This is an expanded version of the Soccer America Q&A with Mike Fisher found on page 34 of the Nov. 6, 2000 issue of Soccer America Magazine. Hermann to Hippocrates One of four men to win two Hermann Trophies, Mike Fisher chose medical school over soccer after graduating from Virginia in 1996. INTERVIEW BY WILL KUHNS SOCCER AMERICA: Could you update us on your progress in medical school and what you think of it? MIKE FISHER: Sure. I’m now in my third year, and it’s four years. The first two years, you’re just in a classroom all day. So I just had my nose in a book, and it was pretty tough. It was a lot of work, a lot of time, not a lot of sleep. This year, we’re doing rotations in the hospital. Currently, I’m doing psychology down in Salem, Va., and it’s just been great. It’s been a great experience. I knew when I graduated college that I had to make a choice whether to play soccer or not. I got drafted by Tampa Bay and I just made the decision to go with med school. I still liked playing and everything, but I didn’t feel, at that time, like I had as much of the desire to go out and give 100 percent every day. So I felt like it was a good time to just step back and pursue something else. SA: Have you played any soccer since college? MF: Not really. I go out and practice with the UVA men’s team every once in a while. It’s hard to find time to play, but when I get a chance, I go out and kick around. SA: Do miss playing? MF: That’s a tough question. I don’t really miss going out every single day. SA: The daily rigors … MF: Yeah, that’s the thing. I don’t miss being sore all the time. I do miss playing in some big games. I think everyone misses that part of it — the competition and the camaraderie of the team and stuff. SA: This rotation, psychology, is that something youÆre interested in or is it just a placement? MF: It’s something we had to do. In the third year, all our rotations are preset, so everyone has to do the same things. Next year, my fourth year, it’s all electives, so we get to pick and choose what we want to do. If I had to choose right now, I’d do orthopedic surgery. SA: Did you watch the men’s Olympic team at all? MF: I saw two of their games. I saw the game against Japan and the semifinal game. … I always root for the UVA guys. I try to keep up with how their doing and to see who’s playing. SA: Do mind telling us a few of your feelings about the 1996 Olympics and what it was like for you not to be able to play? MF: Sure. The situation was, I was named as an alternate to the team. And at that time I had taken a semester off from school and I had missed out on some pre-med courses that I needed to go to med school. The alternates were expected to stay with the team for another six weeks or so before the Olympics, to train with them. At that same time I had a course starting in summer school that I had missed. I made the decision not to stay with the team and to take that course that I needed to graduate. Bruce Arena was the coach and I think that upset him a bit, that I did that. SA: Did it upset you to be an alternate to begin with? MF: It did; I’d been training hard, working with the team for six months and I don’t question the decision, or whatever, they made the choice, but I was a little bit upset. But me being mad didn’t play a big role in my decision [to take the summer course]. SA: How about your decision not to go into professional soccer? Did your 1996 Olympic experience … influence that? MF: The Olympic experience, in and of itself, didn’t turn me away from soccer. It just kind of solidified the decision, I think. We were basically living the life of a professional soccer player. You know, playing every day, traveling all the time, and I found myself not particularly enjoying that as much as I thought I would. We were kind of secluded at the Olympic training center in San Diego without much else to do besides play soccer, so I don’t know if that’s what turned me away. SA: But that lifestyle you described is still pretty much the same for every player. MF: And actually I’ve talked to a lot of guys who are playing in the MLS and it’s funny — I’ve yet to talk to a guy who has said it’s just awesome and everything they thought it would be. The typical reaction that I get is that it’s OK, it’s a mixed opinion. That also is something that makes me feel I made the right choice. (Will Kuhns is an associate editor at Soccer America.)