Four years before joining the North Carolina field hockey program, Craddock became the youngest member of the United Kingdom’s Beijing Olympic team at 17 years old.
In 2009, Craddock took a trip to Boston with her national team to compete in the field hockey Junior World Championship. It was there that her love for America began to blossom.
“I always wanted to come back,” she said. “And this is like the best thing that I can do, to live here.”
She continued to play field hockey in England, but by 2010, she was burned out. The constant field hockey left little time for a balanced life, and Craddock was ready for a change.
And so, while top college field hockey coaches were out scouting their recruits at tournaments and state championships, one of Great Britain’s top young talents was writing letters to those same coaches asking for a spot on their rosters.
She did her research and concentrated her efforts on Karen Shelton at UNC and Pam Bustin at Duke. Her official visits took her to Durham and Chapel Hill in the same weekend, and at the end of her 48-hour visit, Craddock had made up her mind.
“I met the Duke coach at the Outback off 15-501 and she passed (Craddock) off,” Shelton said. “And the story is that she said goodbye to all the Duke players and said, ‘See you next year,’ and then she came to us and had a wonderful time and showed her everything, and I think she just felt like this was a better match.”
“We presumed how good she was, and then of course her getting to campus it was like, ‘OK, can’t wait to see this kid play in person.’ The first day she got that ball, it was a camp, a camp game. It was amazing.”
Becoming consumed in the culture
Once she arrived for summer school at UNC as a sophomore transfer student, Craddock immediately immersed herself in American culture.
She befriended her teammates and began adopting the lifestyle of a typical American college student.
Her love for football, “not proper football — football,” was suited for a college town that embraced its teams.
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She enjoys going to Pantana Bob’s, a local Rosemary Street bar, to hang out and socialize with her teammates. And like other UNC athletes, she also began driving a moped around campus.
“She like, wears a backwards hat when she goes out, if that says anything about her personality,” teammate and fellow junior Loren Shealy said.
“And she fits in so well with the team and just the Chapel Hill community in general, it feels natural at this point.”
Craddock may have been born across the Atlantic Ocean, but after spending time getting ingratiated in American culture, she isn’t quite sure what home means to her.
“(I’m) unsure now,” she said. “I think that this is home, but obviously my technical home is England.”
On the turf
While she was acting her part as a typical UNC student in her first fall in the United States, Craddock was also doing extraordinary things on the turf of Henry Stadium.
And in her second season with the Tar Heels, though temporarily sidelined with a pulled muscle in her leg, she’s slowly finding her role in a more balanced scoring attack.
She’s scored four goals in the six games she’s played so far — including a game-winner against No. 4 Virginia last weekend.
Though she’s quiet and bashful off the field, on the field Craddock is as fiery and passionate as any competitor.
In her first season, Craddock missed six games straightening out NCAA eligibility issues stemming from a stick contract during her time with the British national team, but still broke the UNC record for goals scored by a sophomore with 26.
She also helped her top-ranked team to a runner-up finish in the national championship to Princeton, and earned first team All-America, All-ACC and All-NCAA honors last season.
She might be a force to be reckoned with on the field, but both Craddock and her coach admit she isn’t exactly the most motivated player during practice.
“Sometimes our practices are pretty boring,” Craddock said. “Games, things change, whereas practices, they often stay the same.”
She’s the oldest junior on the team and still has one year left of college eligibility — two things that will make her an even more formidable competitor in her final years at UNC.
Craddock isn’t sure of what she wants to do after her time at UNC, but she does know one thing — after she hangs up her UNC jersey for the last time, Craddock wants to remain in the United States.
“It’s pretty difficult—it takes a lot of paperwork to get the green card,” she said. “If I can stay here, then that’ll be great.”
And if she can’t get a green card?
Craddock smiled and began to laugh.
“Marry an American man.”
sports@dailytarheel.com
