From France to Haiti: Kaïna Cesar’s story

Sophomore goalkeeper Kaïna Cesar‘s freshman debut at Lipscomb has taken her around not just around the United States, but around the world as well.

Coming from Tours, France, Cesar began racking up minutes, starting in all 17 of the matches she appeared in and logging over 1,440 minutes in the goal. She has received accolades such as the ASUN Goalkeeper of the Week – twice – and was nominated to the 2024 ASUN All-Freshman Team. Beyond that United States-based nomination, she was invited to play for the Haitian National Team.

But before Cesar was playing alongside women who’d competed in previous World Cups, she was just a kid on a school playground.

“I went to school and during the breaks my friends liked playing soccer, especially the guys, and so I was like ‘oh, I want to try it.'” Cesar said. She began playing with her friends during recess when she was six years old, and that quickly turned into a love for the sport. “I came back home and asked my parents if I could [play] for a club and they said yes. So I started playing soccer at my club when I was nine years old.”

Often, when Cesar wasn’t playing with her club team, she was playing with the boys at her school. She said that in many ways, that pushed her to be better, and is something that helps her even today.

“All of the boys were my friends so they were very nice,” she said with a laugh. “But since I played with the boys when I was young, that allowed me to build my confidence, ’cause it’s tough to play a boy’s sport. I feel like when you play first with the boys, you get better. Because they are more powerful, they are faster than us… and I used to play against faster guys so I think that can help me with the girls.”

After graduating high school, Cesar realized that she needed to find a university that allowed her to continue pursuing her soccer career alongside her education. Something which, she said, is not easy to do in France.

“The US is really well known for [being good at] that,” Cesar said. “In Europe, especially in France, you can do it, but the school won’t help you because they are not working together. It’s two different things.” She explained that sports are separate from school in Europe, but not in the United States. “In the US college sports are so famous… so I said ‘why not try?'”

An agency reached out to Cesar, asking if she wanted to move to the United States to play soccer. They helped her build a profile and sent it around to coaches. Cesar said she didn’t know anything about a single school in the United States – not only had she not heard of Lipscomb, she hadn’t heard of any school.

“I didn’t know people were playing soccer [in the US],” she laughed. “In Europe we call it football.”

When Cesar found out about Lipscomb and learned it was a Christian university, she was excited, she recalled. “I grew up in a Christian family but not as much as is in the United States, so I [decided] it was a good way for me to get closer to Jesus and know more about [Him], and do my school and improve my soccer.”

Despite the fact that Cesar could have gone to play at the college level in any number of countries, she was sold on the United States. “When I grew up watching women’s soccer, I was only ‘United States, United States,'” she said, referencing the United States Women’s Soccer Team’s multiple World Cup wins. “They have a different way to play soccer than in Europe, and I already learned about Europe so I wanted to learn somewhere else.”

Cesar was soon sold on Lipscomb as well. She had several calls with the women’s soccer coaches, and mentioned her call with Head Coach Kevin O’Brien. “He asked me ‘why did you choose Lipscomb?’ I said ‘I want to be in a place that wins trophies,’ and he [moved and] just showed me all the trophies behind him.” She laughed, recalling that after seeing Lipscomb’s soccer trophy case, her response had been, “‘all right, I’ll move.'”

Cesar went on to have a strong season, but she didn’t dwell on her own achievements, instead praising her teammates. “Everybody’s telling me that I’ve had an amazing season, but I mean, being a goalie is really tough, but being a goalie when you have such a great team – it’s easy. I don’t have anything to do, my team is so good.”

Senior Defender Lauren Weiss commented on Cesar’s humble mindset. “Kaïna is the type of person and player who has such a commanding presence on the field, but is an incredible and humble person off the field,” she said. “Her talent is undeniable, and whenever she is in goal, she has a sense of peace and consistency about her that’s comforting to everyone around her.”

“I’m so proud of what we’ve done and how far we’ve got,” Cesar said. “The girls were impressive… the seniors were insane. I had so many good teammates and friendships here… Everybody’s so nice here – so happy and full of joy. I love it.”

Weiss commented on Cesar’s ability to make friends with the other girls on the team. “Despite not speaking a ton of English when she first got here, Kai has been able to form so many genuine friendships and relationships already,” she smiled. “Her kind presence and witty personality is so fun to be around.”

Cesar and the Lipscomb women’s soccer team finished up their season with an ASUN Championship win and trip to the Big Dance, something that meant a lot to Cesar. “It feels like it was our year, our championship,” she said. “We did not do great regular season – we had a good regular season but we could’ve done better – and then we went to the tournament and everyone was like ‘okay guys we have to win that.’ The mentality of the girls was insane. Everybody wanted to get that ring, for the girls who were not able to do it before. It was amazing, everybody was so happy.”

On top of everything that happened with Lipscomb’s team, Cesar was also approached by one of the coaches for the Haitian National Team. Though she wasn’t able to make it to the games in October due to an injury, she marked that as one of the highlights of her year.

“Just the fact to be called for a national team at nineteen, that was insane,” she said with a smile. Cesar recovered and was able to join the Haitian National Team when they played against Morocco in February (this article in Haiti Libre mentions Cesar’s name). “My first game I played, we tied 1-1 but it was an amazing experience. Obviously a first time,” she added. For Cesar, though, it was the first of several.

Though Cesar’s father is Haitian, she said she didn’t expect to be eligible to play for the team, because she hadn’t been born in Haiti. She said she was excited to find out that she was, and surprised. After her initial call with one of the coaches, she waited to see if she had made the roster. The coach had said he’d keep her updated, but, she said with a laugh, “he did not. I found out my name was on the list on Instagram.”

Her parents were the first to see the list, and she said they called her to tell her. “My parents are my biggest supporters,” she said. “If I can just give back to them with that [opportunity]. It’s a little thing, but they’ve always been there with me, at every game – not in the US of course – they always made sure that one of them was there with me. So seeing their faces on FaceTime when they found my name on the list was amazing.”

Cesar continued on with the Haitian National Team, joining them again for two games against Chile. (This article from Ici Haiti about the Chilean games mentions Cesar) “We won the first game,” she said with a massive smile. “We were ten against eleven because we got a red card [but we still won] – insane. [We had] so many supporters. We actually had more Haitian supporters than Chilean supporters. I got MVP – amazing.”

Still remaining humble, Cesar downplayed her MVP win, instead talking about the skills of her other teammates. Yet the fact that a nineteen year old joined a team of seasoned players and was named the MVP of a woman-down game speaks to the goalkeeper’s skill.

She mentioned the initial difference she felt between herself – a college student – and the other players – former World Cup and Champions League athletes. However, she said, they were quick to make her feel loved and welcomed, as was the fan community.

“When you’re new to a team, especially a national team, nobody knows you,” she said. “Some of my teammates played in the Champions League… they played in the last World Cup – I’m new, nobody knew me. So the first game was an opportunity for me to make my proof.”

After that game, she said, “people started to know me, they gave me some love, some support. People started to follow me on instagram, gave me some sweet messages, and I wound up in a community I wasn’t even in before. My dad of course is Haitian, but I didn’t grow up in Haiti, hadn’t even went before… But Haitian people find joy in soccer, especially women’s soccer, and that was so good to see.”

Cesar hopes to continue playing for the Haitian National Team. If she does, and the team makes it through the qualifying international matches, Cesar will find herself playing in the World Cup while still a college student. “The qualifications for the World Cup will be in October,” she explained.

Though the World Cup seems miles away from a childhood schoolyard, Cesar is ready for the challenge. “I will keep working to get there,” she said.