Full Circle: How Three Saints Are Growing the Beautiful Game

After winning an OCAA championship and representing their college at Nationals, Alessia Olivito, Lily Collins, and Lily Jas are giving back, one junior practice at a time.

There's a particular kind of wisdom that only comes from having played the game yourself, knowing when to push, when to pull back, when to let a kid figure it out on her own. Three members of the St. Clair College Saints women's soccer team are putting that wisdom to work on a very familiar pitch.

Alessia Olivito, Lily Collins, and Lily Jas, teammates who helped the Saints capture an OCAA championship and earn a fourth-place finish at Nationals, have taken on coaching duties with the junior girls soccer team at Holy Names High School. For all three, it's less a career move and more a calling. It's their way of giving back to a sport that helped shape them.

"It's just a great way to give back to the community. It's full circle, honestly."

Alessia Olivito told Powerplay Sports

Olivito, reflecting on how she ended up on the sidelines in a coaching role, was refreshingly candid. "I think it's just a good opportunity," she said with a laugh, before admitting the experience has been better than she expected. "This group of girls has made it actually a really enjoyable experience. They listen when we're speaking."

Olivito and Collins graduated from Holy Names. Collins is known as a ferocious player and enjoys sparking a fire with the young Knights.

"When I have a coach that's as fiery as me, I feed off that energy. I think when they hear me yelling for them, cheering, they get more hyped up."

Only 21 years old and already a graduate, Collins is thinking longer term. Her uncle coaches in the United States, and she'd love to follow in his footsteps, perhaps even returning to coach at St. Clair or Holy Names one day. "It's something fun, you know."

Brennan grad Lily Jas' path to the Holy Names sideline was a little more self-directed. She wasn't officially asked, "I kind of invited myself," she admitted without apology. "I've always wanted to get involved with coaching, especially since I think my playing career with St. Clair is over."

She has enjoyed her part on the staff and is thankful for the opportunity to stay connected to the game she has played for most of her life.

"It's a sport I love so much. I've been playing since I was four. Even if I'm not playing anymore, I hope to always be involved."

There's something quietly powerful about what these three are doing. They're not paid coaches. They're not fulfilling a course requirement. They're at Holy Names because the game gave them something: community, discipline, confidence, friendship. They want to pass that on to a new generation of players in Windsor.

Something must be working because the Knights won their invitational tournament earlier this week beating Villanova 1-0 in the championship game.