When you think of the average American 15-year-old, you think of someone who attends concerts, goes on dates, and hangs out with friends. Some take part in high school sports and others play in traveling teams, but it’s rare that a teenager chooses to spend the majority of his or her time practicing.
Even rarer still is to see a 15-year old playing in a semi-professional team. However, Frankie Mujic is no ordinary teenager. In fact, she is already the youngest player to play in the WPSL, a league that has featured the likes of Abby Wambach, not bad company to be in.
Coming into the Shale Classic, Frankie has quite a resume to her name. Last season she played for LA Hotspurs FC, making the 2014 PAC-South All Star and WPSL National All-Star teams despite being the youngest player on her team, which is no small feat.
Additionally, Frankie plays for the U-17 Croatian national team and was recently offered a chance to play for the U-19 Croatian national team, which would make her the youngest player to play for the U-19.
Part of this could be genetics, as both sides of her family can boast of having professional soccer players.
“My grandfather on my mother’s side played professionally for Portsmouth in England and then my dad played in Bundesliga at the age of 17. He played for Mainz 05.”
Frankie credits her father, former Bundesliga player Edi Mujic, with instilling in her his love of the game.
“I started playing soccer at the age of five with my dad,” she says. “He would just go out with me and kick the ball around and I would go and play with his friends and just pass it around. It just started out as a little hobby.”
But what began as a hobby would turn into a dream not too long after that.
“At the age of around ten years old I began to say ‘Oh I want to play in a World Cup, I want to be like Mia Hamm,’ and all of these… the ’99 team, and all of the gold star U.S. National Team. I wanted to play in the World Cup so bad. From about ten years old I’d say is when my dream really started.”
If playing internationally weren’t enough of a challenge, Frankie takes on players much older than her on a regular basis.
“For me it wasn’t really difficult [to play with adults] because I’ve played with grownups my entire life. When I was little my dad would always pick me and I’d play with his friends at nine years old against 30-year-old men. I would always play with the boys, so playing in an adult league wasn’t hard. I kind of grew up around it so it was normal for me.”
While Frankie handled the athletic part of the sport with ease, it was the sacrifices that she had to make outside of the field that proved to be more difficult.
“I love learning and I love school so I wasn’t ready to do homeschool. Luckily at my school they offer a thing called independent study, so I would go to school for two classes and then I would do the other three classes online so I would have time to do my soccer.”
Moreover, Frankie’s dedication to soccer has limited the amount of time she can spend with her friends, she says that they understand.
“Soccer is my main priority and my friends are very aware of that, so they’re very supportive and everything. But I still hang out with friends.”
So what does she expect to showcase at the Shale Classic?
“I want to play my best. It’s a team thing, so I hope that we all click together and play well together, because it’s not just a one player thing. One player doesn’t make everything; you have to all work together so I hope that we click well together.”
She also has some advice for kids out there who, like her, have chosen to chase their dream.
“If you have a dream don’t stop chasing after it, because I’ve been told many times that I can’t do it, even by my family and people that are very close to me. Don’t listen to anybody else because it’s all for you. Work really, really hard. Do it for yourself.”
You can see Frankie Mujic showcase her skills at the Shale Classic in Massillon, Ohio when she takes part in the girls showcase on July 25. Make sure you watch, because you could be watching a future star in the making.
Follow Carlos Mojica on Twitter @CD_Mojica.
