The work that Ashley Dexter, a soccer and basketball player for St. Ambrose, has put in this year has paid off.
All within just one school year the athlete has made it to the NAIA national finals in both soccer and basketball. Training for and playing both sports back to back hasn’t been easy, but Dexter says the two complement each other.
“[Soccer] sets me up good for basketball, and then basketball sets me up good for soccer,” Dexter said. “It kind of flows well together.”
She said a major perk of soccer is endurance for basketball. She said with extra endurance she can play as long as her coach needs her to.
Head coach Krista Van Hauen said Dexter is an extremely hard worker.
“She’s not one that complains about anything,” Van Hauen said. “Yeah, her legs might be tired and sore, but she continues to find a way to push through and persevere… I think that speaks volumes of what she’s going to do with her life in the future.”
Dexter thinks of herself as a very competitive person and views her teams that way too. She’s ecstatic at her accomplishments and remains focused on her goals.
“It’s an awesome feeling I couldn’t have ever dreamed of it, I couldn’t ask for it,” Dexter said.