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More Than a Statistic: How Riley Jackson Found Joy Beyond the Pitch
- 16 minutes ago
- 7 min read
By Brylea Smith | March 6, 2026
By the time Riley Jackson signed her first professional contract, the sacrifices had already started stacking up. While other seniors were counting down to prom and the last normal moments of high school, she was balancing training sessions and travel. She learned in real time that chasing the game she loved sometimes meant giving up pieces of the life she thought she’d have.
Jackson, now a midfielder for the North Carolina Courage, has been surrounded by soccer for as long as she can remember. Her parents met while playing the sport, and she grew up watching them on the field before eventually joining in herself. By the age of three, Jackson was playing at a local club, coached by her father until she was 12.
Soccer quickly became a constant in her life. Although Jackson always loved the game, she didn't fully understand how serious the sport would become until around 10 or 11 years old.
At 12 years old, Jackson faced her first real rejection after being cut from the Olympic Development Program (ODP). Seeing her friends make the team while she didn’t lit a fire in her to strive to be the best. The next year she tried out for the team again, this time making the roster.
“I learned that failure actually makes success much sweeter,” she explained. “Making the team felt even more meaningful after being cut the first time. I carry that lesson in my daily life, understanding that failure is so important to growth and often an unseen part of success. For a long time I struggled with perfectionism, but experiences like this have helped shift my mindset to striving for excellence without tying my worth to perfection.”
As Jackson continued progressing through elite club soccer, she also played under one of the most influential coaches of her career, Garvin Quamina. She credits him for changing her perspective on the game and for pushing her beyond what she believed her limits were.
Quamina often reminded her that “to be the best, you have to make sure that you are doing something different than everyone else.” He also taught her lessons that still show up in her daily life, including how confidence and humility can exist together, and the importance of continuing to push through difficult moments.
Her early teens soccer career included participating in national team camps before being called up for her first tournament with the national team at 16, the Concacaf U-17. The team would eventually win the tournament, with Jackson bringing home the title of Most Valuable Player for her performance as captain.
While these opportunities were rewarding, they also made balancing high school responsibilities at the same time more difficult. Jackson played high school soccer during her first three years and said it was an experience she valued, especially because she got to play with her friends and under her dad’s coaching. During her freshman year, her team won a state championship, which she called one of her favorite memories from youth soccer.
However, she said the pressure of pursuing national team goals while still playing high school soccer was challenging.
“My junior season, I really struggled because I felt the pressures of achievement and was not enjoying high school soccer as much because I felt like I had outgrown playing in that environment, but I did not want to let down the people around me,” she said.
The injury gave Jackson the chance to take a step back from the game, giving her the chance to see a new perspective on how much of her identity is tied to soccer.
“I didn’t know what to do when soccer wasn’t going my way, because I put my entire identity in the sport,” she explained.
After rushing back too quickly from her injury, what began as a stress fracture became a broken foot. That summer, she also had the opportunity to train with the NC Courage, a club she grew up watching. Although she had to leave training early because of pain, the experience changed her future.
Jackson was previously committed to Duke, but while she was training with the Courage, former head coach Sean Nahas called her into his office and offered her a professional contract. she never expected to have the opportunity to go pro before college.
“I never imagined that I would even have the opportunity to go pro before college,” she said. “My whole life I had planned out, I was going to go to college and then go in the draft, which would lead to my pro career. I have always needed structure in my life, so I didn’t know how to react when this opportunity presented itself.”
In the end, she signed with the Courage after a call from Quamina, where he told her that this was everything that she had been working towards. However, Jackson still had her senior year to finish, which was a weird feeling, being a professional athlete and high schooler at the same time. In January of her senior year, she moved to North Carolina, finishing her second semester online. She missed out on a lot of normal things, like prom.
But signing a contract didn’t mean everything instantly clicked, it only marked the start of a new kind of pressure. Her first year and a half as a pro wasn’t what she expected. Jackson wasn’t getting as many minutes as she hoped. Her joy for the sport was deeply tied to her performance, causing her to withdraw into herself when she didn’t have many stats to find joy in.
“I didn’t feel like my love was to its max,” she expressed. “There was a joy that I knew in soccer, and there wasn’t a joy that first year and a half. I thought that this is just what it feels like to play professionally. A part of me had settled that this is how I’m going to keep feeling and I’m just going to have to deal with it.”
Last season, everything switched. She released the pressure she was building due to her own high expectations. She also started building community outside of the sport, especially through church, family, and close friends, which helped her feel grounded again. After that, she was able to start to find her joy again.
“These past six months of playing for the Courage, I have been happier than I’ve ever been in my entire life,” she said. “Even when I was young and having all that success, I wasn’t as happy as I am now. I’ve realized that soccer is not what makes me, me. It’s a cool part of me and a really important part of my life, but it’s not me. Having a community that knows me as Riley, not Riley the soccer player has really changed my life.”
Now, Jackson’s definition of success has expanded beyond minutes and stats. While she is still competitive and wants to win, she said she values the process and the growth that comes along the way.
“My definition of success has evolved,” she said. “It’s no longer just about the final achievement; it’s about everything in between, the small wins, the setbacks, the relationships built, the growth, and the daily experience of being an athlete. Success for me also means being fully present, exactly where my feet are, and soaking in each moment of my career. I don’t want to look back one day and feel like it all passed me by.”
