WAITHIRA IS BLOSSOMING AS A BLUE DRAGON SOPHOMORE

Naomi Waithira almost gave up on soccer. Now a Blue Dragon sophomore, she is on the fast track to a four-year program. (Bre Rogers/Blue Dragon Sports Information)

September 13, 2019

By Adam Kolb
BlueDragonSports.com Contributing Writer

Naomi Waithira grew up in Nyrobi, Kenya, and has been playing soccer since she was 9-years old. She went to high school at Machakos Girls Academy.

It was frustrating for her playing soccer in Kenya, because some are not a fan of females playing sports, despite the fact that there were pretty good teams in Kenya.

"I was almost done playing soccer," Waithira said, "but now I feel like it's just the beginning."

Waithira moved to Norway at 15-years old, and also played in the Netherlands.

She has shown a lot of improvement since her freshman year with the Blue Dragons. According to Hutchinson head coach Sammy Lane, Waithira dedicated herself during the summer and has improved a lot.

She has a goal in two assists through five games for the 4-1 Blue Dragons heading into Saturday's home game against Hesston College, 6 p.m. at the Salthawk Sports Complex.

Waithira has been playing with an ankle injury so far in this young season. In her first game of the season against Redlands Community College, she was playing at about 60 percent, but you wouldn't have known that by watching her.

"Even at 60 percent, she's better than everyone, including the players on the other team", Lane said.

Not only is Waithira changing on the field, she's changing off the field as well. In her first year at Hutchinson, Waithira was shy and not especially outgoing. Now as a sophomore, she is one of the leaders on the team, and she likes to joke around with her teammates.

She's changed so much that her teammates don't even recognize her at times.

"I didn't even know she could talk," Lane said with a smile.

Now, Waithira is regarded as one of the top players in the conference – as a freshman, she had four goals and 15 assists.

Her selflessness is one of her greatest attributes as a player, and that is what her coach has praised her about the most.

The transformation for Waithira on and off the field has been amazing. It wasn't always easy, going from a small village in Kenya to playing soccer and attending a community college in Kansas.

But because she made that transformation, Waithira now had opened many new avenues, including recruitment from four-year soccer programs.