SNHU Women’s Soccer Players Casey Les and Kristin Moore
spent a semester abroad in Australia

Throughout the 2009-2010 academic year, the Northeast-10 and its member institutions will be featuring student-athletes across the conference in the brand new ‘Student-Athlete Spotlight’ section on the Northeast-10 website. Our first Student-Athlete Spotlight, submitted by Southern New Hampshire’s Sports Information Director Greg Royce, features women’s soccer seniors Casey Les and Kristin Moore who both spent a semester in Australia through the SNHU’s Study Abroad program.



By Greg Royce, Southern New Hampshire University

[Click Here to View Photos from Casey and Kristin's experience in Australia]


Southern New Hampshire University seniors Casey Les and Kristin Moore had the experience of a lifetime this past spring. The pair, who are both members of the Penmen women’s soccer team, were two of four SNHU students who spent a semester in Australia through the University’s Study Abroad program.

“Going abroad is something I always wanted to do. I always wanted to go to Australia,” said Moore, a co-captain of this year’s squad from Weymouth, Mass. who has been a two-year starter in the backfield. “When looking into what college I wanted to go to, I inquired about going abroad and having a program in Australia. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do.”

Moore, a Child Development major, and Les, a Sport Management major, studied at Griffith University, located on Australia’s Gold Coast in Queensland, approximately 12 hours north of Sydney and directly south of Brisbane, the capital of Queensland. They spent approximately four and a half months down under, leaving in mid-February and returning at the end of June.

“I’m also minoring in International Business, and I love to travel, so that was a big part of why I chose to go,” says Les, a goalkeeper from Palmer, Mass. “I was really interested in learning a whole new culture and seeing how the other part of the world interacts. A lot of the reason I chose Australia was because it is English-speaking. Sports are big in Australia, so that was important as well.”

While enrolled at Griffith, Moore and Les shared three classes, a philosophy class called Love, Sex and Truth; Global Environment and Australian Writing. Casey also took a Sport Development class, while Kristin completed an independent study through email with her professors at SNHU. Coming from a 1,900-student institution in which classes rarely exceed 25 students, attending classes at Griffith, with an undergraduate enrollment of 31,000, came as a bit of a shock.

“If we were from a different school, the classes would have been similar. We had classes of 300 students in stadium seating. For us it was different, but for someone from say UMass Amherst it would have been similar. We didn’t have that interaction with our professors like we do at SNHU,” said Les.

While in Australia, both Kristin and Casey made observations about the difference in American and Australian culture pertaining to their major.

“When I was there, I was able to see how family life was different, “said Moore. “Everyone is very laid-back. You would see parents just come up to you with kids and you could interact with them whereas here, if you approach a kid in a toy store, parents are like ‘Why are you talking to my child’ and they think you’re a creep.”

“It was really different because (sports) were not sponsored at the collegiate level. Each state has a school, such as the Queensland School for Sport, and you go there and you train while you take a few classes,” observed Les.

Both Moore and Les observed that while Australians are big into sports, they don’t necessarily follow the same sports as Americans.

“Sporting events are big. They’re not into soccer, football, basketball; but they’re into rubgy, Aussie rules football, surfing, cricket, bocce,” said Kristin.

Of course, not all of the pair’s time was spent studying. While they commented the food was similar, they did try kangaroo (“tastes like steak”) and emu. With Griffith located minutes from the Pacific Ocean, a lot of time was spent at the beach. Kristin and Casey also spent some time in New Zealand, and headed south to visit Sydney, Australia’s largest city and the site of the 2000 Summer Olympic Games.

“You only have five months there, so you want to see as much as you can. It was just go, go, go every day,” said Les.

Although they missed the Penmen’s spring schedule, Kristin and Casey still got the opportunity to play soccer. They played indoors on an international team entered in Griffith’s intramural league, that usually played Friday nights. Outdoor soccer was not an option, as they were there during the late summer and early fall, with temperatures averaging 85 degrees and getting as high as 97.

For Kristin, she had mixed emotions as she was headed down under. Right before leaving, she found out that she would be a team captain in 2009.

“It was hard to actually go. Being an athlete, going into your senior year and finding out I was going to be a captain, to leave (the team) was kind of difficult. At the same time, it was something I’ve always wanted to do, so I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to do it,” said Moore

“I’m so grateful that I went through with my decision and went abroad. I met so many people. I have the travel bug now, I want to go out and see what else is out there. I would definitely recommend studying abroad to anyone.”

“I would recommend going abroad anywhere,” concluded Les. “Traveling is such an eye-opener. Just to see how the rest of the world lives; it really shows what we have, and to be grateful for what we have. Traveling is such a great experience. It was honestly the best five months of my life. I would not change anything. We did so much, met so many people. It was just overall a great, great experience.”