Charles Nailen/The Hoya
Sport: Soccer
Position: Forward
Hometown: State College, Pa.
High School: State College
School/Year: COL ’04
Major: English/Women’s Studies
Minor: Art
High School Highlights: Earned nine varsity letters in soccer, indoor track and outdoor track … Received All-State honors (1999) and All-District honors (1997-99) for soccer … Two-year soccer team captain and team MVP … Member of All-State team in track four years … Track district champion 400 meters and member of two-time district champion 4×400 relay team.
Georgetown Highlights: Named Big East co-offensive player of the week … Named to the Land Rover/Umbro Kickoff Classic All-Tournament Team, earning tournament offensive MVP in the process … Ranks 7th all-time in Hoya goals and points … 2001: 2001 ECAC Tournament MVP … Led the team with 15 points … Scored two Game-winning goals versus George Washington and Binghampton in the ECAC Semifinal game … 2000: Led the team in scoring during the 2001 spring season with 12 points netting five goals and two assists.
When did you first start playing soccer? I started when I was eight.
Why soccer? It wasn’t so much soccer – I played just about every sport when I was a kid: softball, basketball, gymnastics … I guess I just narrowed it down when I was in high school. I was probably more into track than soccer.
So then why didn’t you try out for the track team instead of soccer? Well with the caliber of the track team here … There’s not a limit to how much better I could become in soccer. But in track there are physical limits.
Most demanding thing about soccer: The time commitment. The way our schedule is set up, we have so many away games in one stretch. The first stretch we had six games in 12 days, so it’s physically demanding.
What do you hold as your greatest non sports-related achievement? I won the Silver Key for my art portfolio in high school. It’s a state-wide thing.
Favorite way to relax or de-stress: I definitely do this every night: put on Britney Spears or something and dance around.
Best concert you’ve ever been to: I went to the Creed concert at the MCI Center. I didn’t even like them before I went, but we had really good seats in the front row, and it was really fun.
If your house were on fire, name three things you would grab on your way out: My computer because I’m always on-line, my violin becasue it’s one of the things I won that’s actually worth something and probably my teddy bear because it hasn’t left my bed since I was two.
When did you start playing the violin? When I was three years old. I stopped to concentrate on sports when I was 11, but now I just play for fun.
Favorite breakfast food: Cinnamon swirl toast.
Who is your personal role model and why? Chyna from the WWF. In high school my friends were WWF fans and I kinda looked down on it. But then I started watching it, and now when I lift or go running, I joke that I’m training to look like Chyna. I admire that she’s so strong. At least she’s a female with a different body type.
Favorite childhood memory: I got to play Tinkerbell in the school play when I was in kindergarten.
Biggest sacrfice you’ve ever had to make for sports: That’s an easy one – one of my biggest interests is art. I wanted to go to an art school, but there’s no art school that’s D-1 soccer.
Do you want to go into art when you graduate? I think I want to go to grad school. I want a job that fosters creativity. I don’t want to be an artist, but I’m really interested in film editing. My ideal job is producing biographies or something like that.
Favorite band or musician: I’m a diehard Aerosmith fan. I also really like Britney Spears.
Favorite athlete and why? Michael Jordan, but not for him being an amazing basketball player. When he was at the top of his game he tried to play baseball, and he failed miserably – in the public eye. I think it’s cool that he could put his pride aside and try something new.
If you could be great at any sport other than soccer, what would it be and why? Track. I would call myself a track junkie – I love the fact that it’s raw athleticism and nothing else gets in the way. Raw capacity and that’s it.
Favorite candy: Skittles
If you were stranded on a desert island witht onr CD, one book and one person, who/what would you bring? CD: Dixie Chicks Drive; Book: Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree; Person: My boyfriend.
The characteristic you value most in a friend: Loyalty
Favorite place to go in D.C. : Jogging along the monument path. There are a lot of people out and it makes me forget I’m in a city.
Ideal vacation: One that never ends! No, I would go to the Bahamas or St. John’s or a beautiful island in the Caribbean. I would just go hiking or snorkeling and hang out on the beach.
Biggest pet peeve: People who are stingy.
Favorite movie: Braveheart.
Least favorite movie: Austin Powers 3. I liked the first two, but the third one was terrible.
Do you have any siblings? A younger brother, Eli, 14. We’re close … We pulled together this summer and made a movie. He’s my opposite – not athletic – but he wrote the script and we cast people and now I’m in the process of putting it together.
If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go and why? I think I would want to go to Thailand. It’s a part of the world I’ve never been to. The climate seems nice and comfortable, and the food is probably really good. I like Thai food.
What do you do to get psyched for a game? I watch old highlight tapes of high school or of the past couple of years at Georgetown. It reminds me what our potential is and how good we can be.
If you could meet one person, dead or alive, real or fictional, who would you choose and why? Annie Leibovitz -she’s a photographer. She did this great book called Women. It’s just hundreds of pictures of all kinds of women – athletes, dancers … I think it’s the most beautiful book.
Do you have any hobbies? My roommates and I collect mullet photographs. With our soccer schedule – my roommates are soccer players – we travel a lot, and run into a lot of mullets. At first we’d just point them out and laugh, but then we started taking pictures. We’ve compliled over 60 or 70 on our wall, and they’re labeled.
What’s under your bed right now?
I keep my violin under there.
