Sept. 1, 2015
Every Tuesday, the Nevada athletic communications department will post a feature story as part of its Wolf Pack Weekly series. These stories will provide fans with an inside look at the Wolf Pack, and will focus on athletes on the field, in the classroom or in the community.
By Tara Park
Special to NevadaWolfPack.com
RENO, Nev. - Amongst the 10 newcomers to the Nevada soccer team, one student-athlete, Hannah Wuensche, has traveled all the way from St. Georgen, Germany to join the Wolf Pack.
As Wuensche (pronounced VOON-shuh) enters her first semester of college, she must adjust to the challenges and unfamiliarity that comes with being a freshman and a student-athlete in-season. While those may seem like your average adjustments, she must also focus in on her translation skills with her native tongue being German.
"You have to concentrate on what the people are talking about and you feel very tired by the end of the day," Wuensche said jokingly in discussing her college classes being taught in English. "But I think the topics they talk about I know a lot of them, especially in math, something like that, so that's good because if you know it in German that makes it easier."
Despite the difficulties that come with learning in a foreign language, Wuensche is majoring in psychology. With a high level of interest in the topic, she is not dismayed by the extensive vocabulary associated with the degree. This could be due to her abundant years learning English in grade school. Wuensche started learning English in first grade.
Coincidentally, around the same time in Wuensche's childhood, she was introduced to the sport that would become a defining factor in her life: soccer. Wuensche gives credit to her twin brother for getting her into the sport.
"He always wanted me to come to practice and at first I really didn't want to go, but I came with him and I really liked it and so I stayed with it," Wuensche said.
Wuensche has played just about every position on the field, originally starting out as a striker, but finds herself on the back line for Nevada. Very early on in the season, Wuensche has played in both regular season games and the team's exhibition.
"It was my first game here in the U.S., I was nervous," Wuensche said. "But I think if you are in the game, it's the same. It doesn't matter if you are in Germany or the U.S."
Even still, Wuensche addressed a couple of differences about soccer in the two countries. The obvious difference being that soccer is known as football in Germany. Wuensche said it was a little confusing at first hearing people talk about football, and then come to realize they were discussing American football. The other notable differences are the tactics on the field.
"Here [in the U.S.] it's more physical and in Germany it's more technical," Wuensche said. "I think in Germany we keep the ball more in the back and want to keep possession of the ball and here I think the team wants more to attack."
Wuensche feels she is adapting well to the different playing style as she continues to get more experience every practice and every game. However, Wuensche already has an extensive résumé of successful soccer experiences from her club teams in her native land.
She played for two club soccer teams, SC Freidburg and FC Hardt. In 2013 and 2014, SC Freidburg won the Suedbaden U17 Cup Championship and during Wuensche's final season with the team, they finished second in the Oberliga Baden-Wuerttemberg division. While playing for FC Hardt, the team went undefeated every year as league champions.
"When I was on the U17 team of my club, we played in the highest division in Germany and so we played against the best club teams and I think that was a very useful experience," Wuensche said. "Also, last year we had to play the women's teams because of my age and I think that was useful because you play against older players who have a lot of experience."
Being a part of successful programs provided Wuensche with the opportunity to play soccer overseas. Although she had offers from other universities in the U.S., she chose Nevada because of the coaching staff. In addition, she thinks both the campus and Lake Tahoe are beautiful. In Wuensche's short time in the area, she has already taken a few trips up to Lake Tahoe.
As much as she is enjoying the lake in the summer time, she looks forwards to winter when the ski resorts open. Wuensche was taught to ski when she was just four years old, but about five years ago she made the switch to snowboarding.
"I just wanted to try something new and I liked it," Wuensche said.
Her remarks about snowboarding can also be applied to soccer; Wuensche wanted to try something new, so here she is-a new member of the Wolf Pack family.
Wolf Pack Weekly Archives
Aug. 25, 2015 - The Wolf of Wall Street (Shane Cannon, Football)
