Vice president of USU club soccer Sarah Baker will graduate from recreation administration
“It’s about the people you meet and the connections you make,” said Sarah Baker, a student graduating in recreation administration from the Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services.
According to recreation administration program director Nate Trauntvein, Baker’s ability to connect with people is unlike that of any student he’s taught before.
“She’s magnetic in her personality,” Trauntvein said. “She just finds a way to connect with everybody in a way that as a faculty member, I could never have.”
Born and raised in Payson, Baker was the self-proclaimed “wild child” in a family of five, but her passion and determination to succeed were evident to her parents Melinda and Phil Baker from a very young age.
“She’s always been driven in everything she does,” Melinda said. “School kind of came easy for her, and she likes to see others succeed as well. I would say she’s always been a leader, and soccer is definitely her passion.”
Sarah started playing soccer in third grade and became the team captain at Payson High School. Since then, her love for the sport has fueled her ambition, ultimately leading her to pursue a degree in recreation and sports management.
“Soccer has been my life,” Sarah said. “I try to tell people, ‘No guys, I have a personality outside of soccer,’ but it’s been a big part of who I am.”
However, the rising high school star faced a few obstacles in her development. During her three years as a varsity starter, Sarah’s team the Payson Lions never posted a winning record.
Then, in her junior year — just as college recruiters would have been paying closer attention — the coronavirus pandemic abruptly cut her season short.
“We had to help her say, ‘No you’re good enough. Keep trying,’” Phil said.
Amid limited contact with college recruiters and no concrete offers, Sarah had her sights set on attending school in Wyoming until her parents encouraged her to give USU Eastern a chance — the place where they first met.
“She hadn’t heard back from the USU Eastern coach, and I just said, ‘Let’s just try one more time to reach out to him,’” Melinda said. “They had just several of their players, and he’s like, ‘Yeah, come on down.’”
Shortly after, Sarah signed with the school, coinciding with the team’s hiring of Jacquelyn Tagg-Stephens as an assistant coach. Stephens had previously spent a year on the coaching staff at Payson High School, where she formed a tight bond with the team captain.
“Not only have I been able to coach her, but she and I have developed a pretty good friendship away from the soccer field,” Stephens said.
The summer before her first year of college, Sarah played under Stephens in the Women’s Premier Soccer League, a national circuit known for its high-level talent.
“She was so willing to just throw herself in there with players who are D1, semi-professional players,” Stephens said.
Stepping into a new system at Eastern brought with it a fresh set of challenges for Sarah.
“Sarah didn’t get the most playing time,” Stephens said. “The head coach had his favorites, and you could see that in the playing time, but her attitude was never negative towards that. Whatever playing time she got, she went out there and put everything on the line.”
Sarah developed lifelong friendships and was adored by her teammates, but her JUCO career quickly came to an end. She considered a few transfer options, and Utah Valley University seemed like the obvious choice — close to home and more affordable.
However, a seemingly inconsequential Zoom meeting with a Utah State professor quickly changed her mind.
“We had to do this online Zoom meeting with the professor,” Sarah said. “I was like, ‘This is ridiculous. It’s an online class.’”
The professor was Trauntvein, and during their conversation, he asked Sarah about her career goals, and she expressed her interest in sports management and recreation.
Trauntvein had already recognized Sarah as one of his top students. Although she mentioned her plans to attend UVU, he saw potential for her to thrive under his program.
“Her life goal wasn’t to get a job. Her life goal was to change people’s lives,” Trauntvein said. “That’s probably what made me do a hard sell, like, ‘No, you need to come up here, and you need to do this program.’”
Moving farther from her family and taking on three jobs, Sarah arrived on the Logan campus in the fall of 2023 and wasted no time before diving into recreation.
She seized a one-time opportunity to join one of Trauntvein’s classes, where students took part in a service project on a Sioux reservation. For eight days, Sarah worked alongside her classmates, tirelessly helping to construct homes for women affected by domestic violence.
“She was a crazy rock star out there,” Trauntvein said. “She worked harder than anybody else and was always ready to give.”
This past spring, Trauntvein took Sarah and other students to a conference where they had the opportunity to meet with professionals in the recreation field. Sarah left the event with four job offers, but it was her leadership and generosity that stood out most to Trauntvein.
“She found people in our group who were most uncomfortable and nervous about being around professionals and de-escalated them,” Trauntvein said. “She always rises to the top, not because she’s trying to force people to do it her way but because she magically finds a way to connect with everybody.”
In addition to her active involvement in class, Sarah took on multiple side gigs to help pay for tuition, including refereeing intramural sports like football, soccer, volleyball and basketball.
“It’s not the nicest job,” Sarah said. “You get paid to get yelled at by your peers.”
Thanks to her relentless work ethic and strong networking skills, Sarah now has multiple promising paths to pursue after graduation.
She has the option to continue her role within USU Campus Recreation, has received opportunities to work directly with sports teams and has been offered fully-funded assistantships through various master’s programs.
Sarah also aspires to one day coach soccer at the collegiate level — a goal she’s already begun preparing for through her leadership role with Utah State’s Women’s Club Soccer.
“We have a volunteer coach right now, and he’s getting more busy, so my teammates have asked me to help coach during practices,” Sarah said. “They’re like, ‘The practices you’ve run have been really well done. You do a really good job.’”
Her longtime coach and lifelong friend Stephens fully expects Sarah to join her in the coaching ranks someday, putting to use the leadership skills that have defined her at every step of the journey.
“Sarah looks for the strength in everyone, and she makes people feel seen,” Stephens said. “I’ve seen coaches get more opportunity, but their ego grows with them. Sarah makes people feel heard, and I don’t think she’ll ever let that part of her go.”