Mandeville mother-daughter connect around sports

Caroline Todd’s father, who played baseball at the University of Texas, says his young teen daughter is a chip off the old block when it comes to her athletic prowess.

But the girl’s dad, Clark Todd of Mandeville, is quick to acknowledge that he is not the old block. It seems Caroline, the only girl from Louisiana on the Olympic Development Program national soccer team, has her mother’s genes when it comes to sports. And Caroline just celebrated her 14 birthday on Aug. 3.

Caroline’s mom, Laura Blessey Todd, was one of Louisiana’s most decorated female high school athletes. She won 11 individual and team state championships in golf, cross-country and track while she was a student at Mandeville High School in the 1990s. After graduation, she went on to play on the University of Texas golf team.

Like mother, like daughter is how most view the Todd family lineage.

Clark Todd, a Lufkin, Texas, native who moved to Louisiana in 2001, said longtime members of the St. Tammany sports community constantly point out the mother-daughter commonality when watching Caroline play.

“A lot of people around here tell me, ‘This is what your wife looked like (playing sports) when she was 13 years old,” Clark Todd said. “She dominated, no matter if it was golf, track, tennis, soccer … .”

As so it is for Caroline, a natural athlete who honed her soccer skills while partaking in the Mandeville Soccer Club programs. 

Her dad said she excelled in all sports from a very young age but settled on soccer about four years ago. Caroline’s combination of foot speed, strength and aggressiveness set her apart, he said.

Shane Jeanfreau, Mandeville Soccer Club’s executive director, said Caroline’s “elite competitiveness” in addition to her physical abilities have led to her success on the soccer field.

“She is fierce and strong. She hates to lose,” Jeanfreau said. “The way Caroline practices and how she approaches soccer matches has her at a higher level of focus than anyone else.”

While playing with the Mandeville Soccer Club, Caroline was first recruited to join an Arkansas-based team that was part of the Elite Clubs National League, a highly-competitive national youth soccer developmental league.

She then made her way onto the regional Olympic Development Program squad, which is made up of the top players from around the south. This spring, she made the program’s national team.

In May, that national team spent weeks playing matches in Germany and Austria. It played for the International Cordial Cup in one of Europe’s most competitive tournaments for girls and boys. The tournament attracted teams from more than 20 countries.

“We ended up winning that,” Clark Todd said. “It was the first time a U.S. team had ever won the Cordial Cup, so it was a really big deal. The girls had a great time.”

While she enjoys the world-class, international competition, Todd said his daughter has worked hard to keep her grades up in school and to remain rooted in the St. Tammany soccer community.

“The Mandeville Soccer Club is her home,” he said. “That’s where all of her good friends are.”

Clark and Laura Todd, who met when they were both students at the University of Texas, have made a practice of letting Caroline and her two siblings choose their own courses when it comes to extracurricular activities. Like their parents, all three enjoy sports.

Cooper, 17, will be a junior at Mandeville High School and participates in baseball and football. Cate is 12 and loves all sports.

“My wife and I are both former college athletes, so we are very competitive by nature,” Tod said. “But we’ve never forced our kids on sports.

“They’ve all kind of naturally gravitated toward it. I think it’s in their DNA, and certainly for Caroline it is absolutely in her DNA.”

Caroline attended grade school at Mary Queen of Peace Catholic School in Mandeville and will be an eighth grader at Saint Scholastic Academy for the coming school year. She will compete on the school’s soccer team.

Despite her soccer schedule, Caroline said she is also driven to perform well in the classroom.

“I have always made schoolwork a priority,” she said. “My parents talk about that a lot.”

She said having parents who understand the nuances of high-level competition has helped her on the soccer field and in all aspects of life.

“My parents are always talking to me about work ethic and being a leader on and off the field,” Caroline said. “They talk to me about what it takes to be the best. My mom talks to me about being comfortable in the uncomfortable.”