For many people athletics don’t come naturally. The days of little league baseball, summer softball and youth soccer were never about how good you were, it was always about the camaraderie of playing with your friends. But despite the joy associated with playing these games, there were always those players better than the rest — players who were always making the clutch hits or scoring the winning goal.

But red-shirt junior Jessica Ring was never one of those players.

“I was horrible. I could throw the ball in and that was about it,” Ring said with a laugh.

“I think all my friends just played when I was little. I think I had a best friend and she played, actually she played for a club team that had just started, so I just jumped into club playing.”

But somewhere along the line Ring, now a defender for the Badgers women’s soccer team, advanced past the skill of throwing the ball in. Ring credits much of her success to the tutelage of her club team coach, who coached her High school team as well.

“I had a coach, the same coach from when I first started until I graduated high school,” Ring said. “Luckily he turned me into something enough to get me here.”

Coming out of high school Ring, a Rockford, Ill. native, looked at a couple of places to attend school, but ultimately chose to attend Madison, despite the draw of a successful home state program.

“I was actually, obviously, looking at going to the University of Illinois as well,” Ring said. “I just liked Madison campus, it’s close, it’s convenient for my parents to come up and I liked the people.”

After playing in 24 matches during her red-shirt freshman campaign, Ring saw action in only 14 contests last season. After an injury gave her a chance to see the field, Ring worked her way into the starting line up where she entrenched herself for the remainder of the years. Despite the lack of playing time last season, her teammates chose to honor the junior defender as one of three tri-captains for the season, joining seniors Marla Froelich and Molly Meuer.

“It’s a great honor, I think especially coming from my position of red-shirting to not playing much to playing now,” Ring said. “It’s really nice when the team votes for you as captain. There are other great senior leaders, and it’s an honor, it’s fun. You look forward to helping people out.”

“She’s someone with a lot of character,” head coach Dean Duerst said. “She hung in there as a player, and everyday she came to practice and with the effort she gave she earned herself playing time. But she’s a quiet leader, and sometimes that’s OK, because when she says things people really listen.”

Ring’s leadership has been crucial this season as she is joined by several young players on the lady Badgers’ defense. The Badgers’ defense has featured youngsters Ann Eshun, Stacey Omundson and Natalie Horner along with Ring.

“She’s really able to anchor to middle of the defense,” Duerst said. “We got Stacey back recently which allowed us to move Molly (Meuer) into the midfield. But with the group we have now, I feel our defense is better organized, and Jess is a big part of that.”

Ring also brought out her offensive touch this weekend, scoring her first goal since her freshman year against Iowa.

“It feels great. You always stand on that back post every corner, so it was great to hit it in,” Ring said after the victory.

But with the season winding down, Ring is faced with the decision to keep playing soccer at UW, despite graduating in the spring.

“That’s up in the air still, I think if I had to decide right now I would probably end up playing, it depends what I do with school after this. I just took the LSAT when we were in Indiana a couple days ago. I’m looking to go to law school or graduate school, I haven’t decided which one, and where yet. But I will apply here for sure,” Ring said.

Whatever decision Ring makes, one thing is certain: she’ll leave the sport she loves the same way she came into it — playing for the joy of being with her friends. Just like she did when she was little.