A world championship. Four USA female championships. A world record. Three incredible accolades that Caitlyn Schrepfer has achieved throughout her nine-year career in freestyle football; and ones that have cemented her legacy in the space as one of the world's most popular freestyle superstars. For Caitlyn, this is a journey that blossomed out of her love of soccer. Growing up in Orange County, California, she remembers having aspirations since an early age of playing soccer professionally. This was her goal. During her time in high school though, Caitlyn faced a hip flexor injury that took her off the pitch and sidelined her for three months. When would she be back on the field? What could she do during this injury period? How could she elevate her game further? All questions that arose in Caitlyn's mind throughout this period and drew her to pick up juggling. A skill she would go on to practice daily for two-to-three hours; and one that developed her passion for football further. This was just the start. In 2013, Caitlyn attended Soccer Nation Expo in Southern California and was amazed the moment she saw a team of freestylers perform. At the age of 16 years old, she was committed to beginning a journey of her own doing just that. The rest is history!
After joining that same freestyle team months later, Caitlyn immersed herself in the world of freestyle football and began to develop her skills, expand her knowledge of the sport, and define her style. She hasn't slowed down one bit since. In 2022, Caitlyn won the Red Bull Street Style World Final in Croatia and became the women's world champion of freestyle football. An achievement she had been working towards since the beginning of her journey in the space, and one that ignited a new fire within her to keep reaching new heights. As she looks to the future, Caitlyn is eager to win another world championship and continue to share her ideal of freestyle with the world. Along with this, she is looking forward to growing her participation with different nonprofits—including her community outreach work in Jamaica—and is excited to use her platform to give back to the younger generation. One thing is for certain: her resilience, passion for freestyle football, and drive to share this sport with others is...CHANGIN' THE GAME!
Take us back to the very beginning! How did you get started in the world of freestyle football?
I got started in freestyle through an avenue that I believe a lot of people do. I grew up playing soccer from pretty much the time that I could walk. I played goalkeeper for about 15 years, which is kind of my fun fact for everyone (*laughs*). In high school, I was looking to be in a starting position but ended up picking up a hip flexor injury. I played the entire season on a hip flexor injury, which is obviously a terrible idea, and had to sit out three months at the end of the season. At that point, I was so fanatical about soccer and I wanted to play professionally that I was like: “Ok, what can I do during this injury period?” I picked up juggling. For those three months, I did nothing but juggle for 2-3 hours a day; and went with a record from 20 to over 3,500. Then, I just kind of stopped counting. After that, they had this thing called the Soccer Nation Expo here in Southern California; and in 2013, I went to the Expo just to see random things like that. They had a team of freestylers performing. I think it was about seven people—one of which was actually a girl which was super cool to see—, and at 16 years old, I was pretty much wowed by what I was seeing in person for the first time. Just wanting to show off—nothing really big—I bought the DVD and started practicing. I ended up joining that freestyle team three months later and we fast-tracked to where we are now.
That’s awesome! Diving more into that journey early on, you mentioned that you were initially set on taking soccer all the way to the highest level and playing professionally—up until you went to that Expo and saw this other side of soccer. How was that transition into the world of freestyle football like for you?
It was definitely a roller coaster ride. I sort of fell into freestyle in the beginning, and being somebody who always looked to find every avenue of improvement that I could, freestyle was the perfect answer. You know, you spend more time with the ball and you do so in a fun way. It doesn't really feel like practice, so it was perfect. In the beginning, I just started training because I thought it was fun. I realized that there was a niche in the sport that called for not only more people in this sport, but more females on this platform giving visibility to this whole soccer-adjacent world beyond just traditional grass soccer. I thought it would be pretty smooth sailing. I got into my first competition and realized very quickly that it wasn't (*laughs*). I got humbled very quickly, but I learned from there. It was kind of a make or break moment of: “Do I really want to take this beyond a casual hobby? Do I really want to win?” Of course, being an athlete, I wanted to win. I started training a little bit more intensively to the point where I got into college. I got into college for soccer. I had to choose a couple of different times between the two sports. It was: “Do I do Division I and give up freestyle? Do I do Division III and play both?” All of which are very hard decisions. I went with a Division III school and I was trying to juggle that with freestyle, and it became harder and harder to do. I was sleeping about four hours a day. It got to the point where many people around me and I myself had to ask myself, “Which is it that I prioritize? It's no longer a viable thing to try to do both.” At that point, I realized that I really did have to take a step away from soccer—which was probably one of the hardest decisions in my life because it was pretty much the entirety of my identity. So that year, transitioning away from full-field soccer and walking away from being a soccer player, was probably the hardest.
What were some challenges that you faced early on and how did you work to overcome them as you transitioned into freestyle football?