Dedicated Player Holly Rushing Is Devoted To Her Family And Playing The Best Soccer She Possibly Can

You can talk to her coach.

You can talk to her teammates.

You’ll hear the same thing.

Rogers High soccer player Holly Rushing is all about dedication.

In the offseason and on weekends, you often can find her out by the Pirates soccer field kicking the ball against the green wall with the white lines painted to resemble a goal.

“Wherever you see Holly she’s practicing,” said fellow team captain Barb Draine, a friend of Rushing’s since they were in kindergarten at Regal Elementary.

Her dedication goes beyond soccer.

Last year, Rushing left her house at just after 6 each morning to catch the city bus to Cheney, where she took Running Start classes at Eastern Washington University.

She’s devoted to her family, too, because “I wouldn’t be this far without them.”

Rushing, 17, says she found herself through soccer.

She used to be the quiet one, “The shy girl with poofy hair,” Draine said.

Not anymore. The job of sweeper demands that a player be vocal, directing the nine players in front of her and communicating with the goalie, the lone player between herself and the goal.

“You can hear her all through the game yelling,” Draine said.

But Rushing’s yelling has remained constructive. She admits it’s been frustrating playing on a team that traditionally finishes in the Greater Spokane League cellar. The Pirates finished 0-13 last season and has one win in ‘99 heading into Wednesday’s game with Shadle Park.

Even so, Rushing said she enjoys the challenge of GSL competition and watching her teammates learn new concepts.

“I have a lot of fun with this team,” said Rushing, a four-year starter. “We can tell when we’re improving and can say `OK, we only lost by this many today.’ When you’re winning there’s pressure. You get so into winning it’s not fun anymore. I just want us to come out of our games and know we tried our hardest and are improving.”

Rogers coach Chris Sande appreciates the upbeat attitude Rushing displays day after day.

Few players enter the Rogers program with the club experience of many other players in the GSL. Rushing is the exception.

She spent the summer with the Spokane Chill, a tournament team made up mostly of former and current college players. She also traveled with her club team, Three Rivers 81, out of the Tri-Cities.

Sande can always count on Rushing, a 5-foot-5 utility player who usually plays sweeper or center midfielder.

She earned first-team all-league recognition last season and hopes to earn the GSL defensive MVP award this fall.

In Rogers’ 3-1 win against Medical Lake on Sept. 10, the Pirates trailed 1-0 before Rushing scored two goals and they went on to win 3-1.

“It is rare to have a player at Rogers with the kind of soccer experience she has,” Sande said. “Dedicated is the word that best describes Holly. Dedicated to the sport of soccer and dedicated to her school. …I have nothing but respect for Holly and the decisions she has made.”

One decision she made this year was not to continue with Running Start. She said she missed the Rogers community last year when she was gone in Cheney every day.

“I have gone to school with a lot of these people since elementary school,” she said. “I’m close with a lot of people here.”

And she doesn’t want to drift too far from that community for college. Rushing hopes to play soccer at the University of Montana, Gonzaga University or Eastern.

She will walk on if she has to.

“It’s just kind of shaped my life,” she said of soccer, which she has played since age 10. “I used to be quiet but I’ve made friends through soccer. It has kept me involved in the school.”