Paula Infante doesn’t get to see her biggest fan often during field hockey season.
But then, her biggest fan is her son, 5-year-old Augustine, who really doesn’t care that his mom led Maryland to an NCAA title and was named 2005 national player of the year.
“[Last season] every time I would come home, he would be like, ‘Mom, did you win again? Oh my God, Mom, why do you win all the time?’” said Infante. “He was there for the national championship so it was exciting. He didn’t realize what we had won — for him it was one more game — but he was excited.”
Life is about much more than simply Terrapin field hockey for the 24-year-old from Chile who in July was named Atlantic Coast Conference female athlete of the year.
“It’s raising a kid, studying, getting good grades, being around people, being social. It’s a lot of stuff,” said Infante, whose two younger sisters, Camila, 22, and Denise, 19, play field hockey for rival American.
Their parents, Roberto, a physical therapist, and Denise Infante, an administrative assistant, live in Woodbridge. Eldest son Roberto Jr., 29, is a physical therapist in Alexandria while only older sister Daniela, 26, currently resides in Chile.
“[When we came to the U.S.,] we were not together, but it was tough,” said Paula of Augustine’s father, who is in Chile. “He saw that it was a good chance for me and for Augustine.”
The tradeoff is that while Paula lives in College Park during the season, Augustine lives with his grandparents. She recently took him to his first day of school, but during the fall most of their visits take place after home games.
“During the season, it’s complicated,” said Denise Infante during a game at Maryland last weekend. “We come here more than she comes to us.”
“The only time I have a chance to see him is after the game, and I’m really tired, and he wants to play,” said Paula Infante, who had 13 goals and four assists last year for the Terrapins (6-0). She has a team-leading five goals and two assists so far this season.
Eventually Paula Infante would like to return to her native country. But in the short term she plans to stay at Maryland this spring to train for the world championships and then return next fall as an assistant coach.
“It’s been very real for the other women, too, who choose to come to Maryland and understand that life just isn’t about fun and games,” said Terrapins coach Missy Meharg. “We got real stuff going on here and to have the opportunity to have your education and have life and everything here is a real thing for us. We’ve been afforded the opportunity to understand all that great stuff from Paula.”
