In front of Alcovy High School at 2:30 p.m. Aleea Bishop signed her letter of intent to play soccer at Piedmont College. Bishop’s family and friends were there to celebrate Bishop’s accomplishments, along with her coaches and other supportive members of the Alcovy faculty and staff.

“It’s like a dream come true, like a fairytale,” Bishop said. “I’ve grown up dreaming that I wanted to play soccer my whole life and now that it’s actually happening it’s like wow, this has actually come true.”

“It’s just bittersweet,” said Autumn Bishop, Aleea’s mother. “It’s something that we’ve wanted for so long, but now that it’s here it’s just like, gosh. We gotta let go and she’s gonna go off and do big things and make us proud.”

“Piedmont is an excellent choice for her,” Autumn added. “They’re top-notch academically and that’s ultimately our biggest goal for her. I just think she’s gonna excel. It’s a great school, I have nothing bad to say about it, we support her.”

Aleea has had a tough road to her signing day, she’s suffered an injury pretty much every year in high school First it was a broken arm, then a broken ankle, a torn MCL and just last year Aleea tore her ACL and her meniscus and was forced to sit out the entire season. She has faced a rash of injuries and come out on the other end — stronger.

“It’s been tough,” Autumn Bishop said. “She’s had multiple setbacks with several different injuries every year.
“We’re just knocking on wood at this point,” she added laughing.

Aleea is in on the joke. She knows how fortunate she is just to touch the pitch on a regular basis. “Some of my best memories would probably be I haven’t got hurt this year so far,” Aleea said laughing.

Through five games the Lady Tigers have shutout two opponents and have held all opponents to two goals or less. As a defender, Aleea has been a huge reason for Alcovy’s success on defense.

“Piedmont’s getting a really unselfish player — someone who plays for the whole team, not looking for accolades, not looking for anyone else, but the whole team,” said Anna Hebert, who coached Aleea for three years. “She’s tough, she’s a smart player and she’s very coachable. She’s versatile, she’s gonna be an asset to their team.”

Hebert says that Aleea has become more confident in her position and developed into a player who could direct the defense, a testament to Alcovy’s success so far this season.

Hebert added that Aleea’s greatest asset is her positivity, saying that Aleea doesn’t cause drama, tries to mediate and be a great team player, which is her strength as a player and as a person.

Aleea will cherish her senior year, and as she says, this year is the closest the team has been.

“I think we’ve experienced as a soccer team, a closeness that we’ve never had before. I really like the bonding of the team,” Aleea Bishop said.

As for her future, Aleea believes Piedmont was the perfect fit.

“The coaches really made me feel at home and the campus was beautiful. It really just made me feel like I wasn’t leaving anywhere, like I was going somewhere,” she said.