The National Women's Soccer League’s (NWSL) Fan Impact Challenge for the Lauren Holiday Impact Award is now open for fans to vote for their favorite nominee. The award highlights NWSL players who are making an outstanding impact in their local communities. San Diego’s own Nya Harrison is the San Diego Wave FC’s nominee for the award. The second-year defender signed with the Wave in March 2025 after a standout career at Stanford.
“It means everything to be able to represent the city,” Harrison said. “It just means a lot to know I can give back to the city and represent us in a different way.”
Her community partner for the award is the Monarch School Project, a non-profit corporation that is dedicated to supporting the unhoused community in San Diego. As a local, Harrison has a history of giving back, specifically working with the Monarch School.
“My parents have always instilled in me that giving back to your community is very important,” Harrison said. “[In high school,] I did a donation drive for the Monarch School during the holidays and that was my first organized community service event.”
While she appreciates the nomination, Harrison Harrison is more interested in spreading the word about the Monarch School’s impact and all the resources they provide. She values having the ability to use her platform as a professional athlete for good.
“I just want to take advantage of this opportunity to help them out and give them the resources they need,” Harrison said. “These are the kids that need to be highlighted and they’re the ones that need to be getting opportunities.”
During her time with the Wave, Harrison has hosted multiple events with the Monarch School, including a Q&A panel. She also played indoor soccer with some of the students. Next, she hopes to build a relationship between the Monarch School and the San Diego Wave.
The Fan Impact Challenge will last through August 29. Fans can place their votes with this form and find more information on the NWSL website. Voters can vote for one nominee per day/per device. The nominee who receives the most fan engagement will receive a $10,000 donation toward their chosen community partner.
“Don’t think about me, vote for the kids,” Harrison said.
Get to know more about Harrison and her journey to the Wave from our conversation, lightly edited for length and clarity.
What part of San Diego did you grow up in? Can you tell us a little more about what it was like growing up in that part of San Diego?
I was born in Mission Valley. When my parents were younger, they had an apartment in Mission Valley, so that’s where I was for the first couple years of my life. We ended up moving more North County, like Forest Ranch area.
It’s definitely kind of funny, because I don’t like to claim my neighborhood necessarily. Obviously, I wouldn’t change anything about how I grew up. It felt like where I grew up that I was there for school.
When did you start playing soccer and what drew you to the sport?
I started technically playing when I was three-and-a-half, which is kind of crazy. My parents put me in a bunch of random stuff when I was younger, because they wanted me doing something. I did swim, gymnastics, ballet classes, and everything, but the thing was, everything I did, I’d cry all the time. When it came to soccer too, I cried again, but my parents were not going to let me quit.
Obviously I don’t remember this, but they said something about how it seemed like I’d outsmart all the kids when we played Sharks and Minnows.* That’s when they had this epiphany and were like, ‘she has to stay [in soccer].’ I still cried after, but I started to like it more and [found] that I hated losing.
When I turned seven, that’s when [my parents] saw a tryout for a competitive team and were like ‘You have to try out.’ I ended up missing the tryout for the team because my parents mixed up the times for the girls and boys. I ended up trying out with the boys then making the girls team. Apparently, I had fun schooling the boys, and from there, that’s when I actually was taking [soccer] seriously in my mind.
Harrison poses with her family on her Senior Night at Stanford. (Photo Credit: Nya Harrison)
Do you have any favorite memories from your club or high school team?
I actually only played one year of high school varsity soccer when I was a freshman. There weren’t many memories from that other thanI thought it was so cool that I could ride with the seniors to school and stuff like that.
I’m really close with my club teammates still to this day. Because you go through so much together and those are the only girls that really understand what you’re all going through. It was nice having friends that were going through the same process as me. They’re basically like my sisters.
Why did you choose Stanford and what was your recruiting journey like?
There was a lot of stuff growing up where people just kinda labeled me as good at soccer and didn’t really know anything else about me. When I heard Stanford for the first time, I was like nine years old and it was actually because a dad told me that their kid was going there and someone like me could never get there.
As I started my research, I knew I wanted to stay in California, so if it wasn’t Stanford it was UCLA or USC. My parents always just told me, ‘do your best and whatever you think you’re capable of, you can do it.’ I just told myself that I was capable of going to [Stanford], so I just set my mind on that and hoped for the best. I was like, “This is the best place that combines everything that I want and what I think I can accomplish.”
When Stanford invited me on campus, I thought, ‘I just have to go there.’ My head coach, Paul, told me the [coaching staff] were going to watch me play when I played in the Bay Area and after that they would make an offer depending on how I played in the game. And it all worked out!
What are some of your favorite memories playing at Stanford?
I think in general all my favorite memories connect to [my recruiting class]. We’re a pretty small class. There were only five of us. We just became super close very fast, and we’re all very different personalities, and we definitely butted heads a lot. We were basically inseparable, but we could also do all of our own things separately. We’re all passionate about [our] different interests, not only for soccer, but what we want to study, what we want to do outside of soccer, and things like that. This isn’t a direct answer, but literally any moment I’ve had with them has been awesome. They’re my favorite people.
Harrison alongside her Stanford recruiting class, including Hailey Craig, Avani Brandt, Kellie Pagador, and Andrea Kitahata. (Photo Credit: Nya Harrison)
What has the transition from college to professional soccer life been for you?
I have had a kind of a non-typical transition, because it was kind of like I was moving back home. There were other opportunities that came and went, so I was like, ‘Let’s just do it and hope for the best.’ I had also trained with the Wave a little bit when I was in college, as a training player whenever I’d come back from break, so it didn’t feel too new. It was nice, because Kennedy was [at Stanford] and I played with [her] for like five years, so it’s nice when you see familiar faces.
Off the field, it wasn’t that hard of a transition. On the field, the main thing was seeing that our team is extremely diverse and from a lot of different countries. That’s just something I never experienced before. Hearing different players’ perspectives and learning how different play [is in different countries has] helped me grow the most.
Harrison represents her Asian heritage with a Filipino flag during the Wave’s media day photoshoot. (Photo Credit: San Diego Wave FC)
What does it mean to you to represent not only the Filipino community but also the AAPI community in the NWSL?
I love representing my family and representing my mom’s story of coming [to the United States] when she was born in the Philippines. Also, the work that my grandparents put in as immigrants and working their way up.
When it comes to being mixed, you’re kind of torn between your two identities, but I think it’s super cool. Growing up, once I got to a certain age, I could see more women of color on the national teams and in professional sports and stuff like that, which was super cool. In general, I [felt] that was kind of tapping into my black side of myself, where I was happy to see more black women in sports, but you don’t really see many Asian girls.
I think it’s awesome that we [as Filipinas] get to open the possibilities for younger Filipino girls. When we’re younger, we’re told that you have little buckets of things that you’re meant to do.
Nya Harrison is expanding those buckets with her work on and off the field.
Top photo via Soleil Dam/@mediabysoleil.
*Sharks and Minnows. A soccer drill where each player (a "minnow") tries to dribble a soccer ball across a part of the field ("the ocean") from one border to the other without letting a defender (aka "shark") steal or kick their ball out of bounds.
