“People are always like, ‘How can you do that? There’s no way.’ And I’m like, ‘Well, I’ve done it. I’ve done it for two years!’”
Claire Maxon sat across from me, soccer jacket on and hair pulled back. Though practice had been over for an hour, she still gave her hands a shake as she pulled up a chair.
“My hands still haven’t warmed up yet,” laughed Maxon. “That’s the hardest part.”
Somehow, I doubted that was true. Maxon, a junior biology major who for two years played both basketball and soccer at Union, surely had more on her hands than the chilly weather. Being a collegiate athlete for one sport is exhausting. For two? To me, that seemed nearly impossible.
But when I asked her about juggling commitments, she didn’t bat an eye. In fact, I got the impression that this was a question she had answered many times before.
“I’m one of those people who just wants to be busy,” Maxon said, shrugging it off. “If I’m not doing something, I always feel like I could be doing more. I deal with things in the moment.”
Despite her packed schedule, those around her never felt like Maxon wasn’t giving her best effort to everything she was involved in. Going the extra mile is an ideal near and dear to Maxon, who made it clear that much of her love for Union sports stems from the culture surrounding Union athletics. The culture women’s basketball coach Mark Campbell fosters is one that Maxon has taken to heart.
“(Campbell) always speaks about giving your best effort in any situation and in any aspect of life, whether that’s basketball, relationships, your faith … just making that the main thing,” Maxon said. “What he teaches and brings about is stuff I want to bring about in my life.”
Though her basketball coach gave her the advice, Maxon’s efforts to uphold that ideal can be seen off the court as well as on it.
“I think that’s the last thing you say about Claire, that she’s not going to do the little stuff or the makeup stuff or not let you know what’s going on,” women’s soccer head coach Josh Alford said. “She’s always willing to go the extra mile. If you tell her what you need, she’ll give you that and then more.”
“Do any examples of Claire going the extra mile come to mind?”
Alford began speaking almost before I could finish my question.
“You know, it’s coming into the office asking, ‘Hey, what can I do to get better?’ It’s being willing to show up and volunteer for camps, willing to host recruits, willing to be a sounding board for teammates,” Alford smiled, his voice full of pride for his player. “She’s an upperclassman now, but she still has no problem taking the equipment out or picking up trash. Things a lot of people expect freshmen to do. And I could keep going on and on with little things like that.”
During her freshman and sophomore years, Maxon was a member of Union’s soccer and basketball teams. This year, she made the decision to step away from playing basketball, becoming a student assistant for the team instead.
“Obviously I still care a lot about basketball, and I still want to be around that culture of excellence we have as a team, but I needed to devote myself more in the soccer aspect just to become the leader that I wanted to be, and that my coach and everybody else was expecting me to be,” Maxon said.
A leader that everyone expected her to be. That intrigued me, but Maxon shied away from highlighting herself, shifting the conversation to other topics. Alford, however, was more than willing to speak on Maxon’s qualities as a leader.
“Claire is definitely not always the vocal leader, but she’s definitely a leader within the team with just how she carries herself — with her work rate and dedication,” Alford said. “And all the little things she does I think, again, speak to character. And then that propels you to be somebody that can be a leader.”
But the path has not been easy. Though Alford made it clear Maxon is not one to gripe — “She never complains. Never” — Maxon admitted that there have been challenges as she navigated playing basketball and soccer, especially with the seasons overlapping in spring of 2022.
“Obviously, it’s been stressful, especially freshman year because both the seasons were in the spring,” Maxon said. “So I was going back and forth.
“There was one weekend I had a soccer game on Thursday or Friday — yeah, I think it was Thursday. There was a basketball game the same day, but I went to the soccer game because I was playing in it. They won the basketball game — it was for the GSC tournament — and then I went with them to Montgomery to play Sunday. And then I came back and we had a game on Monday for soccer. And I think I had two or three tests that week too. That was rough”
Despite the busyness of her schedule, Maxon made it clear that there was always time enough for everything she was involved in, so long as she made the most of every moment.
“I’m able to do a lot on bus trips and stuff, schoolwork and everything,” Maxon said. “And then I’m an early riser. So if I wake up early in the morning, I’m going to do homework before anything else.”
Though some might doubt the ability of one person to balance college basketball, college soccer and college academics, Maxon is evidence that we can do anything we set our minds to. No matter how many shocked reactions she received, the player remained nonchalant each time she confirmed that yes, she does play two sports. In college. And major in STEM. Because to Maxon, that is her giving her best effort.
“She knows what she got herself into,” said Alford. “She’s willing to tackle it and prove people wrong.”
Above all else, Maxon was insistent that we are able to do more than we think. That giving your best effort may mean doing things others think near-impossible. And that we set our own limits.
“I mean, it hasn’t been easy, but I’m capable of it. I’m able to do it.” Maxon said. “It might seem hard in the moment, but you’re capable of doing anything.”
