Sitting on a grass circle in the middle of the Castilleja campus, then-freshman Mira Ahmad (’12), had an epiphany. At that moment, Ahmad made up her mind, she wanted to play soccer for Palo Alto High School.

Palo Alto High School’s girls’ varsity soccer starting right back Ahmad transferred to Paly for multiple reasons after attending Castilleja for four years.

One reason that she decided to move to Paly was due to the increase in academic pressure after the transition from middle school to high school at Castilleja.

“There’s a lot of pressure, not just pressure you put on yourself, but pressure from your peers and through teachers,” Ahmad said. “Everyone’s like, ‘So what did you get on this, what do you get on that,’ and it’s not like it doesn’t happen [at Paly], but it happens at such a different degree at Castilleja.”

Another reason was Ahmad’s desire to play soccer for Paly. Although she loved playing on Castilleja’s varsity soccer team, she felt that Paly soccer had more opportunities to offer in terms of visiting college scouts.

But, because of Castilleja’s small student population, there was an opportunity in being a student-athlete.

“At [Castilleja], the advantage is that you are probably going to be a big fish in a little pond. If you are really good, people are going to notice,” Ahmad said. “At Paly it’s different, everyone in every athletic program is obviously really good, and because it’s such a bigger school, you’re obviously going to have more talent to work with.”

After coming to the Paly squad, Ahmad’s self confidence with the ball continued to improve, and she became a contributing factor to the Paly squad.

Paly girls’ varsity soccer head coach Ernesto Cruz knew from the moment he saw Ahmad at tryouts that she would be great addition to the Lady Vikes.

“Mira [Ahmad] is a very skillful player,” Cruz said. “Every time we hold tryouts, you can tell who is going to be varsity and who is not, and right away I saw her and I said, ‘Okay, this girl belongs to varsity.'”

One difference Ahmad noticed between Castilleja and Paly is the amount of leaders that she could learn from on the field.

“I think the program [at Paly] for soccer is better,” Ahmad said. “At Castilleja, there were certain people I could learn from on my team, but at Paly all the upperclassmen are people I can learn from.”

Role models and leadership made the transition from Castilleja to Paly soccer easy for Ahmad.

“The people on the team are so nice, and it’s nice to have people to look up to on the team, like Meave [Stewart] (’10), Erika [Hougland] (’10) and Kelly [Jenks] (’10),” Ahmad said. “It has been so fun being able to play with these amazing upperclassmen because you learn so much from playing with them.”

Cruz also thinks that Ahmad made the transition from Castilleja soccer to Paly soccer seamlessly.

“She looks like she’s having a blast,” Cruz said. “She has bonded with the team right away.”

Ahmad notices that the Paly team has a great amount of talent and ability. The players constantly work hard and push each other to improve.

“Everyone is really good, and the individual talent is really good,” Ahmad said. “When you have upperclassmen who are really good leaders, it just makes a really big difference because it motivates everyone to work together and work harder.”

Paly teammate Erika Hoglund (’10) views Ahmad as a strong asset to the team who contributes to each and every game.

“She’s really aggressive and she works really hard all game,” Hoglund said. “She puts her heart into every game and you can tell.”

Castilleja varsity girls’ soccer teammate, Emily Colvin (’10), felt that Ahmad’s aggressive mentality and drive were some of her biggest strengths that greatly benefited the Castilleja team.

“She is aggressive and gives her all every single time,” Colvin said. “She helped coordinate our back-line, which needed a lot of help, and she was very influential in our defense. She was a really key player and the girls really miss her.”

Paly teammate defender Hannah Ohlson (’11) is aware of Ahmad’s capability and talent.

“I feel comfortable when Mira has the ball. She’s very solid, she doesn’t really let any balls through, and she can shut down any good player on the [opposing] team,” Ohlson said. “If the other team has a star, she just shuts them down. She’s also very fast on defense and she’s very aggressive. You’ll see someone 20 yards in front of her and she’ll catch up to them.”

Hoglund believes that Ahmad’s physical and mental capabilities contribute to her ability.

“She’s a really fast player. She has long legs that just sprint fast,” Hoglund said. “She goes up for headers on balls that I would never dare stick my head out to for fear of getting decapitated, and she just goes up every time.”

Ahmad sees herself helping the team achieve its goals by assisting her teammates and improving her weaknesses.

“I also want to get more confident on the ball,” Ahmad said. “I want to work on my ball skills and my first touch because I think that those are my weakest points.”

Hoglund believes that Ahmad can help the team reach a goal, like qualifying for CCS, due to her drive and talent.

“She’s a solid player back [in defense] and because of that she helps us play better,” Hoglund said. “Every time she’s out there she’s helping us get farther as a team.”

Cruz has a different goal for Ahmad that he hopes she will achieve by the end of the season.

“I hope she learns from the seniors and the juniors this year, and watches the way that they guide other players,” Cruz said. “I hope that she will get that experience, because I think that she is going to be a tremendous leader.”

For herself, Ahmad tries to keep her aggressive game attitude and a mindset that helps her play intensely in every game. As she puts it, “I’m not the playmaker, I just do my job.”