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After her track coach, Nathel Hailey, left Washington-Liberty High School, Anna Rupert wanted to quit track to focus on soccer her last two years. But Hailey told her not to, saying track was the only way to become an elite athlete. So, she stuck with it.

The next year, Hailey watched the District Championship meet as Wakefield High School’s Athletic Director. Suddenly, Rupert ran across the track, wrestling Hailey into a massive hug. He was astonished because he thought she was focusing on soccer. And when he asked her why she continued, Rupert simply said that he told her not to quit. Rupert won the 500-meter and ranked second in the 55-meter that day.

Track partially served as an avenue to hone Rupert’s running skills for soccer. Hailey embraced this, improving Rupert’s form throughout high school. Now, as a freshman forward for Syracuse, Rupert has played in every game this season, scoring two goals.

“I said to her, ‘If you want to stand out, you have to work on the quality of your running,’” Hailey said. “And she understood that immediately.”

To start, Hailey pointed out that Rupert had an “inefficient running style.” Rupert had a poor knee bend and drive when Hailey started coaching her. Hailey said Rupert ran track like she dribbled a soccer ball. He explained to her that she’s not dribbling the ball for 95% of the game, so she needed to run efficiently to maximize speed and stamina.

Rupert did form running drills to keep her knees high, doing wicket hurdles frequently. The smaller, plastic hurdles are close to each other, forcing Rupert to make every step quick, with a 90-degree knee bend. Hailey had the whole team do normal hurdles too, even if they didn’t compete in that event, to get the runners’ form right and stamina up.

“It was really nice for me to be able to run longer races, get my stamina up,” said Rupert, who ran everything from the 55 to the 500-meter. “Working on my acceleration was super helpful. It helped me gain those really quick 10 yards in a game when I need them.”

Rupert said the difference between soccer and track training is the first ten yards of sprints. For soccer, she practices going from a jog to a sprint or from her toes to a sprint. But for track, she started down on the blocks. They were two different ways of starting, but both worked muscles that helped acceleration from any starting position.

Rupert noticed an immediate improvement on the pitch after her first track season under Hailey.
“It was super nice to see, after running track, how much my start improved in soccer, how quickly I could get to the ball,” Rupert said.

Hailey said that though Rupert’s running style wasn’t sustainable because of her knee bends, her raw speed caught his eye immediately. In her first race as a sophomore, Rupert kept up with some of the fastest runners in the state on short sprints.

But during 80 or 100-meter sprints, more experienced runners pulled away from her. She talked to Hailey during the first week, saying she wanted to run longer distances.

Hailey trained Rupert through hurdle drills and longer runs with the team’s best distance runners. After this training, she specialized in the 500-meter, going on to win the event in districts as a junior.

“I love the 500 because I’m a fast person, but obviously there’s people who are insanely fast that can beat me in the shorter races,” Rupert said. “I think the 500 is really about grit, especially at the high school level. I really enjoy just being able to train and push those last 100 meters.”

Rupert scored in back-to-back games against Lafayette and Siena. Against the Saints, Rupert got SU on the board early, scoring inside the box on a pass from Chelsea Domond in the eighth minute. Domond had leverage on the midfielder as she ran down the middle, closing in on the 18. As a defender approached, Domond tapped the ball to Rupert on her right, who accelerated, beating her backside defender to send the ball into an open net.

“Her speed is something that excites us,” SU women’s soccer head coach Nicky Adams said. “She is so talented and has a strong mindset that she will be a force to reckon with.”

She showed so much running prowess that Hailey tried to convince her to stick with track rather than soccer. Because of her natural speed, Hailey assumed Rupert would reach her highest potential on the track. But once he watched her play for Washington-Liberty, he realized he was wrong.

“I said to her, ‘You’re probably just fast on the soccer field. As you get older, you need to be skilled to compete.’ She just laughed at me and said, ‘Oh, I’m skilled too,’” Hailey said. “When I went to watch Anna I was like, ‘Oh yeah, she’s a soccer player running track, not the other way around.’”

Published on October 5, 2022 at 11:43 pm

Contact Wyatt: wbmiller@syr.edu