After a lineage of hockey player females in her family, Claire decided to also pick up the sport at eight year of age.
The young talent was hooked straight away, and said it “became an everyday sport”.
Claire stumbled upon the idea of taking hockey overseas after hearing a friend talk about college in America.
“I’ve always been really competitive in the sport…As soon as I heard about the idea from a friend I thought, ‘Yep!That’s what I want to do!’… That’s when NSR came around,” she said.
“I was so excited because it was just making it seem so possible and real. It was so exciting,” she recalled.
Claire is inspired by the fact that she knows she is in an advantageous time at her life.
“While I’m young, I definitely want to see how far I can go, alongside my studies,” she explained.
“Alongside that, I want to have a lot of fun. I’ll only be this young and fit once!”
The star shares that she’ll be undertaking pre-health subjects, majoring in biology and minoring in health science.
“At first I was really confused by the American schooling system, but they explained it really well. Manhattansville College offers really great academics as well, which is awesome,” she revealed.
Remarkably calm and ready, Claire explains that she feels greatly supported by her US acquaintances already.
“I’ve already been in contact with my coach heaps, we’ve been skyping every now and again to understand what’s going on and what needs to be done for enrolment. We email quite frequently, and I have met a few people I’ll be playing hockey with. I’ve already got a room set up with three other girls starting next year that’ll be playing hockey”, she shared.
“It’ll be less nerve-wracking to go over there, because I already know names of people that are really nice, and that I’m really interested to meet already.”
Claire also looks forward to exploring America with her newfound friends.
“I’ll get to see New York and other parts of America, which is something I’ve never done before,” she shared.
“New York is number one, and I’m going to a school right near it, so I’m so lucky. The college offers a bus that takes us right into the city!” she explained, excitedly.
We are SO excited for you Claire. (And definitely a little bit jealous!) You’ll have the time of your life.