Co-Captain Selene Xu ’27 leads Girls Ultimate with a welcoming enthusiasm that has driven the success of the team. After first throwing a disc in eighth grade, Xu came to Andover and found out that she had an open spring season with no planned sport she was participating in. With nothing to lose, she tried out for Girls Ultimate as a Junior and ended up falling in love with the community. Now a Co-Captain and a Varsity athlete on three teams, Xu stands as an inspiration to many of her teammates.
Xu shared that she focuses on building a close-knit and supportive team, where people can come and play sports to have fun. She described the past experiences that led to this philosophy, and the steps that she actively takes to create an inclusive community.
“I try to lighten up the mood a lot, even just in daily conversations with people. I like to joke around, and I feel [that] that’s what’s important about being a Captain. You can’t just be that intimidating person because, I know on some of my sports teams, I was scared of the Captains and I didn’t want to be the person [that] people were scared of. And that also helps with recruitment and getting more people to enjoy the sport more,” said Xu.
Xu works through positivity and inclusivity to make Girls Ultimate an attractive destination for those looking to find a spring sport. The team has recruited ten new players each of the last two years, now making it a relatively large group. Teammate Samantha Gong ’28 highlighted the way Xu invites new players and works diligently to integrate them into the team.
“Selene has this nobody’s left out mentality. Because we have a lot of new kids trying the program this year, she works to incorporate everyone into the activities. She talks to a lot of the new kids, she throws with a lot of new kids, and she would also split up all the returners to make sure that everyone feels really included. That’s her greatest assets as a [Co-]Captain,” said Gong.
At Andover, sports are typically very results-driven, with pressure to perform coming from every direction. Jane Hlavaty ’28 recalled a moment that went against this idea, when Selene and the other Co-Captains dressed up in matching clothes to design a fun atmosphere that acted as a break from a stressful academic day.
“An example of this would be when the three [Co-]Captains for the team all wore matching duck shorts. It was just supposed to be this sort of silly thing, but it was in the first few weeks of playing, and it was to get everyone to goof off a little bit, be a little silly. And that just really connected the team and made people less serious with each other. I realized that this is more of a community beyond just a competitive sport,” said Hlavaty.
Even while working to support the newer players, Xu also fosters growth among returners, working to develop their games on the field. Gong spoke about her personal connection with the Co-Captain, describing the way Xu pushes her teammates to give their best effort on the field.
“Last year, I got really close to Selene. She always had a really bubbly personality, but this year she’s definitely pushing more returners into their full potential. She’s not letting us catch slack. She’s pushing us to new positions that she thinks we can do, and she’s also just giving us opportunities to play positions that perhaps we wanted to try, even if that means giving up her own typical spot,” said Gong.
