In a world where athletes (and those around them) regard big money contracts or athletic scholarships almost as a birthright, Osborn’s attitude is not only refreshing but also instructive.

Osborn, who turned 18 in the spring of 2001 is preparing to graduate from Germantown Academy, a private school located just outside Philadelphia.

She has starred in soccer, basketball and lacrosse and will play soccer and lacrosse at Dartmouth beginning next fall.

She can scarcely remember a time when she wasn’t chasing a ball around the house with one of her three siblings. She was playing organized soccer by the time she was six years old. As she grew up her athletic ability was readily apparent. But she always remembered that sports were and are supposed to be fun.

"I’ve always done it because I loved it," Osborn said," and I think that was nice. My parents didn’t put a lot of pressure on me like ‘You have to get an athletic scholarship. They didn’t pound it into me that I had to play Division One athletics."

Osborn’s first love has always been soccer. She scored 27 goals in her final high school season. "I love the physicality," she said. I love the running, the distance running. You can slide on the grass and I really like it that they allow more contact than they do in basketball and lacrosse."

By the time Osborn was 10 people were telling her that she had what it took to succeed in college but she tried not to take the talk seriously. "That was never what was pushing me," she said. If you’d asked me if I would play in college when I was younger I would have said ‘Yeah, because I like it.’ It wasn’t the driving reason that I played."

What motivates Osborn most is competition itself, rather than the rewards that competition brings. "I definitely thrive on it," she said. "I love it. It’s a great thing to be able to go out there and give it your all and leave everything on the field and just be totally exhausted afterwards. It's just a really good feeling and you get a high from it."

Osborn preserved her love for athletics by preserving her physical and emotional energy. She actually passed up the chance to play for some elite soccer teams because the game had temporarily stopped being fun. "I played for select teams but I didn’t try out for state or regional (select teams)," she said. "Most of the kids I know that did that are burned out. I think that was one of the reasons I really tried to keep a balance and I never focused on one sport. I played three sports all the way through."

Osborn is an excellent student and a number of schools were interested in her but she wanted to play two sports in college and Dartmouth was willing to give her that opportunity.

"As (her college decision) got closer I started thinking about it," Osborn said. "I couldn’t see myself not playing soccer or not playing lacrosse so I ended up deciding to do both. I love them both too much."