Bugay - My First Day Here Was Hard!

“I remember seeing players tackling hard in training, and I was thinking, ‘Wow, am I ready for this?’” Sammi Bugay, FC Indiana midfielder

Midfielder Sammi Bugay says her first-ever training session with the first team was “war” and left her wondering whether she is ready for this level.
The Lafayette born midfielder was 15 when she first started to train with the first team in 2015.
Bugay - who has gone on to establish herself as a key member of the first team - admits she had reservations about accepting the offer when it first came through.

I remember seeing players tackling hard in training, and I was thinking, ‘Wow, am I ready for this?’

“When I left the first day I wasn’t sure whether I would come back,” she told fcindiana.org. “I remember my first training session with the first team and it was war. I said to one of my younger teammates when I left, ‘This is different than youth soccer!’

“Two weeks later we had the WPSL Under-20 Championship and I was more worried about whether I would be alright to play against college players.”

Bugay realized the opportunity was too big to turn down, but says her early months were a steep learning curve.

“It was a difficult decision because of the travel involved,” she said. “But I thought it was time for me to do it.

“It was tough at first. When you’re fifteen, playing against 20-25 year old players… it’s hard.

“Then I was straight in training with the first team, so I wasn’t really in with the reserves who were my age, and the only girl I could talk to was Suraya Whitaker. So the first month was difficult for me. My first season was unbelievable to be honest.”

Updated 18:20 - 3 Sep 2019 by fc indiana webmaster