The Competitive Spirit of Chloe White

What do you get when you combine a competitive spirit, an in-your-blood passion for soccer, and an unwavering faith in yourself? You get Chloe White.

Chloe is a Laurel Springs School scholar and athlete. On the field, she plays to win, and off the field—well, she does the same.

The fierce center attacking midfielder (a position in soccer also known as the 10) found herself in the sport after many a day of kicking a ball back and forth with her father, a former collegiate soccer athlete himself, and discovering that soccer isn’t just a talent for the White family. It’s an instinct. She loves the sport for “the competitive aspect, and the community that’s formed around it.”

“Soccer is a great way to spend time together with my dad,” Chloe says. “I love to go out and train with my dad or sister. We have some turf in our garage and we’ll play soccer or soccer tennis, just kind of pass the ball around.”

Don’t let Chloe’s modesty fool you. She does far more than just pass the ball around when she’s on the field. You don’t want to be an opponent in Chloe’s way. When asked whether she believes soccer requires more of a laser-focus or more of a clear head, she said laser-focus, all the way.

“I’m more focused on thinking about everything because especially in the position that I play, you really have to be checking your shoulders,” Chloe says. “Seeing who’s behind you, focusing on how to get out of space, how to get into space. Just finding where your next pass is going to be. It’s more of a thing that you have to think about, especially in games. But in practice, I feel like it’s more fun to get your mind away from things. Have a free mind.”

Laurel Springs School and TOVO Academy give Chloe White everything she needs to be a successful student-athlete

Chloe began competing in middle school, starting with club soccer. Her interest and skill in the sport quickly grew as her school career progressed until she was slated to play at an esteemed soccer program, the TOVO Academy in Barcelona, Spain, during her freshman year. Being halfway around the world meant that brick-and-mortar classrooms just weren’t going to work. After arriving at the soccer academy and connecting with several students who had also attended Laurel Springs, Chloe joined our community in the fall of 2019.

Our online educational solution gives her everything she needs to be a successful student-athlete dynamo. The 11th grader says she wouldn’t have time for her rigorous training schedule if she were still in public school. She attended online school while recovering from an ACL tear for a year-and-a-half, and she was able to recently take an entire month off from Laurel Springs to travel back to Barcelona. She has since re-enrolled and says she feels highly supported in her educational goals.

My teachers have been really helpful when I’ve needed to ask a question,” Chloe explains. “They usually answer really quickly, which is super nice, because sometimes when I was in a normal high school I wouldn’t get a response back, or not right away.”

Even with support, striking a balance as a student-athlete is never easy. Chloe works on schoolwork in the mornings and afternoons, goes to soccer practice in the evenings, and works with a strength coach and speed trainer twice a week. Adding an injury into the mix certainly made a flexible, asynchronous schedule all that more important. In her 18 months of recovery, Chloe still continued with her coursework and made it to physical therapy every day.

“Being able to balance both school and soccer is being able to handle the pressure because there’s a lot of pressure in school and there’s also a lot in soccer,” Chloe says. “So just being able to handle the stress level that comes with both and being able to balance both.”

Currently, Chloe is an aspiring collegiate player on the hunt for the right fit in a college or university. She hopes to major in criminal justice, criminology, or forensics, but first, she’s focusing on ID camps where she can scope out schools—and vice versa.

Following her ACL tear, Chloe was told things may never be the same on the field—if she even made it back out there. But she never dwelt on that as a possibility.

“That’s probably my biggest accomplishment, being able to come back because I had knee surgery and everything,” the Laurel Springs 11th grader recalls. “Being able to play again, because a lot of players can’t, or can’t play the same. So I think that’s probably a big accomplishment for me.”

Chloe never doubted herself. Soccer, after all, is in her genes. Is it always easy? No. Is it possible? Absolutely.

“I worked hard and I was able to get back to where I wanted to be eventually,” Chloe says.

I am not a perfectionist, but I like to feel that things are done well. More important than that, I feel an endless need to learn, to improve, to evolve, not only to please the coach and the fans but also to feel satisfied with myself. It is my conviction that there are no limits to learning, and that it can never stop, no matter what our age.

-Cristiano Ronaldo