Lili Hobday played soccer up until eighth grade, when she had to choose between fall sports: soccer or volleyball?

She has played for Humboldt’s volleyball team ever since.

“I’ve always kind of wondered what would happen if I got into soccer instead of volleyball,” the Open World Learning junior said.

This is the fall to find out. When volleyball and football were moved to a tweener winter/spring season by the Minnesota State High School League two weeks ago, it left many metro athletes without a fall sport. Luckily, Hobday had a backup. She’s going back to her soccer roots this fall.

“I never thought I’d be able to play soccer again,” she said. “I kind of missed it.”

Hobday’s story is shared by many metro athletes. They play as many sports as they can growing up, and only whittle the list down out of necessity as they get older.

Alyssa Isackson-Masco was an all-conference swimmer for Hill-Murray in eighth-grade. She has played volleyball ever since, but is hopping back into the pool for her senior season. Forest Lake’s McKenna Andrews runs with the Rangers cross country runners each summer, only to part ways each fall when the volleyball season begins. This fall, she’s sticking to running.

Jeff Odamtten is White Bear Lake football’s Mr. Everything. He is the Bears’ wing, safety, punter and kicker. He had experience in the kicking department before ever playing football given his extensive soccer background.

White Bear Lake soccer coach Karl Jende and his players knew of Odamtten’s soccer prowess from his past body of work in club soccer. Odamtten originally planned on playing soccer entering high school, but most of his best friends were playing football.

“My friends were like, ‘Oh, Jeff, just do it. Just play. Just play (football),’ ” Odamtten said. “I was like, ‘Might as well,’ and then I fell in love with it.”

Still, he always missed soccer. He loves the sport. It’s he and his father’s favorite thing to talk about.

“Freshman year, I was planning on playing soccer and football, and then I found out both were in the fall and I was like, ‘Wow,’ ” Odamtten said. “I was really hurt, but now that I get to do both of them, I’m so happy, and so is my dad. He’s like, ‘I get to watch you do both.’ ”

And then there is North St. Paul’s Jenna Rubbelke. She normally is a libero for the Polars’ volleyball team, but when that season was moved, she had to find something else.

“I don’t want to just sit at home. I like to be active,” Rubbelke said. “I didn’t want to do cross country, because I was not a runner, and then I picked tennis. It seemed like something cool, something new to try.”

Rubbelke didn’t even own a tennis racquet prior to this. Her past tennis experience consisted of middle school gym class.

“I just thought it’d be cool. I like to try new things, different sports. I’m usually pretty athletic, so I knew I wouldn’t be too terrible, but I wouldn’t be the best. It was nice to learn something new,” she said. “I get better each day. After practice yesterday I came back home, grabbed my dad and we went back out to practice.”

There is an acclimation process for many of these athletes. Hobday’s soccer skills are rusty. The first day the team did a juggling drill, some of her teammates juggled the ball 55 straight times. She got two. Isackson-Masco admitted the swim team’s regimen is more difficult than she expected.

“I thought I was in a little bit better shape than I am,” Isackson-Masco said. “But I feel like I’ll get back into the groove of swimming in a couple of weeks and I’ll start feeling a lot more energized.”

Isackson-Masco competed in club swimming up until sixth grade, when she gave it up in favor of club volleyball. But she wanted to wait to play high school volleyball until her freshman year, when she felt she could make varsity. So she swam as an eighth-grader, and made all-conference. Leaving swimming was difficult, but volleyball is the sport the Pioneers senior has always planned to play in college. She tried to work out a way to compete in both sports in the past, but logistically it never worked.

Rubbelke, too, will play volleyball, as well as softball, at the next level, competing at Hamline next year. Her father, Jim, is the Pipers’ head softball coach. She also plans to play basketball this year for North St. Paul, but said tennis may be her new favorite sport. She pitched the idea of playing softball and tennis — both college spring sports — at Hamline, but her dad wasn’t in favor of it.

“I tried,” she joked.

One teammate from Isackson-Masco’s eighth-grade season is still with the Hill-Murray swim team. The coaching staff has all turned over, as well. So it’s a lot of fresh faces. That’s the case when you try a new sport. Rubbelke noted this is the first time she has interacted with a lot of the tennis players outside of class. Not even a Humboldt student, Hobday met a lot of fresh faces on Day 1 of soccer practice.

“It’s really cool to come in and see how welcoming they are. The first day, they were like ‘Wow, you’re so fast,’ and ‘Hi, what’s your name?,’ ’’ Hobday said. “When I came in, everybody was super nice. … I think I’ll have some real-life connections.”

They could make impacts on their teams, as well. Hill-Murray is getting a talented swimmer back in its lineup. Humboldt coach Jessica Perez Adame said Hobday likely will be in the midfield for Humboldt with her athleticism, speed and grit. And Odamtten could help take White Bear Lake to another level as a team.

“He has all the tools necessary to be one of the top players in the state this season,” Bears coach Karl Jende said, “as long as he commits fully and applies himself with the same focus and drive that he has shown so far.”

Isackson-Masco hopes to return to all-conference form this fall. Hobday wants to have fun and get in shape. Rubbelke’s goal is even more modest.

“I hope I don’t lose every match,” she joked. “I hope I come out with a couple of wins without knowing what’s going on.”

Perez Adame loves that volleyball and football athletes are using this fall to try new things and meet new people.