Alumni Spotlight: Gloria Douglas

By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Her University of Virginia soccer career ended in December 2013 at the College Cup in Cary, N.C. Twelve-plus years later, forward Gloria Douglas has yet to put away her cleats. Her journey as a professional has taken her to Norway, Japan, Ireland, Sweden, Iceland, Germany and, most recently, Spain, and her passion for the game remains strong.

“Gloria is an amazing woman,” UVA head coach Steve Swanson said. “She’s just full of life.”

After her final game as a Cavalier, Douglas said recently, she didn’t expect a long pro career to follow. She earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from UVA in the spring of 2014 and was interested in attending nursing school. But when an opportunity arose for her to play for Røa IL in Oslo, Norway, Swanson encouraged Douglas to give it a try.

“I was like, ‘I don’t know,’ but then I did it,” Douglas recalled. “And then after that I’ve never stopped playing. So it opened a whole new world for me.”

Her love of soccer has kept her going, said Douglas, a member of Puerto Rico’s national team. She’s also loved life in Spain, where she’s played for Zaragoza CFF, CD Femarguin, CD Pradejón and CD Argual.

“First of all, the soccer is amazing,” Douglas said. “Second of all, [it’s been great] to learn Spanish and be in a different country, and I've had really, really good friends over the years there. My uncle lives there as well. So it’s been a good little set-up for me, where I really just enjoy being there, and the European lifestyle has been really amazing.”

She laughed. “I'm playing on an island, close to the beach, in the sun. I can't really complain too much.”

Douglas, who grew up in Fayetteville, N.C., arrived on Grounds in the summer of 2010. She made the ACC’s All-Freshman Team and helped the Wahoos reach the NCAA tournament’s third round that fall. By the time she concluded her college career, she’d played in 96 games, which tied her for the most in program history.

“I still look back at UVA,” Douglas said, “and I’m so grateful to have met so many amazing people and so many amazing girls, and I still talk to Steve to this day.”

During her college career, Virginia went 74-16-6 and advanced to the NCAA tournament four times.

Douglas and her classmates “had an energy about them,” Swanson said.  “Gloria in particular played with an enthusiasm that you just don't see very often. She would pick up an entire training session. She would pick up an entire game. She had that quality. Just an infectious smile, amazing energy, and she could lift and bring out another level in everyone. That’s a gift.”

In 2013, the Hoos finished 24-1-1 after losing to UCLA in the NCAA semifinals. A penalty-kick shootout decided the game.

Douglas recognizes now how special that team was. At the time, she and her teammates “were just having fun,” Douglas said, “and we didn't realize we were actually doing really, really well. I think it was a testament to our team culture and the girls that year that we were so close and how we really worked for each other and really trusted each other and respected each other. I don’t think you get that a lot, maybe ever, really, to be honest.”

One of her most treasured memories is the 2012 ACC tournament. In the championship game, UVA hammered Maryland 4-0 in Cary to secure its first title since 2004.

“Because I'm from North Carolina, I literally had so many of my friends and my parents there,” Douglas said. “I just remember being so happy. I wanted to freeze that moment in my life. I think everything just went right for us that day. Everything was like a movie to me in that moment.”

As a professional, she’s had to adapt to living in countries where she doesn’t speak the native language.

“Honestly, I had to learn that the hard way, I think,” Douglas said, “because I had no idea how to really handle myself or what I needed. It was just a lot of changes, and I can’t even tell you [in that country’s language] that my favorite color is blue.

“Obviously you get sad, you get homesick. For me it comes in waves, I feel like. Now I’m like, ‘All right, I can do this.’ But at the beginning I was like, ‘How do I do this?’

“Now I really invest in trying to make friends out of football. I try to find a church just to meet people and obviously have that outlet in my faith. I really try to explore. I think now that I can be relatively good at being uncomfortable or being comfortable in uncomfortable situations.”

Douglas credits her time in Japan, where she played for Iga FC Kunoichi Mie in 2015, for helping her progress professionally and personally.

“That was insane,” she said. “When I first got there, I was weak physically. Mentally, I felt like they broke me down. And then at the end, I was flying like crazy. There was lot of things that I was lacking, and I adapted pretty quickly, I think. It made me so good as a player and a person that I felt like, ‘OK, I can do this.’ And now when sometimes things get really tough in my life, I’m like, ‘I was lost in Tokyo station without a phone, by myself, not being able to read Japanese. I can do this. I can figure it out. Just stay calm. Everything will work out.’ ”

Douglas, who’s home in North Carolina this spring, recently returned to Charlottesville. During her visit she toured the new Harrison Family Olympic Sports Center.

“Fancy,” she said, laughing. “I was like, ‘This is nice.’

Much has changed within UVA Athletics since Douglas was an undergraduate, but Swanson and associate head coach Ron Raab continue to lead the women’s soccer program, and that’s comforting for her.

“It definitely feels nostalgic a little bit going back,” Douglas said, “but it was super nice just to see Steve and Ron. I’m super grateful to have had really good coaches when I was there. I give my flowers to them. When I was in college, maybe three times or twice a week, I would go before training and work out with Ron for an hour and then go to training, just to make myself better. Not only did he kind of motivate me in that, he took time to help me and it definitely changed a lot of my game and made me more confident. Till this day, there’s times I'm on the field and remember [something from] those little sessions with Ron. So I have so much appreciation for Virginia and what it gave to me, and being able to be there for four years and to have that kind of as my home.”

Douglas said she’s not sure how much longer she’ll continue to play professionally. “Essentially, I just see what my agent kind of pulls up and figure out what's the next step from there. To be honest, it could be next year and that's it, or it could be this summer and that's it.

“I think I'm just going to have an open mind, maybe push for one [more] year and see how it is. But I’m just trying to see my opportunities out there, because I still feel good. I’m still healthy. It’s more of just that I miss my family. I want to be a little more present. Obviously I'm getting a little older. I'm not 18, and there's some things where I'm like, I just want to be with my family on a Sunday or just hang out with my nephews. But I'm super grateful for what the sport has brought me, and I'm grateful that I'm healthy and all these things. So I think it's good that I have options.”

When her pro career ends, Douglas is interested in attending physician assistant school.

“I've been taking some classes while I've been playing, because there's part of me that's like, I need my mental stimulation,” she said. “So I've been taking classes slowly [to prepare for PA school]. I'm trying to take my little, little baby steps.”

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