Tar Heel soccer alumna helps train ‘The Wolves’

Before PlayMakers Repertory Company presented “The Wolves” back in October, the cast got special coaching from a pro — Tar Heel women’s soccer alumna Brianna Pinto ’22.

The production highlights nine female teens on a soccer team and the challenges that arise when navigating soccer drills, secrets and ambitions.

Pinto became involved in the production through Shelley Johnson ’06 (MA), a former Carolina assistant athletics director. Johnson reached out to Pinto about the cast needing a crash course on soccer fundamentals before the production.

Pinto left Carolina in May 2021 to start her professional soccer career in the National Women’s Soccer League with Gotham FC, finishing her classes and graduating in 2022. Now she’s in Cary playing for the North Carolina Courage, only 30 minutes from her hometown of Durham.

“I love the University. Working with UNC is really inspiring to me because it’s given so much to me and created some of the best opportunities in my life,” said Pinto. “I hope to now give back to the University for other students.”

After a road game, she went straight from the airport to Hooker Fields, where she met eight cast members and three understudies for the first cast meeting.

The cast needed to learn how to play soccer while also looking like natural, experienced players. Some cast members had never kicked a soccer ball before and didn’t want that to overshadow the performance or dialogue.

“We wanted the cast to have fun, begin the team-building process, level up their soccer skills and provide them with a few small wins in the skill-building department,” said Johnson. “This was not your typical first day of rehearsal. We wanted something memorable for the cast to set the tone for the work to be done and the overall experience.”

With Pinto, cast members went through a standard dynamic warmup then focused on agility skills, ball control exercises, wall passing, traveling, dribbling, throw-ins and juggling.

“The cast was super interactive and paid attention to details. It was really fascinating to see them super committed to learning each component that day,” said Pinto. “There are not many situations where I have to give instructions like a coach, but this was a little bit different because I was explaining every small detail of the skills they were learning and taught them by doing the motions. They were committed to fully embodying that role or player from not only the physical standpoint but also the mental standpoint.”

After the boot camp, the cast trained for 30 minutes every day during rehearsals, conducting a soccer style warmup, ball control and agility exercises, along with practicing specific passing drills that the script required. During the run of show, the cast warmed up athletically and theatrically.

Pinto says the experience helped her understand the arts’ cultural aspects along with the detail and why little movements matter. It brought her back to a drama course she took in 2020, when she also went to her first PlayMakers show.

“It’s cool how much variety they have in the PlayMakers plays. The fact that they’re doing something in sports is also unique,” said Pinto. “It’s a credit to the actors. They’re doing complex movements within a tight space on turf on stage. Being able to control the ball after one crash course and look like a real soccer player in a tight space is impressive.”