Taelyn Hendrickson leads the women’s soccer team both on and off the pitch

by Brooke Hall

Taelyn Hendrickson is close in age with her teammates on the Crimson Pride women’s soccer team, but there’s a big difference when it comes to experience: She has three seasons of collegiate soccer under her belt, whereas 13 out of the 16 players on women’s soccer roster are freshmen.

At one of their first practices, the team nearly unanimously voted for Taelyn as their captain. But she’ll tell you it wasn’t a popularity contest, and she isn’t a warm fuzzy leader.

“I’m the bad cop!” she says with a laugh. For example, if a player tries to get out their phone when a coach is talking or they don’t go to weight training with the team, you can bet Taelyn will say something.

She also organizes meals out as a team—making sure everyone wears matching attire. Plus, she sets up pasta dinners, pizza nights, CrossFit and weightlifting sessions, movie nights, as well as encouraging her teammates to attend the bowling club, study tables and campus activities together. She says most of the team is coming directly from high school and it’s their first time being away from home. Many are eager to participate in everything, but others have been reluctant to come out of their shells.

“These girls have so much potential, someone just needed to take the reins,” she says of her role as captain, which has proven successful. “It’s working! We’re slowing coming together as a family, and I just love that.”

Hendrickson joined the inaugural IU Columbus soccer team after playing at Holy Cross College. She hadn’t always planned to attend college, but a full scholarship to Holy Cross motivated her to give it a try, and she slowly fell in love with teaching—she’d also love to coach someday. Today she’s a junior majoring in Elementary Education at IU Columbus, where she enjoys the flexibility of hybrid and online classes, the small-town feel, the proximity to her family, and the chance to shape a brand-new women’s soccer program.

“This is the real deal. We’re establishing what our goals and expectations are,” Hendrickson says. She likes how Jason Gough, head women’s soccer coach, emphasizes having fun during practice, “falling in love with the game of soccer,” and constantly improving. Gough applauds Hendrickson for her initiative in helping the team bond and for stepping up as a leader on and off the pitch.

Taelyn adds that being a Crimson Pride student-athlete has far exceeded the expectations she had coming in as a transfer student. “Who I’m playing with and playing for, it’s been 10 times better than I could have imagined.”