For Julia Fields, it is difficult to remember life before she began playing soccer.

It was in 2007 when Fields joined the Forest Hills Youth Athletic Association club soccer team. Thirteen years later, and this soccer star has never missed a season.

“I love it,” Fields laughed. “There’s just nothing else like it and I really think it has taught me so much about myself. I think soccer is an interesting sport [that] combines strategy with athleticism and a little bit of luck. In the end, it’s all about working together to reach a goal.”

The Forest Hills High School graduate divided her four years between playing forward and goalkeeping. She said covering such a vulnerable position has taught her a lot about resilience.

“A lot is up to the goalie. The other team is trying to score as many goals as possible and you could be down, but no matter what you have to get up and keep going,” Fields commented. “I think that’s taught me a lot about life and just myself. Even when it’s difficult I need to just get up and keep going.”

With her hard-earned skill, Fields traveled across the Atlantic Ocean to Manchester and London with the Downtown United Girls Academy Soccer Team in 2018. While in England, she participated in scrimmages with local teams and was given the chance of a lifetime--the opportunity to kick the ball around on the practice fields of Arsenal and Manchester City Football Clubs.

Fields looks back on her time as part of the Forest Hills High School soccer team fondly, and said she realized that no matter how much effort she put in, she always needed her teammates beside her working just as hard. The same rang true for Fields as a track and field athlete, a sport some believe is more about the individual, and less about the team.

“We made an effort as a team to always cheer everyone on, whether they were in first place or last place. You need your teammate’s support,” Fields said.

These lessons of resilience and teamwork were easily applied both on the field and in her academics.

“It’s easy to fail in academics with the way the system is built and I think a key part is not stopping when you’re bad at a subject,” Fields remarked. “It’s not about saying, ‘Oh, I’m not good at math. I have to stop.’ Soccer has taught me that even if you’re bad at something, you can push forward through it and the people around you can help. It’s okay to ask for help.”

Fields is familiar with relying on others. As a member of the ‘We the People Debate Team,’ she had to work together with other students to debate their way to the top. While she was a straight A student, with multiple advanced placement courses to keep her busy - Fields still found the time to be a member of the National Honors Society and volunteer over 100 hours working in the postpartum unit of the Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Forest Hills, answering phone calls and shadowing doctors and nurses.

We the People, a government-based debate class, inspired Fields to create change in her own community.

“Before the We the People class, I failed to see how much influence I could have as a person, because I’m not eighteen yet, I can’t vote. So I didn’t think I had any role in the community. But We the People taught me how participating in the community, or even just volunteering, can have an effect,” Fields said.

Like the lessons she learned in that class, Fields said she hopes her time as a volunteer soccer coach had an impact on the young people she worked with. Fields assisted the head coach of the Forest Hills Youth Athletic Association in 2019; instilling the love of the sport in the next generation.

“I hope I teach them to never give up. I have been playing [on the FHYAA] for years and I only won the championships my final season. But I never stopped playing cause I still enjoyed it. I think people need to remember that soccer isn’t about winning, it’s about having fun. And I hope that I can show the kids that they can have fun with it even if they’re not that good.”

Fields will be attending the University of Massachusetts Amherst next year where she will join the club soccer team and the intramural track team. She dreams of becoming a pediatric nurse or doctor, inspired by her time as a hospital volunteer.

“I used to think it was the big things that made a difference but through volunteering at the hospital, I learned that little things can have just as much impact and it really is about the little things. Even if it’s just sharing a smile, I’m doing something, I’m making a difference.”