Yesuidari Amarbayasgalan, a Class of 2027 undergraduate at Duke Kunshan University studying Environmental Science and Public Policy, is a right winger and captain of the DKU Women’s Football Team. Originally from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, she began playing football at the age of nine and later joined Mongolia’s U-16 women’s national team. After stepping away from football during the COVID-19 pandemic, she rediscovered her passion for the sport at DKU, where she found a supportive team environment and a renewed sense of belonging on the pitch.
During a scrimmage, April 2025, DKU.
Q: How did football first become part of your life, and what brought you to the DKU women’s football team?
I started playing football when I was around nine, on a playground with boys in my neighborhood. We didn’t have a football field; it was cement, and we used empty water bottles as goalposts.
Things started getting more serious when I secretly joined a girls’ football team at another school. We went from competing against other schools to the national level and the women’s league. Toward the end of middle school, I joined Mongolia’s U-16 women’s national team. It was a strict environment, very different from DKU. They collected our phones at 8 p.m., and even our diet was monitored.
Then COVID happened, and throughout high school, I didn’t play. Every now and then, though, I’d find myself daydreaming about being back on the field, dribbling past defenders and scoring a goal. Somehow, that version of me I’d left behind became real again at DKU. DKU gave me the chance to find my way back to football.
DKU also reintroduced me to the sport in a way I hadn’t experienced before, with the facilities and such comprehensive support from my teammates and Coach. Here, I feel like I can fully step into the role of an athlete. The team spirit, trips, tournaments, and growth I’ve experienced have made this the most unforgettable part of my football journey.
Before one of my first games, February 1, 2015, Ulaanbaatar.
Q: What do you enjoy most about your position on the pitch, and what are you working to improve?
I currently play right wing. In my very first game, when I was nine and barely knew anything about positions, I kept gravitating toward the defensive line. But I also love the creativity and freedom of dribbling forward. Playing on the wing gives me a balance between attacking and defending—at the expense of a lot of running!
Being left-footed might be part of why Coach put me on the right wing. I tend to cut inside toward the middle, which feels natural with my stronger foot. I’ve also played striker, left wing, and midfield at DKU, so finding the right position is still an evolving process, depending on how I play and what the team needs.
During my freshman and sophomore years, I used to practice dribbling drills on my own at night. But the most important thing is consistency and simply showing up to training, something Coach emphasizes. We train three times a week, and many of the girls also practice, go to the gym, or run outside mandatory training. We spend time together off the pitch, too, over meals or movies, and that helps us understand each other better.
Right now, beyond improving physically, I’m trying to understand the mental side of the game: staying switched on even when the ball isn’t near me, and moving and reacting intuitively. Watching my teammates handle pressure and push through fatigue for the team makes me want to be braver.
Q: What does supporting your teammates look like for you, especially as team captain?
This year, I’ve had the privilege of serving as team captain. I’ve never been a captain before, and sometimes it feels like a weight on my shoulders. I think about the amazing women I looked up to who held leadership roles before me, like Sophia, Dalia, Holy, Nikka, and Bonnie. Most have already graduated, but I’ve learned so much from watching them.
Each brought something distinctly their own to the role. Some brought fire; others brought a gentle kind of stability. What I admired most was how they showed up for the girls, especially when someone was at their lowest or unsure of herself.
I’m not the loudest or most extroverted person, and one-on-one conversations come more naturally to me. At the beginning of this season, Coach told me to think about what makes me “Yesui” and bring that to the team. I’m still figuring that out.
For now, I’m trying to create opportunities for the team to bond, especially with so many new girls joining this year. I want our training sessions to be places of connection and belonging, because that’s what the team has given me over the past three and a half years at DKU. Seeing my teammates improve at something they once struggled with inspires me to improve, too. It goes both ways.
After a game against UNNC at NYU Shanghai, April 18, 2026.
Q: Which football moment at DKU has stayed with you most, and how did it change you?
A game against UNNC and NYUSH at UNNC in 2024, during my sophomore year, has stayed with me. I had been out with an ankle injury for two months, and I remember feeling nervous before the game. How was my stamina going to hold up?
During my recovery, the then-captains, Bonnie, Sophia, and Nikka, along with Coach and my teammates, checked in on me regularly. Their care helped me feel supported. But my injury kept resurfacing because I was impatient to return before my ankle had fully healed. The mental toll reached a point where I questioned whether I should stay on the team. After encouragement from Coach, I decided to stay.
That game was the first time in a long while I became so absorbed in playing that I stopped overthinking my performance or how tired I felt. I just wanted to do whatever I could to help us win.
What’s difficult about an injury isn’t just the physical pain. There’s frustration at not being able to play the way you want to and sometimes guilt about not contributing as much as you’d like. Coming back helped me understand football differently. It’s not just about physical exertion or performance on the pitch. It’s also a kind of self-confrontation.
During a game against UNNC at UNNC Ningbo, December 1, 2024.
Q: How have founding Humans of DKU and playing football shaped your understanding of community?
I started Humans of DKU because people are so rich in experience, and I think their stories deserve to be shared.
When I began interviewing people, my goal wasn’t to uncover some hidden, “true” version of them. You can’t do that in a twenty-minute interview. It was also a reminder to myself that there’s always something unexpected to learn about someone, even when I think I know them well. I don’t like being boxed into a category, and I don’t want to do that to others.
The football team and Humans of DKU have complemented each other. When I first struggled to find people to feature, I reached out to teammates, and many of the people featured have been girls on the team. Interviewing them felt like meeting them all over again. I learned about Dalia’s many hobbies, Lucia’s background, Kate’s experiences with belonging, and Sophia’s family story. Those conversations helped me appreciate each of them beyond the person I knew on the pitch.
Q: What would you say to students who are curious about women’s football but nervous about joining?
We have girls who joined with little to no football experience, and watching them improve with every training session is genuinely inspiring.
Official tryouts happen at the beginning of each semester, but girls have also joined midway through the semester through P.E. football classes or our open practices on Fridays. If you’re interested and willing to show up consistently, I think the team would welcome you. The girls are some of the sweetest, most caring, and most inspiring people I know.
After studying away in my junior year, I came back to a team with so many new faces that I almost felt like a visiting player. But in a short time, we became like a family.
And if you think you’re not a sports person, I never really thought of myself as one either. I grew up obsessed with Barbies and my mom’s pretty dresses. But here I am. I guess you never really know until you try.
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