Alexa Seiler

Hey everyone, hope you're having a great one. Sam Brief here with the fresh shy states pod for you. And today I'm bringing on the goalie. Freshman goalkeeper for Chicago State Women's Soccer, the pride of Deutschland. Alexis Seiler comes on the pod. And Alexis is a fascinating story because she comes from a small town in Germany and had never even left Europe. And next thing you know, she's one year into college playing soccer, studying marketing, at a division one school in the third biggest city in America, which again, she had never been to before stepping foot for day one of class. So Alexa took a big leap of faith and she's loved it, a chance to remake herself to challenge herself and soon she'll be a sophomore for Chicago State Women's Soccer. So a great conversation with Alexa. I think you'll learn a lot about her mindset, German culture and a little bit about her soccer inspiration. So before we get to Alexa, a reminder that our partners at BSN Sports are the largest providers of team sports equipment and apparel in the country. And they'd like to thank all the coaches out there who truly are the heart of the game while BSN Sports is the best at equipping athletes. Coaches are the best at equipping lives. And that's the real final score. Learn more about how BSN Sports can save you time off the field by giving you more time to impact lives on it. Go ahead and call your local BSN Sports Sales Pro or visit BSNSports.com today. And now here's Alexa Seiler. How you doing? Hey, good. Thank you. Long way to get to Chicago State. You're one of the many international student athletes here. You come all the way from Germany. Let's just kick it back to your hometown to start. I'm curious. What do you miss most about home? I probably food. Food? Yeah. I can talk food. Tell me what you miss. We have a lot of good food, I would say, but like the most thing is like schnitzel. Well, you would probably say like fried chicken here. It's like very good. I miss it a lot. And schnitzel compared to fried chicken for the schnitzel uninitiated listening to the podcast, right? It's like a flattened. It's very flat. Like some of it can be paper thin and it's delicious. Your family make it for you. You go out for it back home. Yeah, like actually my mom made it for me the first day I came home. So it was pretty nice. So she note, did she text you and say like, hey, what do you miss? And you said I want schnitzel or is she just so good of a mother that she read your mind and made you schnitzel? She read my mind. I basically walked into the room and there was it like on the table. That's a good mom. Yeah, it was really cute. That sounds like the kind of thing my mom would do. So our moms are cut from the same cloth, I guess. Okay. So you miss the schnitzel, anything else, food wise or other? I live in like in a small town. So I miss a little bit like the town vibes because like right now Chicago is like so big big of a city and like the town vibes where you know everyone around you or stuff like that. It's like, it's really cool. It's a small town that you come from. Tell me a bit about it. It's like basically, like it's a small town, like we don't have like a lot around. It's like a town with a supermarket, like a sports club and like one little school where like all the local people go, but like other than that, there's nothing really around it. So it's like you walk around, you know everyone, everyone knows you. Basically, when you walk to the supermarket, you meet like six people you know and you say like talk to them so it takes like an hour to go there. Oh man. And frankly, that'd be a disaster for someone like me because I tend to have long-winded conversations. So I would go like two, three hours probably in the supermarket to buy my schnitzel or my ingredients for the schnitzel. Yeah, exactly. So you went from small town in Germany, everyone knows your name. And then you end up in the big city of Chicago, right? The third biggest city in America, one of the great cities of the world. And not only is it so big, but you don't really know anyone because you're from a different country. When you first arrived here, what sort of shock was that for you? I mean, the good thing was that I had the team and I knew like people from the team before so I could like focus on them and they showed me around like I had someone to talk to. So there was a big help for me, but other than that, like it's very overwhelming when you like walk in a big city. I think that even Germany has like this big of a city, like at all, like not from the population here, but like from the buildings and like the skyscrapers and everything. It's like, but it's so nice because like it's like completely the opposite where I live. So it's really beautiful here. It is beautiful. And as someone who grew up in Chicago and has once been to Germany, been to one of your great cities in Berlin, I can attest to that. Like Berlin's a huge city, but it feels different. You don't look up and see the sears tower reaching through the clouds sometimes. And all the grandeur of Chicago, it's just different. And you're not even from Berlin. You're from a much smaller town. Yeah. What do you remember about your first time walking through the city of Chicago? Um, I had a teammate Diana. She showed me the whole city. She made like, I felt like a tourist kind of thing. Was she like a tour guide? Yeah, she was like a tour guide. Was she walking backwards? I feel like a true tour guide walks backwards. Yeah. And she showed me everything with her hands, and like explain me everything because like she like, no city she lived here, and like, I'm very grateful that she like showed me everything. And like basically everything necessary, you have to see when you're in Chicago. Um, yeah, it's really nice here. What is your favorite thing about Chicago? Favorite thing or favorite place to go? Favorite place to go is probably the, uh, I don't know the name, but it's like a place where you can see the city from the outside. It's like, uh, is it Navy Pier? No, it's like the other other side. The other side? You can walk there with the ocean walk. Kind of like on, like right on the lake? Yeah, it's like right on the lake. Huh. You see the city from an outside part. Maybe you'll take me there or we're last Diana. Yeah. I can ask her. But the view is beautiful, right? I mean, it's the skyline. It's the whole downtown. The skyline. You see everything. It's. Yeah. Wow. Had you ever been to America before you came? No, I never left Europe. Wow. Yeah. So take me through the decision making process because of course now I'm talking to you. You've got one season of division one soccer in America and a year as a student at an American university under your belt. But if it were this time last year, you're a German from a small town who's never been to America and never been outside of Europe. So how did you get from point A to point B? Basically, it's like in Germany, it's very different when you study. You're just focusing on studying and there's literally nothing you could like really do at the university. And sometimes you even have to stop your sport or whatever you do like your hobby because there's no time. And I knew like I want to study but I don't want to give up like my sport. So I was like, where can I do it to like just combine those things and my friend actually did it before me from Germany. She went here to New York. So I was like, I want to try that too to like maybe find a place where like women's soccer is like even like bigger in kind of sense and it's more appreciated too. So that's where my decision was made to come to the US. Are you familiar with the American or the English phrase? Knock out two birds with one stone. I don't know the English phrase but I think we have like this kind of same phrase in the world. Yeah, sort of like you do two, you accomplish two things at once. You come here to Chicago State and you can play soccer. You can study two birds one stone. Give me the phrase in German. Oh gosh. I don't remember. You don't remember? I don't remember. That's fine. Hey, you know what? I don't know what either in German. Even though your last name was German. Yes. Okay. This was the craziest thing. And if you're listening to this podcast and you don't know my last name, it's brief. Sam brief, which of course is an English word. So I've never even thought of the German implications but Alexa came into my office about a week ago and she said, Hey, did you know your name is a German word and I said no. But what is it? And you said? It's letter letter like writing a letter. Yeah, can you use my name in a sentence? Mmm, I write by in brief and you told me what means I'm writing a letter Brief brief And um your goalkeeping counterpart on the women's soccer team Stella Chiara Dia who's from Holland she said hey, it's also a dutch word and it means the same thing And of course all of our languages stem from like the same roots so that's not terribly surprising So Alexa you made that decision, but of course knocking out two birds with one stone playing soccer studying it's great But you also have to leave home you have to leave friends family culture What was the most difficult part about deciding to come to America? Probably that you go somewhere where you don't know anyone yet And you don't know if you like it if you don't like it And it took me like a year Like in Germany to Think about like okay, I really want to go And it would be kind of sad if I come here and I don't like it and I go back like Immediately so that was my hand like I hope I like it. I don't like I I hope my friends make a lot of like new people and everything like that What your family say as you were in this year of deciding? I mean, they don't like it obviously because Who wants heard like a part of the family on the other side of the ocean? but um like I am already Like 21 when I left so it's probably easier to let me go when I'm like a little bit older I know like I had a lot of experiences already so Yeah, but obviously or like no no parents one like their kids to go somewhere else like so far But kudos to your mom for allowing you to do what you want and then when you come home She just tries to woo you back a little bit. Hey, here's the schnitzel Remember what you had when you were home. Yeah How often do you keep in touch with them when you're here? Um, I try to call a lot to like FaceTime that I see them. So I think three to four times a week Uh, I called them. What about during the season like let's say it's a Saturday at One o'clock Chicago time which is what like nine o'clock eight o'clock in Germany PM You've got a game. Mm-hmm. Are you calling them at right after? Are they watching? What's the situation there? So mostly I call them in the bus or like in the bus to the airport or in the bus to the game depends like where we're going Uh, or I call them before I go to the school or something like that and they I think they're not watching but they like reading the Instant the live stats. Yeah, they're reading that and then like they text me like after Yeah, or I call them after the game sometimes too Okay, so I want to know about the phone call after You Were a part of a shut out win and the first conference win for Chicago State Women's Soccer ever It was last October at home against Abelene Christian A one to nil win and you're the goalkeeper so that nil is very important Tell me about the post game phone call Yeah, I was really happy and my parents are really happy to because like it was really hard the beginning Um every every time my parents is like yeah, keep your head up The game the win will come and then it came so it was like It was a really really happy phone call because like if you lose like Games and then you really win one It's I think you're even more happy and there's like even more feelings to it Then uh, yeah, it was a good call right you started the season On a big losing streak and then you got that big win at home You know, just the other day. I was actually going through some of the photos. We have For all of our sports across the whole season and when I was going through the women's soccer pictures I have so many of you After that game just beaming. I can see it on your face. So I really hope your parents If they didn't get to see it. I hope they got to hear that sort of happiness in your voice I was really happy not even that we all like that we won But also they like I finally got like a zero And like no goal there was uh for me is like the biggest achievement Like for me and for a goalie that's What you want right exactly your soccer career When and why did you decide to focus on goalkeeping? I'm always fascinated by goalies because it's like you've got the whole team Everyone is running around trying to score But then you've got these unique people who are like no, I don't want to try to score I just want to be in a different colored shirt and stop everything. So yeah, what was the inspiration? Actually, uh, I started playing Like as a nine or a winger on the field when I was three years old and I went into the goal when I was like 10 or 11, I think and I didn't even want it to go It was because like we didn't had a goalkeeper And um when I was so young like I think I was the only one who wasn't afraid of the ball at that time So sometimes it's that simple, right? You're just the one who's not afraid. Yeah, and my coach said back then like yeah, we switch Like you go into the goal this game the other person goes into the goal that game After I went in there once I never got out till now It sort of trapped you it was it wasn't as much of a goal as it was a cage for you, right? But I but I like it. I like it It's uh, I mean you're the one at the end you can make like a big impact and If you have like if you play on the field and you have I don't know nine not so good players and you were like a good player You cannot do a lot because you need the other people But you have like a big impact as a goalkeeper to like let no goal into the goal So I really like their feeling of like being the last man A woman of course It's such an important position, right? All the pressure is on you You're literally wearing a different color. That's how important you are What sort of feeling do you have at the beginning of a game? When you first step in the goal and it's zero zero and you're about to get started and you See all the players in front of you and the other goalie on the other side and you know Game rides are dyes with you I'm I'm really excited because um like we we already like lost a lot of games but We didn't lost them as bad as the year before basically, so there was already a huge impact So I was like I want to be the person who Brings like even more impact. So in my head is like okay, I want to do this like we got this I want to win this game So um, I tried to like be as confident as I can to like let the other people see like hey, I'm here Um, we got this together. We will Run this and we will win your confidence. Mm-hmm. Where does that come from? Uh, I have no idea Because I like I was out of soccer a lot because of my surgery. So that was a knee surgery, right? Yeah, so I think the like this was like coming here was like the first real Timeline where I played like a lot of games So but I think I just came here with the thought like uh Yeah, I do this here. I mean, it's a new country for me like a new environment and I can just like Like be me from zero again, and I think that helped a lot to Like be confident about it because no one knows me You know that's so interesting to me to be You from zero again You're talking about it in a soccer context, but is there also a social academic aspect to that too where you come here and No one knows you no one knows your family your friends, right? You're kind of starting over What does it feel like to start from zero? It feels good because like Everyone in their lives like had decisions or moments or situations who where they like Be trapped or Don't know how to like get out anymore and everything like that. So It's kind of good like to have the opportunity to like do everything new again and um Yeah, I think It's it's important for me because um like having a completely new start is like Shows like how you really want to be like you can show everything without like because a lot of people in your hometown They already know you for a long time and you couldn't can never really change because they already know how you are But when you start from zero, you can build like the way you are and the way you want to be. That makes sense. That makes so much sense. And so many people don't really ever have that opportunity to start over or really go back to the drawing board about who they are, who they want to be. I'm really curious when you realized that you were kind of starting from scratch in America, what type of person did you set out to be? Um, I think at home I was really like really um, however I say, I didn't talk a lot. I was very shy kind of way. I didn't want it to be in like the middle part, how you say it? Right, center of attention. Yeah. And here kind of like, soccer wise, I really changed in that way. I mean, I'm a goalkeeper. I have to be kind of center of attention too because I have to be loud. I have to like tell my people where to move and like everything like that. So like, they helped a lot. Do you feel like that's been the situation in the rest of your life outside of soccer? Because of course you're yelling and pointing screaming when you're on the pitch. But are you also more vocal in the classroom and social situations? I think I am more. I'm not a big person who's like very loud. So it's gotten better for me. But like you're not changing from like 360 degrees. So you still stay who you are. But like you can like round it up a little bit better for you. Right, that's important. You're you, right? You know, you're not remaking yourself. This is not, you know, extreme makeover Alexa edition. Like this, you're still you. And you have to be true to yourself. But you're in a totally different environment. How do you feel now at this stage in the game? We're talking in the spring. You've finished your first season. You're about to tackle finals and finish your freshman year academically. How do you feel? I feel very good. And I feel like I'm like a part of Chicago, Chicago state. I'm like I feel better now. I know a lot of people already do like things I really like. And you live with some of your teammates. Tell me about that. I live with Carmen and Julia. That's Carmen. I say though. And Julia Oliva era. Right. What's that apartment like? I mean, we're all international. So it's like we have kind of the same vibe. So it's it's really nice. We do a lot together. Like we grew together. Like really good. And I really enjoy like living with them. What's your favorite part? Part of living with them. Oh, um, I think that we all like do stuff together. Like go out together. Um, play soccer together. Then, um, everything everyone does their part in the apartment and everything is really like, um, calm. Yeah. And there's no fight and everything. Oh, no fighting. It sounds like a great situation for you because not everyone has a living situation. Fight free. So who does to you? Carmen and Julia. Alexa, you mentioned that when you came here, you wanted to find somewhere that valued women's soccer. Who are some of your inspirations in women's soccer? And I'm thinking back to when you were a kid in Germany. I actually started playing with guys. So like with like when I was little, I started really guys. And I think like my dad made me want to play soccer because he was a coach and everything. And where do you coach? My hometown. Okay. Not like a big club. But I think the person who I grew up with is like my friend who also came to America. We transferred to every club we went together and it was like like a really good friendship and everything. So we kind of like just fit good together, like playing soccer, eyes and everything. So yeah. And when she went to America, I was like, yeah, I want to do that too. This is the one in New York. Yeah. So where is she playing? She played for Nayak. Okay. Yeah. And how is she liking it? She really likes it. Yeah. She's like almost done. So she's like in America for a long time now. Bunch of Germans coming to America, studying, playing soccer. We've talked soccer. What about the studying? I know you're a marketing major. Why'd you choose that? I think because when I worked in Hoffenheim, I could see a lot of marketing in there also in the bank where I worked before. I really enjoyed more the marketing part because in this internship kind of thing, you can look in like all the parts of the company. And I really enjoyed the marketing part more than like being in a service in a bank. So I was like, yeah, I think that's the right thing for me. And Chicago State had it as a major. So I was like, yeah, like let me try it. And I really like you. And this was an internship you did at a bank in Germany the year before you came to Chicago State. So you found this passion for marketing. What's something you might want to do after college in marketing? Any ideas? Yeah, I try to, of course, when I finished my degree, like do something with marketing, but also like try to stay at like the soccer and sports area. So the club where I worked at Hoffenheim, it's his name has a marketing area. So I would love to go there or in another soccer club. Like maybe it doesn't even have to be Germany. So I can imagine like living in a other country too. I would love to go somewhere warm because I, that's a good idea. Yeah, right? You're not at the right place for that. I know. I know. Yeah, but I try to do something with both after I think that's my goal. What's marketing for, let's say soccer? What's soccer marketing like in Germany compared to here? Is there a big difference? Like for my degree in my major right now. Right. I don't think it's a lot different because you have to sell stuff to people. And I think it's everywhere almost the same. So I mean, I'm only a year here. I have like general classes right now and that's so many marketing classes yet. I probably can tell you in like a few years when I finished it. We'll check back. We'll do a part two when you're on your way out the door. Yeah. And I'll ask you all about the marketing. Alexa, Tyler, I want to finish out with something I like to call a lightning round. So here's how it's going to go. For about a minute, I'm going to ask you rapid fire questions and you just tell me quick one word answer. Okay? You ready? Yeah. Here we go. Tell me on a scale of one to ten, how good of a cook are you? Seven. What's your favorite kind of animal? A lion. If you were an animal, what animal would you be? I think a dog. Okay. What kind of dog? A golden retriever. Not a German shepherd? No. Okay. What's better? Cake or pie? I don't actually know the difference. Oh, interesting. I guess maybe in Germany, they're more of the same thing. Like just kind of general pastries. How's a cake then? I guess cake. Okay. Birthday cake. What's your favorite city in Europe? I think Istanbul. Istanbul. Wow. What do you like about Istanbul? Like it's really beautiful. Wow. Yeah. I want to go there. You should. I'm going to go. My next question. Can you buy me a ticket to Istanbul? If you pay. Okay. So the answer is no. Alexa, what's the best type of candy? I like twigs. Oh, yes. Twigs is really, hey, I'm right with you there. Put it in the freezer. Have you ever tried that? No. Okay. Put it in the freezer next time. Okay. What sort of superpower would you have if you could pick any? I think like, I don't know the name, but when you can like just visit other things that just disappear and teleportation. Yeah. Right? Like you could be like, I want to go to my house and each Nitzel in Germany right now. Bam. Yeah. I want to go to Istanbul. Okay. I like that teleportation. And then finally, what is the best season? Summer. Summer. Okay. Well, you know what's We're talking in the spring, you know what that means. It's almost summer. I'm really excited Alexa, thanks so much for coming on the shyestay pod. Of course. Thank you for having me Great chat with Alexa siler learned a lot from her got a lot of respect for her as someone who went to school 20 minutes down the street from my hometown She did far from that right goes over the Atlanta Ocean new language new culture new everything And she'll be back next year for year two. So that was Alexa. I'm Sam. Hope you have a great rest of your day As always subscribe to the shyestay pod on apple or Spotify and make sure you're following us at shy State cougars on social media have a great rest of your day and an adios from Chicago