Grace Bailey had a bright academic future ahead of her when she elected to attend Vanderbilt University after graduating from Soquel High in 2019. It was a bittersweet decision, though. She knew it was the end of her organized soccer career.

Well, Bailey, 23, named to the All-Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League first team as a high school senior, is not only back on the pitch, she’s being compensated to play the game she loves while attending graduate school on other side of the world.

Bailey will make her regular-season debut on Sunday for Craigieburn City FC, a semi-pro team that competes in Football Victoria’s Women’s State League 1 North-West League in Australia.

“The opportunity to keep playing soccer is really special to me, in any capacity, because, obviously, I’m here as a student,” said Bailey, who is in the process of earning a doctorate in neuroscience from University of Melbourne. “When I graduated from Soquel and realized I wasn’t going to play D-I or D-II, just club soccer, I honestly felt like my soccer career was over. So it’s fortunate to continue soccer when, at one point, I thought it was over.”

Admittedly, Bailey, a physical, 5-foot-7 talent, isn’t the most technical player, but she’s faster and stronger than most, and communicates well. She has a cannon of a leg too, so she’ll often handle longer free kicks and corner kicks.

Bailey will serve as a defensive center midfielder for Craigieburn City.

“Being a defender or defensive mid can be thankless sometimes, but it’s some of the most important and hardest work,” she said. “And I can lead, as well. I get to see the whole play and direct my team.”

When she first arrived in Melbourne, Bailey searched for soccer opportunities nearby. She trialed with uber successful South Melbourne FC for five weeks, but, ultimately, didn’t make the squad.

Throughout her tryout, Craigieburn City officials scouted Bailey and let her that they were interested in her. She contacted them after her final session with South Melbourne and they were elated to have her join the squad.

“There was a silver lining to it, and they were offering me money,” said Bailey, who is paid $400 a week.

She’s the only American on the roster, but not the only foreigner. She has teammates from Afghanistan, Colombia, Japan, and East Timor.

Bailey has played in four preseason matches for Craigieburn City and is enjoying the experience.

“The vibe is a bit different here,” she said. “There’s decorations and posters everywhere. The fans are loud and boisterous. Many of them are wearing face paint.”

She’s also enjoying her experience abroad. She hasn’t had much time to travel, but did take a trip on The Great Ocean Road, a 240-kilometer stretch of road along the Victorian coastline. She has seen kangaroos and koalas in their natural habitat.

“The food here is amazing,” Bailey said. “There’s a huge Asian influence, so we have Thai, Indian, Viet, Chinese, and sushi. There’s a big Greek population here, too. So there’s plenty of Greek food.”

While studying as an undergraduate in Nashville, Tennessee, Bailey kept her head in the books and a foot in the game. She played club soccer for four years at Vanderbilt. She graduated in ’23 with a bachelor’s degree, with honors, in neuroscience.

After graduating, she was introduced to beach soccer by a friend and trained with the Spanish Women’s National Beach Soccer Team. Bailey fully immersed herself in the sport.

Last year, she made a lengthy trip to El Salvador to play beach soccer for Garita Palmera, which placed second in the country championships. She also played for Beach Soccer Virginia Beach, which posted a top-10 finish at the Club World Championships in Italy, and then joined Santa Cruz-based team Cruzn at the Americas Winners Cup in El Salvador.

Despite her ongoing academic journey, Bailey aspires to play beach soccer professionally. She believes that competing for Craigieburn City will further hone her skills for beach.

Bri Wiles, Bailey’s coach during her sophomore season at Soquel, hasn’t heard from her former pupil for eight years, but she’s not surprised that she is competing at a high level.

“As a sophomore, she was incredibly focused and very driven. She was a solid player on the field,” Wiles said. “If Grace was in, we were in good hands. She was an intimidating force back in high school. She was strong and skilled. She was solid.”

Santa Cruz’s Leah Morales Nunberg, who competed for the U.S. Women’s Beach Soccer National Team at the 2025 El Salvador Cup in February, was teammates with Bailey last summer on Cruzn.

Bailey was a late addition to the team. When Morales heard that Bailey grew up competing in one of the local Junior Lifeguard programs, meaning she had a history of running on sand, she knew her new beach teammate was going to take to the game well.

For that reason, Morales believes Bailey is going to be even more explosive for Craigieburn City than she was for Cruzn.

“It’s like you take off a weight vest and ankle weights,” Morales said. “You feel faster and have better ball control than before. The game slows down for you going back to grass.”

Morales said she enjoyed training against Bailey.

“She was great, a natural,” Morales said. “She’s got an awesome left-footed shot. She can really strike the ball off the sand, which is not easy to do.”

Morales said Bailey jumped into beach soccer with both feet and expects she’ll do the same in at the semi-pro level in Australia.

“She’s strong, fast and determined,” Morales said. “The sky is the limit for her.”