Girls soccer: Wahlberg's approach made her, those around her, better

Gia Wahlberg has always been known for her tireless work rate and relentless attitude.

While that shouldn't surprise anyone at St. Charles North, those who have seen her play or those who've competed against her the last 4 years, to find the motive or reasoning as to why Wahlberg is so ruthless on the soccer pitch, it begs the question: what makes up her drive?

North Stars coach Brian Harks discovered the answer at a training session late this season.

"When we usually practice our PKs, we usually get our first five and our second five and they rep," Harks said. "And I noticed she had been missing a few shots a couple days before and when I called out the first five, she wasn't in it. She put herself in the second five."

Then it crossed his mind: "Why is our all-time leading goal scorer and our go-to player not in the first five?" When Harks asked Wahlberg why she removed herself without saying anything, her answer was humbling.

"Because I want to earn it back, coach," Wahlberg told Harks, who was taken aback by the defining moment. "And that to me sums up the type of player she is. Gia wants to earn everything. She never expects anything to be given to her because she's a senior or because she's a captain or because she's varsity. She knows she needs to earn the win, earn the goal and earn the respect. She doesn't feel entitled for anything. And that is very rare these days."

Wahlberg, who started soccer at age 6, has always been a forward and will play collegiately at Michigan State in the fall, admits exactly that. She didn't use the moment to exalt herself; she would've done the same thing as a non-captain her freshman year. Wahlberg simply wants to hold account, be real with herself and earn everything she works for.

"Everybody is working so hard in practices and if I'm still missing and putting myself in the top five, it's not fair to my teammates who are making it every time," Wahlberg said. "So I told myself to start making them again and get back in that first five. If I had been looking up to my captain who continued to miss PKs and still put themselves in the top five, how would that look?"

It's the same approach off the field. Whether it's in the classroom, playing basketball outside with her sisters or something simple like making brownies - it can be anything. It's a competitive nature and a maturity level blended with heart and a realistic approach to do things the right way that puts a scope on life.

"It not only helps me become a better soccer player, that helps you get a job or impress your boss or impress friends or improve relationships," Wahlberg said. "Being the best version of yourself at all times, especially in front of a group, other soccer players or athletes it's important and goes a long way."

It sure has for Wahlberg. It's enabled her to thrive in her team captain role the past 2 years. It's allowed her to maintain a 5.1 grade-point average (on a 6.0 scale). It's gotten her 4 years on varsity, a verbal commitment to Michigan State as a sophomore and 80 career goals that ranks first all-time in the girls program at North. That grit and determination has even gotten her all-state, all-sectional and all-area accolades.

And it's why Wahlberg, who excelled in her academics and scored 22 goals and 15 assists this season, is the Honorary Captain of the 2018 Daily Herald Fox Valley All-Area Girls Soccer Team. She becomes the second consecutive North Star to garner the honor as Hailey Rydberg took home the honors last year.

"She just kind of jumps off the page when you see her compete in person," North assistant girls coach Eric Willson said. "She has that really rare combination of being an incredibly hard worker and her leadership is an area where she really improved. She's blossomed into a fantastic captain on and off the field. She really got to know her teammates not just on the varsity team but really got to know players throughout the program."

And those teammates picked up their leader when adversity struck at the worst and first time in her career this year. Wahlberg never dealt with any big injures all 4 years, where she amassed 49 assists and a record of 80 wins, 9 losses and 7 ties, including three consecutive supersectional appearances. But this year's super was in serious doubt after she tore a ligament in one of her toes during a sectional semifinal win over St. Charles East. Wahlberg sat out the sectional final win against Conant in a boot and while she did not play at 100 percent in the loss to Barrington the next game, she handled the whole injury process in true Gia Wahlberg form.

"It was disappointing but I wasn't worried in any way," she said. "I was just more concerned about making sure the team was ready. Practices were still intense. Was I bummed I wasn't playing? Absolutely. But there wasn't one part of me that thought they couldn't handle it and coaches couldn't handle it."

And arguably, maybe her best skill besides the fact she's tremendous at earning the ball back, tops at generating turnovers and calm on the ball is that she's always concerned about helping her teammates.

"She's the first one there, last one to leave, she's organizing everything and was setting tone for what North Star soccer is for the incoming freshmen. She's a player that makes everyone around her better," said Harks, who believes she encompasses the total package. "I would say the vast majority of her drive is all intrinsic. She comes from a fairly decent pedigree of athletic family members."

Younger sister and teammate Cece will be a senior next season for North while older sister Elli, a 2016 North grad who played with Gia for 2 years, plays soccer at Wisconsin-Whitewater. Both her parents attended St. Ambrose, where her father Tim played football and Stacey played basketball. Stacey was a basketball standout at St. Edward in the mid 1980s, yet neither played soccer nor pushed Gia into any one sport.

"They let us decide and supported us with whatever we wanted to do and I'm very thankful for that," Gia said. "They were never the parents who were forceful or made us do anything sports related we weren't interested in."

As for college interests and the next chapter in life, Wahlberg will major in Biology at MSU and hopes to have several options available after undergrad, whether that be med school, not going to med school, continuing soccer, she said. "I don't think I have what it takes to answer that now but I hope to have some options at that point in my life."

And as relentless and tireless as she is, there's without a doubt those options will come and they will be well-deserved and surely well-earned.