Olivia Moultrie is not your average 12-year-old. In sixth grade she has accomplished something of more magnitude than students in their junior or senior year of high school; she’s going to college.

In December of 2017, Moultrie announced that she had verbally committed to the University of North Carolina on a scholarship to play for the storied women’s soccer program. Her commitment sent shockwaves through the youth and collegiate soccer community as she was one of the youngest recruits ever to commit to a school.

Her verbal commitment is part of a growing trend in college recruiting for women’s soccer. The top athletic programs in the nation, the University of North Carolina being the pinnacle of those with 22 national titles, are now recruiting youth athletes before they even enter high school. The age at which athletes are being recruited has even dipped as low as seventh and eighth grade, and as in Olivia’s case, before she has even entered middle school.

As for Moultrie and her family, the commitment was a simple decision that felt right according to K.C. Moultrie, Olivia’s father and self-proclaimed agent.

“When we sat down and talked about it [college soccer] we asked what do you want? And the goal is always to be the best that you can be,” said Moultrie. “And so in what program and what environment might be the best to accomplish that? And we thought UNC, no question, was that."

A verbal commitment is not the end-all-be-all for this soccer Phenom, however. With six years until she can even step foot on the North Carolina campus as a student, her journey is just beginning.

A STANDOUT FROM THE BEGINNING

They say the fruit doesn’t fall far from the tree, and such has proven to be true for the Moultrie family.

Parents K.C. and Jessica Moultrie were both collegiate athletes themselves; K.C. playing basketball in Minnesota and Jessica playing Division I soccer for the University of South Carolina. With Olivia as their first child, it was a no-brainer decision to enroll her in sports when she was young.  

At the age of five, Olivia signed up for her first Little Kickers class, a clinic designed to introduce toddlers and young kids to the game and teach them the basic skills like dribbling and passing. From there, she participated in her first season of AYSO, a city recreational league, playing and competing against girls her age.

K.C. recalls her talent and affinity for the sport being immediate.

“After six months you could just see, wow, she’s good,” he said. “She’s intense, she’s focused, she’s pretty athletic, and after that it just grew from there.”

After time, Olivia began to outgrow and develop beyond the recreational level. At this time, K.C. and Jessica both decided that moving Olivia to the club level would be in her best interests as a youth athlete. She began her club soccer career at the age of six at a small local club named ___________. Olivia says this is when she began to fall in love with the sport.

“Once I really liked soccer, then it just kind of drove me,” she says. “I want to be really good at this, I want to be the best that I can be.”

Southern California is home to some of the nation’s most successful youth club soccer programs. The Moultrie’s recall spending lots of time researching different clubs and teams in order to find the perfect fit for Olivia; one where she could continue to develop as a player.

“For us it’s all about continuing to challenge her and putting her in competitive environments,” K.C. said. “And So Cal Blues was the best team at the time.”

So Cal Blues is an all-girls soccer club based out of San Juan Capistrano, Calif. Olivia continued to develop as she played for a team that was two years older than her true age at the time. After three years with So Cal Blues, it was then time again to make another jump, but this time to play with the boys.

The Developmental Academy was the most elite program in the country for youth athletes in club soccer. However, at the time, the Academy only existed for boys’ programs because of competition from other girls' leagues such as Elite Clubs National League (ECNL), which So Cal Blues was a part of. In an effort to bring her game to the next level, Olivia made the switch to Total Futbol Academy (TFA) where she was a member of the boys academy team.

“The speed of play and the physical nature of the game compared to that of girls really helped Olivia to develop her game,” said K.C. “She got a whole new taste of competition.”

It was during this time that Olivia got called into her first U.S. Soccer U-14 National Team Camp, an invitation extended to only the nation’s top 24 to 36 players in that age group. She was just 10 years old at the time.

“It’s really special,” Olivia said. “You’re like holy crap I just got called into the National Team. I was just really really excited.”

But it wasn’t too long until the Developmental Academy for the girls’ side came around. In Spring of 2017, U.S. Soccer announced its proposal for the academy program and a list of elite clubs from each state who would be a part of the league itself. After two years with TFA, the Moultrie’s felt it was only right to have Olivia make the move back to the girls' side; playing with people she would be competing against in the future and for collegiate scholarships.

For the past year, Olivia has been playing for the Beach Futbol Club U-15 Girls Academy team. She is currently playing two years up.

A STEP AHEAD

For Olivia, her recruiting journey began during her time at So Cal Blues.

“More college recruiters were coming to our games because my teammates were getting older and were getting more ready to talk to colleges,” she said. “So I’d seen a lot more of them at our games.”

Olivia was playing two years up with her So Cal Blues team, meaning that she was getting college exposure at various games, tournaments, and showcases at the age of 10.

“It was crazy…to getting a little bit of interest at 10 was weird, right?” said K.C. “We just didn’t anticipate that at all. Didn’t anticipate having any amount of to contact college coaches that young.”

Her first taste of college recruiting began when she was invited to a College I.D. Camp at the University of Texas. I.D. Camps are clinics put on by the university in order to invite recruits to their campus, evaluate their skills, and interact with them off the field. Olivia recalls her experience at UT as being great.

From there she attended another I.D. camp at UCLA and another at the University of North Carolina.

“Once she went to UNC and was able to be around that environment and that culture,” said K.C., “It was very obvious that culturally that’s exactly what we wanted.”

“It just felt like if I could go there, that would be amazing,” added Olivia. “And then getting invited to the ID camp, I was like ‘oh cool’ this is the school I want to go to.”

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THE COMMITMENT

When UNC became involved, it became so clear,” said K.C. “That was the place and Anson’s the guy that she wants to play for, so let’s just wrap it up.”

And they did.

On December 16, 2017 Olivia announced her verbal commitment to the University of North Carolina via Instagram. In a long post, she expressed her excitement for the future and many thanks to those who have helped her along her recruiting journey.

“I’m really excited,” said Olivia. “Everybody says how great college is and playing soccer is.”

She was 12 years old at the time.

“For anyone that would think that the commitment is almost a foot off the throttle, it’s almost the opposite for us,” said K.C. after Olivia’s verbal commitment to UNC. “Like I said, her goals are much bigger than just wanting to get a college scholarship.”

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THE RESPONSE

After the announcement of her committal, Olivia and her family received lots of response.

“In southern California specifically and around anybody that knows Olivia that even has a loose connection with her, that has seen her play over the years, the reaction has been almost 100% positive,” said K.C. “People have been super supportive.”

Olivia welcomed many positive comments from friends, teammates, and others on her Instagram post congratulating her on her decision and accomplishment.

“They’re like that’s really cool, they’re just really excited for me,” she said.

But the breaking news of a 12-year-old committing to college didn’t sit well with all the ‘Internet trolls’ as K.C. would say.

Anthony Disco, son of former U.S. Women’s National Team head coach Tony DiCicco, was one outsider who took to Twitter to express his thoughts on Olivia’s commitment. He screenshotted her Instagram post and noted her exceptional talent level, but added, ‘this sets off some alarms for me.’

“The negative reaction has almost always come from people who don’t know Olivia directly,” said K.C. “Think about a 12-year-old knowing she has a full ride scholarship at a major university for the best soccer program in the country, like just think about that for a second.”

While Olivia’s commitment raises questions for others, their doubts raise an even an even bigger issue with K.C. He says that commitments of this nature happen all the time in revenue sports such as football or men’s basketball and is frustrated to see negative attention towards commitments like his daughter’s.

“I’m bothered that it seems to be an issue when it’s a girl and when it’s women’s soccer, but it wouldn’t be the same issue if it was men’s football or men’s basketball,” he says. “To act like there’s any level outrage when a girl does it at a similar age, to me it pisses me off and I don’t’ like it.”

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A NEW NORMAL

Even though Olivia is one of the most well-known youth soccer players in the United States with over 8,000 followers on Instagram and over 10,000 views on YouTube videos she is featured in, she remains un-phased.

“To me, it feels normal,” she says. “Well, it’s not like I’ve had it any other way,” she laughs.

Knowing where she is going to attend college and the academic expectations of the university means that she must keep up with her schoolwork. Olivia continues to progress with her education through her home school program that is instructed by her parents.

Like any 12-year-old, she has to keep up with the household chores and play with her two younger sisters. But her soccer routine stays the same.

“I basically come out here [soccer field] everyday, even if it’s just for a little while I’ll come out and get some shots in and then go to practice,” she said. “The only time I’ll ever take a day off, because I never want to, is like if I twisted my ankle or something, but anything else I’ll be playing out here or somewhere else.”

For parents K.C. and Jessica, now that commitment is out the window, it’s all about keeping her on the right path.

“She knows what she wants and that makes it, it’s kind of nerve-wracking for me as a parent cause you want to not mess it up and you want to keep everything going the right way,” K.C. said “But it’s also great because she tells me her goal every day and so it makes it very easy for us to just continue down that path and stay focused on what we’re trying to accomplish.”

“I feel an immense amount of pride for what she’s done,” said Jessica Moultrie, Olivia’s mother. “But there’s also a realization amongst all of us that she’s not even close to ultimately what she wants to be.”