Meet Molly Flynn

I first met Molly through the amazing world of football back in 2014 when we toured to Tonga with the Coerver Skills Academy and have had the pleasure over the years of not only playing with her but against her!

Molly has spent the last 4 years in America studying and of course playing football and I thought it would be amazing for you all to hear her story around living overseas, the American university culture and how she has thrived in life. Her energy is infectious, she is always up for a laugh and she can light up any room with her bubbly personality.

So with that said, meet Molly Flynn...

TELL US ABIT ABOUT YOURSELF?

WELL HELLO!!!!! I'm Molly Flynn, 22 years old - born and raised in the beautiful islands of New Zealand. I have recently just arrived back in NZ after spending 4 years living in Tennessee America, where I attended University and played soccer on an academic and athletic scholarship. I just completed my Degree and graduated in early May with a 4.0 GPA and a Bachelor of Science. I love to travel and meet new people and I really really love to talk haha! I don't exactly know where my life is going but that has never stopped me before. To put it simply: I'm just spending my life chasing stories to tell when I'm old !!!!!!

HOW WAS THE PROCESS FOR APPLYING FOR OVERSEAS STUDY?

Like everything that seems to happen in my life, it all happened super fast. I was in my second to last year at high school with no real plans for when I finished and one of the girls I played soccer with said she could help me with the opportunity to go play in America. I knew it would be stupid not to try and so I got all my transcripts, sat the SAT exam, made a video of me playing football and sent it out across the world. Fast forward 10 months and I had signed an offer. Fast forward another 10 months and I was 17 years old getting on an 18 hour flight to a country where I didn't know a single person. I wouldn't change anything about the whole experience and I have a lot of people to thank for getting me where I am today. The crazy thing about it all is I have a journal from when I was 10 years old, where I wrote that one day I would love to play football in the US!

WHAT'S ONE OF YOUR FAVOURITE MEMORIES FROM OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS?

Ooooooh this is a tough question. I sure have had A LOT. I feel like the automatic thing to say would be playing in the national tournament 2 years in a row but honestly, while that was an AMAZING experience when I look back on the moments that stand out to me over the past 4 years a lot of them are small, nameless moments with the people I love. What I did was never as interesting or important as the people I got to do it with. Riding around with my friends blasting music, eating at the cafeteria after practices, the nights we can't remember, sitting at the lake for hours on end and even laughing in tiny little dorm rooms. I spent my 4 years in America with people who even made going to the grocery store an adventure. Places are only as good as the people in it and a tiny little town in West TN gave me a whole lot of people who were so full of light - anything was possible when we were all together.

HOW DID YOU FIND JUGGLING LIFE, PLAYING FOOTBALL AND STUDYING?

I think the best way to keep up with everything is just take it one day at a time. You'd probably be surprised on how l disorganised I was throughout my 4 years! I never had a big grand plan. I just kept putting one foot in front of the other and paved a way. Sure, sometimes when the team was travelling for an away game that meant I slept about 5 hours a night. We often trained 3 times a day and long nights studying turned me into a zombie some weeks but I always made it through. It is hard having a routine especially while travelling 9 hours to games and spending a week away from classes at a time but honestly it suited me better as I tend to get bored with routines. I made my Uni friends a huge priority and that helped my mental health enormously. We were always doing things or finding things to do. I found some amazing friendships which were awesome, as we were all going through the ups and downs of the student-athlete experience together.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOURSELF IN SIX WORDS?

Unfiltered, competitive, restless, wild, driven and free. I have always found this question so hard to answer but I think these 6 sum up who Molly Flynn is pretty well. Heavy on the competitive haha. I always need to move around in life, I love waking up in cities where I don't know my way around and I have this constant longing to try new things. I just want to touch people's lives and tie my hair to the corners of the stars.

WHAT IS AMERICAN CULTURE LIKE?

Different to NZ but in all the best ways. My first semester I struggled with homesickness and thought everyone there was literally insane but I quickly came to realize that I needed to adapt to the way of life there. I can only vouch for the South of US but what they say about Southern hospitality is SO SO SO true. My dad and I were constantly in awe thinking about how loved I was. I always had places to stay, food to eat, and families to love me. I learned pretty quickly that you can get through bad times and keep looking for better ones, as long as you have people who love you.

Just don't mention politics hahaha!

WHAT MOTIVATES YOU TO PLAY FOOTBALL?

I'd say I probably have 3 big sources of motivation. My love for playing, wanting to be the best I can be, and not wasting this amazing life I get. 1. I believe you can only ever become accomplished at something that you love and that has definitely been a big motivation for me over the years. The lifestyle of a college athlete is tough - training 3 times in one day, in ridiculous temperatures, heat or snow.It can be mentally and physically exhausting. If you don't love what you do you'll never succeed in it. I think it really has come down to the passion for the game for me and having that feeling that the field was exactly where I belonged. 2. Being Molly Flynn, I always want to be the best at everything I do and waking up knowing it is a day to get better definitely kept me going throughout my 4 years in America. I know it sounds so cliche but honestly, it never became a chore! Sure waking up at 5am to go to practice wasn't always the easiest thing in the world, but I just started pursuing the thing I loved to do and then I wanted to do it so well that people couldn't take their eyes off me. Every day was another day in practice that I wanted to be the best, to win and go home knowing I kicked ass. 3. When I first kicked a ball when I was 9 years old I had NO idea it would lead me to play in multiple countries, obtain a university degree and that I would learn all about life with a ball at my feet. Not many people get to attend University and play a sport for 4 years and yet I did. I worked hard at my game, and dealt with a few disappointments along the way before I got to the US. I feel I’ve made the most of the talent I have and it has given me opportunities that would take me all over the world. I don’t take any of it for granted and I'll never be able to express how thankful I am for my legs and a round ball !!!!!!!!

DO YOU HAVE A DREAM THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO FULFIL?

Ooooooh this is a good one. My dream has always been to go to college and play soccer in America. Now I've achieved that I get to hit the reset button again. But my main goal is just to live a life I'd want to live twice. I don't want my life to be fine. Or okay. Or even good. I want it to be wild, brilliant, extraordinary. Filled with excitement and love and adventure and freedom. I want it to be mine. The world is here for experiencing and I want to do it ALL. I dream of becoming a citizen of the world, visiting everywhere but belonging nowhere. I know that when I'm laying on my deathbed, fame and money wont matter. Hopefully I'll be the sum of all the stories I can tell.

WHAT IS THE HARDEST THING ABOUT LIVING OVERSEAS?

I honestly find it hard to answer this question as I went to a place that felt so much like a home to me. If I had to choose, it would have to be not seeing family. Apart from the first month or so, I wouldn't say I was homesick much at all. However I don't think I ever fully got used to not having my family in the stands at my games. On days when I was super tired and burnt out I know a home cooked meal would have done wonders lol. Technology is awesome and a lot of the time I was so busy having fun I hardly had time to think about home. Having said that though, definitely after games when I couldn't go to the stands and give my dad a hug, or ask how I was playing, my heart would pang slightly. I also knew how happy they were to see me living my dream.

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS AND PASSIONS AROUND FITNESS?

I have a different perspective about this since becoming an ex college athlete. When you are a competitive athlete you are programmed to believe your value of self worth comes from how well you perform. Noone actually prepares you for how your relationship with body image and fitness changes so much. I dedicated my whole life to training as an athlete - making certain mile times, sprinting until I threw up, lifting heavy weights and eating specific foods. Noone ever talks about stepping into the gym for the first time since moving on from your sport and not having that validation of being an athlete. I think fitness will always be a huge part of my life but I am still navigating how to have healthy relationships with certain aspects. I find it strange that for the first time in my life I don't HAVE to run, I don't NEED to be in shape and I can enjoy eating as a normal person and not an athlete. I still include fitness into everyday but am focusing on trying to enjoy it instead of seeing it as a punishment. I do still feel like if I don't absolutely kill my body or make certain times when I run it was a waste of a workout but hey... I'm working on it lol.

WHAT IS YOUR ADVICE TO ANY PERSON WANTING TO APPLY FOR UNIVERSITY OVERSEAS?

DO IT! Go for it. Yes - it's big. Yes - it will turn your life upside down. Don't be scared. Make choices that make people wonder if you've lost your mind. Fly off the handle. If it excites you and scares you at the same time then it's probably a really good idea to try it. People will tell you your whole life you can't do things or that you dream too big. Do it twice and take pictures. Life is so risky. But the one big risk you should avoid at all costs is the risk of doing nothing. I loved my entire 4 years - I lost and found myself all at the same time.