Director of business and game operations
Former student-athlete Shelby Denkert (’18) was one of many young female athletes molded into an all-conference soccer player by her head coach, Samar Azem.
“I felt like I grew up a lot more during my time [at Campbell] having an empowering female pushing us every single day,” said Denkert.
As a player, Denkert climbed her way up the depth chart, elevating the Campbell program as an eventual two-time team captain on defense. She then joined the coaching staff as the director of operations in 2019 under Azem, before transitioning into game operations.
Her climb, she says, was made possible because her coaching staff stayed laser focused on the details — both on and off the field.
“Coach Azem made sure we understood the importance of standing up for what we wanted and to set our sights squarely on that.”
While constantly challenged by her female head coach, Denkert said she was empowered to embrace her current duties of managing schedules, expectations and day-to-day operations for multiple head coaches across campus.
She tells herself every day on the job: “I need to go out and be assertive. I cannot be shy or timid, because I have the power to go above and beyond for my teams.”