Team Spirit

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To earn a spot on a Division I athletics team is no small feat. Getting that jersey number means dedicated playing time against top competitors: It’s skilled athleticism meets real-world rewards.

Holding one of these coveted positions was a welcome challenge for Alexandra “Ola” Weber ’24, an economics major from New Jersey. In her sophomore year, she joined the Columbia Lions women’s soccer team as a midfielder.

Weber comes from a tight-knit family with a passion for athletics. Her early love of competition first brought her to soccer, but it was the dogged spirit of the sport’s players that got her to stay. “I love being around people who are gritty, who are hardworking and determined,” she says. “That’s what I love about the sport — you push yourself to the point where you really test yourself.”

Weber’s appreciation for risk-taking in sports also attracted her to acting, which she studied at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts her freshman year, along with classes at Stern School of Business. When the pandemic hit, Weber transferred to Barnard, having previously connected with Columbia’s coaches. One of her first introductions to the College would be through her new soccer team during summer preseason training. By the time the semester started, Weber says, she entered Barnard with 30 built-in best friends.

Competition seems inevitable in sports, but even during grueling fitness tests and practice sessions, Weber says, soccer made her team closer — and into better performers. She consistently scored higher when training with her teammates rather than alone.

“One thing that matters a lot is whether [a] group is competitive or cooperative,” says Barnard assistant professor of psychology Kate Turetsky, whose research focuses on group processes and social ecology. “If … there are opportunities to work together and to succeed together, then that can lead people to connect in a more healthy way.”

But only a few months into playing for Barnard, an unfamiliar pain in Weber’s ankle began to raise alarms. An MRI revealed that overexertion had damaged cartilage and caused bone grinding in her joint. In spite of surgery and rehabilitation, the verdict was clear by Weber’s junior year: Playing soccer was now out of the question.

“My whole life I equated hard work with results,” Weber says, “but there are things that are out of our control, and it’s really uncomfortable to sit with that.” She grieved this sudden change with the help of her family and plenty of pizza.

Weber says that in these circumstances, head coach Tracey Bartholomew would have been well within her rights to give away her spot. But the coach’s response was firm: On the field or not, Weber was a member of the team.

The high pressure of athletics or academics can make it easy to value an individual in a group by their accomplishments. But a team, she says, is there to help maintain perspective and gratitude when the uncontrollable happens. Even while holding space for the disappointment, Weber says, the support of her coaches and family helped her realize what she valued most about the sport. “For someone who had a career-ending injury, there’s no reason why I would stay … if I didn’t adore the team and the coaches,” Weber says.

What’s next? After graduation, Weber plans to go into investment banking, expanding on her interest in team dynamics in Goldman Sachs’s mergers and acquisitions department. But her relationship with Barnard athletics isn’t over — she fully expects to stay connected to the soccer team.

“It’s important to be honest with yourself and say, ‘I’ve seen how good relationships and friendships can be,’” Weber says, “and it’s important to keep that as a constant in your life.”