knows the culture, she knows the environment and she\u2019s definitely expected to have a big leadership role within that goalkeeper unit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Through her faith, Homan is being rewarded as that all-encompassing leader for the team. But just because she\u2019s a captain and leader doesn\u2019t mean she\u2019s automatically a starting goalkeeper. With an incoming freshman and an experienced graduate transfer joining alongside Homan and ready to make names for themselves, Homan will need to earn the starting position.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe really feel like (with) the three of them, we will have a good core group of goalkeepers,\u201d Klein said.<\/p>\n
Homan\u2019s time sitting on the sidelines waiting for her chance to go out on the field became a breeding ground not just for skill, but for faith. And even now, as a team captain and leader of the goalkeeper unit, the path ahead is still one she must earn \u2014 one practice, one challenge, one moment at a time. Her desire to play hasn\u2019t disappeared, but Homan now sees the bigger picture of how she impacts her team \u2014 even on the sideline. So while her starting position isn\u2019t set in stone, Homan remains focused on something bigger than just playing time: her faith.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/aside>\n\n\t\t<\/aside>\n
Related articles<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For three years, senior goalkeeper Sophie Homan has mostly sat on the bench watching her teammates on the Michigan women\u2019s soccer team. Appearing in just five games since joining the Wolverines, Homan\u2019s collegiate career hasn\u2019t racked up many statistics thus far. But she hasn\u2019t let this get to her.\u00a0 Because, while she was patiently waiting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1492,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[1659,1658,1661,1662,1660,1657],"class_list":{"0":"post-1491","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-faith","9":"tag-homans","10":"tag-minutes","11":"tag-net","12":"tag-rewarded","13":"tag-sophie"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1491"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1493,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1491\/revisions\/1493"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}