SKY BLUE IS THE LIMIT
Former Pennington standout Baxter earns contract with New Jersey’s NWSL club
Nicole Baxter was alone in the team apartment she shares with two roommates, doing an online yoga class, when a text came across her computer.
It was from Sky Blue FC general manager Alyse LaHue.
“Hey Nicole, we’ve decided to extend you an offer for the 2021 season,” the text read.
A short, sweet yet impactful message.
“I have been waiting to hear those words from Sky Blue pretty much since I joined,” Baxter said over a Zoom call. Her senior contract is for one year and includes a second-year option, according to a news release from Sky Blue on Dec. 10.
A former standout at The Pennington School and The College of William & Mary, the 26-year-old Baxter was with Sky Blue on shortterm deals during the National Women’s Soccer League Challenge Cup and the 2020 Fall Series, where she made her first NWSL start. During those two stints, she felt constant pressure since she was not on a full contract yet.
“I almost felt like every single day I was going to a tryout. I didn’t feel like my spot on the team was as concrete as other people’s,” Baxter said. “There are times I’d come home from practice and feel disappointed or feel like ‘Oh no, maybe that was kind of my last stride … they might cut me this time.’”
Her high school coach said she put a lot of pressure on herself even while she was a star at Pennington.
“She was her own worst critic. She comes across as cool, calm and collected,” said Dr. Bill Hawkey, who has been the co-head coach at
Pennington for 35 years. “She’d be on the field … it’d be a 0-0 game or maybe we’d be up by one or down by one and her demeanor was just even keeled and yet she is so smooth and technical and smart with the ball. Her presence on the field always had a good calming effect.”
Throughout her playing career, Baxter has been proving herself every step of the way. From when she was invited to preseason with Sky Blue in 2018 off an open tryout, to when she quit her two desk jobs, to when she began Lyme disease treatment and when she played in Sweden. All the steps were taken to keep her professional dream alive.
She graduated from college in 2016 and was working as a contractor for a branch of the U.S. Navy in Washington D.C. as a civilian employee. During her time in D.C., she was diagnosed with Lyme disease, which develops through an infected blacklegged tick bite, according to the Center of Disease Control.
Baxter returned home and received treatment for Lyme disease in New York City and took a job at Ewing Sports. She eventually left in January 2018.
“A big part of people healing from Lyme disease is to just get them back doing fun things and not stressing a lot,” Baxter said. “Obviously, working at a computer all day is stressful no matter what you’re doing.”
Even though she left the two jobs, soccer was still on her mind. But so was a tough internal battle.
“I felt like things weren’t really falling into place and it was kind of this constant mental battle (of) ‘Did I make a huge mistake giving up this stable, well-paying job that I had to pursue something that is likely not going to happen,’” Baxter
said. “Not a whole lot of people succeed in trying to play (a) professional sport.”
Lyme disease had a major impact on Baxter’s career for about two years, she said. Even then her ambition was to play professional soccer. She joined FC Copa of the United Women’s Soccer League and played for them while receiving treatments and working. Sometimes she would leave work and go straight to a game or practice.
“When I went back to playing soccer again, I questioned whether I was going to be capable of it because you feel a lot of fatigue and aches and pains sometimes that other people don’t feel,” Baxter said. “I didn’t really know if I could get back to the level of fitness that I needed.”
She trained at Advanced Physical and Technical Training, a sports fitness center in Metuchen. Baxter recalled the experience as “a really fun time in my life.” It was there she met Catrina Atanda, who was going to play in Sweden, while Baxter was going to an open tryout for Sky Blue.
“While I was at Sky Blue, I got a text from (Catrina) who said ‘Hey, I’m playing for this team in Sweden and they’d really love to bring over another American midfielder, would you be interested?’” Baxter said. “I was on a plane (to Sweden)
three days later.”
Baxter said the level of competition was quite different than what she was used to in America.
“That was a challenge for me because I had just been playing at a facility with a lot of professional athletes from the NWSL, MLS and USL, and so when I went over to Sweden, I kind of expected that to continue,” Baxter said. “I had to adjust my style of play because I’m more of a laid back composed person who distributes the ball … when I got to this team in Sweden, they had really high expectations for me.”
No matter the level of soccer, Baxter said she will always be hard on herself. She attributed her mentality on the field to her club soccer coach at FC Bucks, Eddie Leigh, who died from Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS) in 2017 and who she considered “the best guy in the whole world.”
“He just had this mindset of ‘If you’re gonna be here, work hard and try. And if you don’t want to be here then don’t show up,’ well, that’s kind of how I live my life,” Baxter said. “If I’m going to do something, I’m going to go do it or else I won’t do it at all. … A career in women’s soccer can’t last a lifetime, so while we’re here let’s just do it as best we can.”
Every part of her journey, Baxter
has continued to show up and give her all. From the desk jobs, to the first few stints with Sky Blue, in Sweden and everything in between.
Her journey came full-circle when she made an Instagram post on Oct. 20 with her Sky Blue teammates after a 3-1 win over the Chicago Red Stars. She described herself in the photo where she is surrounded by her Sky Blue teammates as being as care-free as she looked.
“I had a decent performance and we won the game. We killed it. We played really well. That was my first time after an NWSL game feeling like I really contributed,” she said. “It was a cool moment for me to just be like ‘OK things haven’t been easy up to this point, and I’m sure they’re not going to get much easier but there’s a lot to be celebrated.’”
The caption read: “2020 has been a year full of learning, chaos and anxiety, but it’s the first time in my 3 years of pursuing professional soccer that I’ve ended my season with not a single ounce of worry that I made a mistake when I quit my full time desk job 3 years ago to chase what I’m feeling in this picture. Thank you to all the people who have helped reassure me that this is exactly where I’m supposed to be. 2020, I still don’t like you, but I’m certainly grateful for you.”