Building an Environment Full of Energy

By: D. Scott Fritchen

Kansas State head soccer coach Colleen Corbin cannot believe it. She was hired at K-State on December 2, 2024. That's seven months ago. "It feels like it's been two weeks," she says, "but it also feels like it's been two years."

A recent 11-day adventure across Italy probably felt like an incredible, small eternity as well. The trip meant so much to the Wildcats, who have four transfers and five freshmen, and needed time to grow together as a team and as players. They will soon begin practice before opening their two-game exhibition season at Missouri State on August 2.

K-State officially starts the season against Oral Roberts on August 14 at Buser Family Park.

Corbin spoke with K-State Sports Extra's D. Scott Fritchen about her first six months as K-State head soccer coach while looking ahead at what's to come.

D. Scott Fritchen: So, December 2, 2024, you were hired as head soccer coach at K-State. How long does it really feel like it's been since you were hired to lead the Wildcats?

Colleen Corbin: It's funny because it feels like it's been two weeks, but it also feels like it's been two years. We've crammed a lot into a pretty short period of time, but it's just a testament to how receptive the team has been and how hard our staff has worked. It's been a whirlwind, but in the best way.

Fritchen: The K-State soccer team just completed a recent trip to Italy. What exactly did the trip entail?

Corbin: The trip was incredible. We were there for 11 days, got to see four cities, played three matches against different teams. We traveled practically the whole expanse of the country starting up in Venice. We definitely got to see a lot of the country. Being able to have the group together for a couple weeks in the summer was super impactful for the players and staff, just being able to get to know each other and bring in our new players, as have four incoming transfers and five incoming freshmen, so to be able to train with the group for a week before we left for the trip, and spend those 11 days together traveling and meeting new people and trying new food, it was incredibly positively impactful for everybody. I know the staff and I, in particular, just really enjoyed getting to see the players interact, especially the returners having an opportunity to implement this new culture and energy and intensity that we felt that we've built into the program. It was fun to watch them lead the new kids. It was also great to watch the new players embrace everything and feel what we perceive to be really comfortable and confident in our space and being excited to be a part of it. It was really, really awesome on all fronts.

Fritchen: What did your team show you on the field?

Corbin: Unfortunately, the competition that we played wasn't super challenging, so I didn't necessarily feel like we were tested a whole lot, which I guess was good and bad. For example, we scored 25 goals in three games, which is a lot of goals. We gave up one goal and it was a penalty kick. From that standpoint, it wasn't super challenging. I think the biggest thing we took away from the soccer-playing experience was getting to get different groups of players to play together. We had different lineups for every half of soccer we played, so there were different groups of players that got to play together, and we mixed in the newcomers with returners, and looked to see what it was going to look like. I think the most fun part about it was really feeling like we were able to see everybody's personalities and talents shine through just through the confidence they've gained and the freedom that we feel like they're playing with. It was fun to see people try new things and feel confident in taking that risk. One of the things that we've been intentional about trying to instill into our group is that we're going to have to fail in some things in order to become better. That then requires them to have the confidence to take risks and be OK to fail. It was really fun to see that shine through and to see it all work out. To see the players rewarded for that was really fun.

Fritchen: As a coach, is this the busiest summer you've been a part of?

Corbin: I feel like I find myself swimming in work every single summer, but I'm very much a work-hard, play-hard girl, so when we do get time off, I try to be really intentional about doing fun things and going cool places. It's definitely a mixture of work and play because I think that's important. Our staff has been pretty tireless in our recruiting efforts the last couple months. We were in Italy on June 15, which is one of the biggest days in the recruiting calendar and we're able to talk to 2027 recruits, and we were in Italy when that happened. So, we had to be creative and still be impactful. We were FaceTiming kids into the wee hours of the morning from Italy. From that standpoint, it's definitely been a little crazier than normal, but at the same time, all our staff has had these opportunities to do fun things and go fun places. I end this stretch with picking up my husband in Maine and him accomplishing this incredible feat of hiking 2,200 miles up the east coast. It has definitely been a busy summer for sure, but it's all been good stuff and we're excited about our work paying off.

Fritchen: Through the first six months, what aspects of the team and the program are you most proud of?

Corbin: A couple of recruits have asked me this recently, and I think for me, it's the culture. Soccer is soccer and different coaches are going to have different perspectives, different ideas, and different ways that they want to play the game. What we feel like we've been most intentional about and that the girls have been the most intentional about is building an environment that the girls are excited about and proud to be a part of and that has challenged them and pushed them and made them uncomfortable, but has also brought them closer together. Then it's putting them into tough situations and expecting them to rise, and also going and doing fun, silly things, like ax throwing on Valentine's Day or painting pots at the start of spring and having team dinners. That's been really fun to watch and be a part of. To see it all come together this summer when the girls were tasked with welcoming in this new group of people and how that really manifested and the way they brought in that group and the autonomy in letting them know the expectations, that was really cool to see. We put together these videos for this recruiting cycle and they featured a lot of our players in these videos, and some of the feedback we got was that people were really impressed with the energy they felt coming off the screen. When people figure out, 'Oh, wow, this group has only been together in this way for six months,' I think that's something that people are most impressed by. That's what we're most proud of.

Fritchen: You're 32 days away from traveling to play at Missouri State in your exhibition opener. Exactly what do you hope to accomplish by then?

Corbin: Our practice report date is really just meetings and checking the boxes from a compliance standpoint, and then we'll start training that following day. You hit the ground running. We do have the luxury of having that time together in Italy, so we feel that we have a better understanding than we normally would heading into preseason, but that time for us is about implementing what we want to do systematically from a soccer standpoint, and also getting the group together and giving them space to continue building relationships because that's such a huge part to what allows good teams to be successful. We'll train in a three-on, one-off rhythm in preseason, which replicates what we do in the fall. I think the days of 14 double-days strung together are over. Science has told us that's not good for anybody. If we do a double-day, we'll train once hard in the morning and then do some sort of tactical session or a chalk talk or film session where we can still use our time wisely and gain ground, but it isn't as physically taxing on their bodies.

Fritchen: What do you like best about this team?

Corbin: There are so many different types of kids, different personalities that make each kid special, and that's the beauty of sports, in my mind. When you're trying to get the most out of people, at least in my experience, it backfires when you try to shove everybody into the same box. That's been one of the cool parts about the last few months is feeling like we've given the players space to show up as themselves and not feel like they have to anyone but themselves. The best teams are able to figure out how to bring everybody together to make it work and they value what each person brings to the table on and off the field. That's been the coolest part is watching everybody rise and expand and take up space and be successful. We have such a dynamic group of humans with completely different skillsets on the field, and as a coach that's hopefully one of the most fun parts about our job is getting to figure out the best combination of personalities and talents to win a championship.

Fritchen: What are the biggest questions you have in your mind as you embark upon the start of practice?

Corbin: One of the biggest things we questioned in the spring, too, was how was this group going to respond to adversity and to things being hard. The group here with us going into the fall knows the level is never going to change and the expectation is never going to change. They're just going to get better at handling hard. Having not been through a fall with this group yet, one of the biggest things we question is how they will respond to the travel and training and wins and losses and ups and downs and being able to stay consistent mentally and emotionally, which is arguably harder than staying consistent physically. That's probably the biggest question mark, is how they are going to handle things going into the fall and what that's going to look like. Our staff will do the best job we can to keep the ship steady and navigate the highs and lows and hope that they can continue to show up as the best version of themselves all the way through the fall, and ideally getting better toward the end of it.

Fritchen: Who are some players who've really stepped up as leaders or who've shown you something that you're really excited about?

Corbin: That's such a tough question because I could say something about every kid on our team, honestly. Going into the spring, I had zero preconceived notions. I didn't look at film, nothing, and knew absolutely nothing about anybody, which was intentional. I didn't want to have preconceived notions and take everything at face value and give everyone the opportunity to prove that they wanted to be there and cared about it. It's really cool, actually, because when I reflect on it, I could say something about every single player and how they've shown up in one way or another. We do have a leadership council that the players voted on. Those are the ones that they look up to lead our group, but the ones that made it through the spring, decided to be here, decided to help this program win and compete, every single player, truly, has played a role and has surprised us in one way or another.

Fritchen: What have you learned most about yourself in these first months at K-State?

Corbin: I'm always learning, honestly. That's the goal, right? None of us is ever going to have it all figured out. I'm just really grateful for the experiences I had leading up to this adventure because without those experiences, I wouldn't be stepping into this space the way that I am. So much of life is trial and error, and I'm really, really fortunate I have the staff that we put together. It takes a village. I'm fortunate for the experiences I've had to give me momentum and confidence stepping into this role, and I'm very grateful for the people around me who care deeply about the success of the program and our girls — associate head coach Julie McClure, assistant coaches Ali Hanif and Elissa Post, and director of operations Haley Dionisio, and strength and conditioning coach Aaron Schultz, and athletic trainer Madison Robinson. I'm very fortunate to have the people we do in place and the administration we have. Being able to continue building relationships with them was fun in Italy. The people make the place. Really fortunate to have all these people in place to help us win, and I'm looking forward to whatever lessons this fall brings us.

Kansas State University Athletics

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