Scholar Stories: Taylor Uses Major to Improve Sport Facilities
10/23/2024 11:00:00 AM | Field Hockey, Features
By William Calhoun
Continuing the series that began in 2016-17, each week MGoBlue.com will highlight a Michigan student-athlete and their academic pursuits. These are our Scholar-Athlete Stories, presented by Absopure.
University of Michigan field hockey redshirt-junior Claire Taylor is no stranger to hard work.
A four-year high honors student in high school and three-time All-NEPSAC (New England Preparty School Athletic Council) Award recipient, Taylor thrived as a high school student-athlete on her way to becoming a starting back at Michigan. When talking about her process of choosing U-M, Taylor cited both the strong athletic programs and academic prowess of the institution. In addition, Taylor spoke to Michigan's football team as having a strong impact on her decision.
"My high school didn't have a football team. I had always wanted to go to a big football school with school spirit," Taylor said. "Michigan was the epitome of that, especially compared to other schools that I was looking at."
Majoring in civil engineering while also being a Division I athlete has put a lot on Taylor's plate, but she knows how to deal with it. Intentionally keeping her field hockey and social life apart from her academic work has been the key to thriving in both and staying focused on her goals.
"I physically separate my social and field hockey life from my school life. When I go and do school work, I have to go by myself," Taylor said. "I'll take time and do work up in the engineering campus. If I try to do school work at my house, I'm with all my roommates and it's so fun but I can't do both [hang out with friends and be productive doing school work]"
Taylor's drive to be the best is what motivated her to continue to pursue field hockey during college. Setting goals and working hard to achieve them is what allows her to thrive and progress to the best possible field hockey player she can be.
"I would say I'm very competitive, and so I like to kind of be the best or play at the highest level," Taylor exclaimed. "Playing field hockey helped get me into the school. So when I got here I wanted to be a starter and then once I was starting, I wanted to be the best player I could be."
Taylor recognizes that field hockey has many lessons that can be applied to the classroom and life as a whole. A true student of the game, Taylor has learned that the speed in which you accomplish a task does not necessarily translate into it being the best result.
"In field hockey, I have learned that you don't need to be going 100 mph or as fast as you can to achieve the best outcome," she said.
"I play defense and sometimes you need to slow the pace of the game down, take a breath, rest, and then make an educated play, and I feel like that can be applied to your work life and academics. You don't need to be studying 10 hours of a day, going fast and packing things in. Sometimes it's OK to take a breath, take a day off of work, and then go."
Coming into her freshman season injured, Taylor redshirted in 2021 which allowed her to get her feet under her as a student-athlete and learn many valuable lessons from both coaches and more experienced players. Taylor was also named to the NFHCA Collegiate National Academic Team. Reflecting on her time redshirting, Taylor is grateful for a year without game action.
"Only positive longer term benefits came from redshirting," she said. "In the short term, it's a bummer because all your classmates are playing and you want to be on the pitch, but now I have a fifth year and I am going to pursue a master's. Redshirting gave me a year of experience and a year to gain confidence and I was really luck to start the next year."
Off the pitch, Taylor is passionate about engineering and hopes to intertwine her love of field hockey for her future profession.
"I have a handful of favorite bridges so I think the design aspect [of civil engineering] is pretty cool, but I also love sports and I love the field hockey world," said Taylor. "So kind of combining the two, I would be interested in something around hydrologically friendly AstroTurfs."
Taylor's time abroad in Germany last summer sparked her interest in investigating hydrologically-friendly astroturfs. Observing the differences in astroturf care abroad compared to the United States, Taylor hopes to apply the more hydrologically conscious methods to create a similar American complex. Additionally, Taylor believes that pursuing a Master of Management degree from the Ross School of Business will help her with the business side of running a facility.
"I did a summer abroad in Germany, and their turfs didn't take a lot of water and everything ran very smoothly so I want to take that and build a complex like that in the U.S.," she said. "I feel like a Master of Management can help me with the business aspects."
Owning a complex is a large financial investment and endeavor, so after she finishes her Master of Management, Taylor wants to return to her field hockey roots as the launch point of her professional career.
"I'm very close with the owner of my field hockey club that I played with in high school and I would like to work with the club and eventually own my own field hockey club."
Taylor's time management and her focus allow her to excel both on the pitch and in the classroom. A driven and focused individual, Taylor's passion for both her sport and academic interests continue to fuel her drive for excellence.
