Give Me One Season to Play Here: Tracy Chapman’s Year on the Soccer Field: Before the Grammys and global fame, the singer-songwriter spent a college season on the field—just as women’s soccer was finding its footing—and left her teammates speechless when she finally sang. (Jonathan Williamson, Jul 01, 2026, Narratively)
Bill Gehling: She would have just signed up and said she was interested in trying out. We would have run three or four or five days of tryouts. And she had to beat out the others in the pool.
Jen Luscher: Even though nobody was cut, we still had tryouts. Not enough players back then.
Nicole Crepeau: Tracy and I were fabulously unskilled coming in as players, but athletic.
Lynn Roth: Tracy had that great speed, but she could have used a few more foot skills.
Bill Gehling: She came in and she was a fantastic athlete, super strong, super fast. Limited soccer skills at the time. But that was not rare, right? Most players in the team were relatively limited in the soccer skill area. But she was competitive. She was tough.
Heather Sibbison: We were doing these drills and I remember thinking, “Wow, she is really fast.” She, effortlessly, kicked my ass in a sprint drill.
Nicole Crepeau: She just blew us all away.
Bill Gehling: She played forward for us.
Lisa Raffin: I played the middle of the field and she played on the right side. I could feed her the ball down the line and she would streak and then be able to cross the ball back, feed it back in. I remember being like, “Wow. I could never do that.”
Heather Sibbison: I can’t remember her ever yelling on the field, or talking much. She was very quiet. But very positive on the field and on the bench as well.
Bill Gehling: She was an exceptional athlete, but just a solid soccer player. She was tough. She was aggressive. But off the field, she was as sweet of a person as you would ever see.