Twidle makes immediate impact on CMU soccer team
Coming out of high school, most college freshmen never think about whether they are ready for such a change in lifestyle.
Freshman Laura Twidle graduated from high school in 2008, and CMU wanted her a part of its soccer team.
Twidle, already young for her class upon graduating and not turning 18 until December 2008, was left to wonder whether she was ready for not just college, but collegiate athletics.
It was not just maturity level. There also were concerns over Twidle’s lack of size.
“I’m clearly a smaller person,” she said. “They thought I physically needed to gain some muscle.”
The coaching staff did not know how much of an impact she could make in the Mid-American Conference.
Still, CMU wanted her on the team, and she wanted to be in Mount Pleasant. But there was still one more problem.
Scholarships
The scholarship money was already divided among the players for the upcoming season in 2008-09, leaving Twidle and the coaching staff in a predicament.
However, the coaching staff came up with an idea to allow Twidle to ease into a situation she was not comfortable with while letting her become a member of the team.
Twidle was directed to delay enrollment to Central Michigan and join the team in the spring semester of 2009, when the team had scholarship money available.
For Twidle, it gave her time to mature.
“I felt like I was really young going to school, and I felt like I needed time. When they suggested waiting a semester, it was ideal for me.”
Coach Tom Anagnost said he knew even with a late start in recruiting Twidle and a late commitment, she was one of the players who CMU could count on in the future.
“She was so late (in commitment) and the class below her was so large that it was kind of a balancing act,” he said. “How no one really went after her is beyond me. She is a kid that I wanted from the start.”
Other offers
Twidle received offers from other MAC schools that had the same idea for her to start school in January. But when Twidle sat down with her parents, they decided the best decision was to go to Central in January.
“I thought she was kind of young to go away and I just thought it gave her some time for maturity and she could also take a course here at home,” said Jane Twidle, Laura’s mother.
But after practicing with the team for two weeks before the season started in 2008, the idea of Twidle joining the team that season arose after some scholarship money had been opened up.
But there were too many other factors for Twidle to deal with, and she decided it would be best to commit to the original plan.
Twidle, a native of Ontario, Canada, already planned extensively to come in the spring, and she would have to deal with Visa and bank account situations with only a few days at home to pack.
So Twidle went home after her short practice stint prior to 2008 with an idea of some of her weaknesses the coaching staff pointed out.
She also grew stronger on the field by playing hockey and soccer, and spending a lot of time at the gym to get ready for the jump to NCAA Division-I soccer.
Getting her kicks
Upon joining the team in time for the spring season, Twidle immediately showed her potential.
During the spring, CMU plays the likes of Michigan State, Ohio State and Wisconsin-Milwaukee to keep the team’s level of play high throughout the offseason.
“That spring time with our team really benefitted her,” Anagnost said. “She was our best forward with our team last spring, and she brings another threat on the field that we haven’t had since I came here.”
For Twidle, the spring increased her knowledge of the team, something she could not benefit from if she joined right after high school.
“I liked having the spring because I got used to how we play,” she said. “If I was just coming into the fall and playing into the fall, I would have had less time to adapt to how we play, because how we play is different from how I played at home.”
Anagnost said he saw the difference between the Twidle he originally saw at preseason practice in 2008 and the Twidle of last spring.
“The biggest thing from when we first had her is that she is a much more confident, vocal human being,” she said. “She actually displays a lot of leadership and communication abilities that weren’t really visible when she first got here.”
And early in the 2009 season, Twidle has shown what the spring semester with the team did for her, leading the MAC with 5 goals and 12 points in 10 games.
