Arizona soccer recruit Dallin does her best to stay ready

Paloma Valley High soccer player Nicole Dallin scored 102 goals in her high school career. File photo

Editor's note: Nicole Dallin is one of thousands of students in Menifee who are struggling to cope with the isolation order due to the coronavirus pandemic. We'd like to hear how others are handling the situation and messages of hope they have for others. Send a private message to the Menifee 24/7 Facebook page or email info@menifee247.com.

By Doug Spoon, Editor

Nicole Dallin was finishing up the kind of high school career most student-athletes only dream about. A senior soccer player at Paloma Valley High School, Dallin had helped lead the Wildcats to the school’s first CIF Southern Section title in 2018. By the time her senior season was over, she had scored 102 goals in high school. And she would soon learn she had been named to the All-CIF team.

Then, like everyone else, her world changed in the middle of March with the outbreak of the coronavirus, resulting in the closure of her school and the cancellation of any kind of group activity. Suddenly, the club soccer season she had just begun came to a screeching halt. Workout routines became a challenge.

Dallin is one of the highest profile high school athletes in Menifee this year. She is the only local athlete to receive an athletic scholarship to a Pacific-12 Conference school – the University of Arizona. But she is just one of many area student-athletes – including all those who are missing their entire spring sports season – who are waiting to see just how big an impact this isolation order will have on them.

“Some tears definitely have been shed,” Dallin said. “But I have a greater perspective because I know it could be so much worse. I could have the disease.”

Dallin said she realizes the uncertainty of her first college soccer season. Women’s soccer is a fall sport, meaning she and other Arizona recruits normally would start practicing this summer in preparation for the season opener in August. Now she must rely on emails and video chats with the coaching staff and her new teammates for updates.

“We’ve definitely talked,” Dallin said. “Right now, we’re just kind of seeing how it goes. It’s really hard to figure out how this affects everything as far as eligibility goes because the people who deal with that stuff, their offices are closed.

“Coach has reached out to us multiple times to try to make us feel comfortable and let us know he’s still there for us. I’m in a group chat and we talk to each other. I met all but three of the players in my class during the official visit in January. We’re just focusing on getting through it.”

Paloma Valley’s girls soccer season ended in the second round of the playoffs this winter. Although disappointed, Dallin figured that just meant she could jump right into the club soccer season without missing any competition. But after just a couple practices, the club season was cancelled.

Dallin and so many like her were left to figure out how to stay in shape and optimistic about whatever lies ahead.

“All the parks are closed, the gyms are closed … I’ve been doing some running, lifting weights … all the boring stuff,” Dallin said. “I work out almost every day and I’ve been hanging out with my little sister a lot. My teachers have reached out to us and I’ve done some enrichment stuff online. And I’m watching a lot of Netflix.”

What would Dallin’s message to others be during this trying time?

“Keep your head up and keep social distance,” she said. “I know it’s frustrating, but I see so many people out and about when they don’t have to be. We have to all work to get through this.”