Pima College's Chloe Kunnemann rediscovered soccer after loss of sister

When Chloe Kunnemann’s younger sister was diagnosed with cancer five years ago, her parents thought it would be best for everyone if they kept some thread of normalcy in their lives.

The following weekend, Kunnemann — then 16 — traveled to California to play in a soccer tournament.

“I was more of the person that made things more normal for us. I continued to play soccer, and they came to watch the games when they could,” Kunnemann, 21 said.

Soccer remained a huge part of their lives for the next year. For Kunnemann, the sport was a stabilizing force.

“Having me have soccer and some sort of normalcy kept my family together and sane though all this,” Kunnemann said. “It was something normal we could all talk about.”

But when Abbie Kunnemann lost her battle against Ewing’s sarcoma in 2017 at age 12, everything changed.

“I played the entire time my sister was alive,” Kunnemann said. “After she passed away, I just said, ‘I’m done.’”

Nearly four years later, Kunnemann is back playing the sport she loves. Pima College’s starting goalkeeper will lead the Aztecs in their spring season, which begins April 3 at Glendale Community College.

Kunnemann never left soccer — not completely, at least. She volunteered as a coach at Empire High School shortly after graduating. She also entered the workforce, taking a job as a server.

By 2019 Kunnemann couldn’t stay away any longer. She talked to one of her former coaches during an FC Tucson game, and mentioned that she missed playing soccer. Her coach pushed her to contact Pima College.

Kunnemann got in touch with Aztecs coach Kendra Veliz, and by the start of the 2019 season, she was back on the pitch.

“It was hard coming back. I gained a lot of weight because of everything going on; that was kind of my coping mechanism,” Kunnemann said.

Kunnemann had also undergone some mental changes in her two years away.

“There’s a whole persona you take on with being an athlete. I lost my identify for a bit,” Kunnemann said. “It was hard, but good for me. I was able to get back into who I am as a person and really take care of myself.”

Veliz said that while Kunnemann struggled a bit at first , she never quit. She spent the 2019-20 season as the Aztecs’ backup goalie, got a boost in confidence after getting some playing time, and helped secure shutout victories in four of her five appearances.

But Veliz said the real boost came during the offseason.

“She lost a lot of weight and became stronger, which in turn helped her with goalkeeping,” Veliz said. “She wanted to be a better keeper for the team as well as herself.”

And then the pandemic hit, giving Kunnemann a second extended break from soccer.

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The time away wasn’t all for naught. In January, while awaiting the start of the Aztecs’ season, Kunnemann signed to play at Northwestern Oklahoma State. She’ll move to Alva, Oklahoma, this summer.

She won’t be alone: one of Kunnemann’s best friends also plays for the Rangers.

“I’m excited. I was able to visit twice, and met my teammates when I was down there,” Kunnemann said, adding that she instantly connected with the other players. “I felt really at home, which was weird, but it’s really what drove me to want to go there.”

Before she leaves, Kunnemann will play one more season with the Aztecs.

“She is starting this season in a much better place than when she first arrived,” Veliz said.

“Chloe has brought joy to the team; she often times makes me laugh with how she tells personal stories.

“She is bright and talkative and fun to be around.”

Kunnemann is looking forward to returning to play and making the move to Oklahoma, where she’s planning to major in business and pursue a career in medical equipment sales. She was drawn to that line of work during Abbie’s illness, saying she saw how much the machines helped her sister.

“Even the simplest thing,” Kunnemann said, talking about the port-catheter that Abbie had implanted in her chest to prevent her from repeated IVs while she was undergoing chemotherapy.

“Having those type of experiences in life and seeing how much medicine has helped my sister, even though it didn’t help the way we wanted it to, it gave us more time with her.”

It isn’t lost on Kunnemann how invaluable medical equipment has been through the pandemic.

“It’s weird how everything works, but there’s a reason for it,” Kunnemann said.

Turns out there was a reason for her break from soccer all those years ago, which Kunnemann said changed the trajectory of her life.

“I couldn’t imagine my life without soccer,” Kunnemann said. Just like her sister Abbie, who played soccer almost all the way up to her diagnosis, Kunnemann has a deep, ingrained love of the game.

“My favorite thing about soccer is probably the different minds that come together and the plays you can put together,” Kunnemann said, adding that she also loves the way it kept her centered during the toughest times of her life.

If there’s one thing Kunnemann learned through Abbie’s illness, it’s the importance of a having a separate space.

“Find that one outlet that allows you to be the person you are,” she said, “and allows you to not think about everything else.”