Sonya Robinson spent more than 15 years serving in the UnFited States Navy as an information systems technician. She was first recruited to join the Navy in 1995 by a female recruiter who worked in the same field she would end up spending the majority of her service career in.
“I wanted a certain job because I was recruited by a female recruiter, which was really rare in 1996,” Robinson said. “She told me about her job, what she could say, because it was a classified job. As she told me what she could, and it sounded pretty good. Like, you could get a civilian job afterwards. So, I was like, okay, that's what I want to do.”
Throughout her years of active duty, Robinson says she was able to travel across the United States after being stationed in cities like Pensacola, Florida and Norfolk, Virginia. Her service also took her to Italy where she spent time in Sicily and Naples, Italy. Robinson said she spent four months on the USS Indominable after 9/11.
“I really loved Italy,” Robinson said. “Probably because that was my first real duty station, and I made some amazing friends that I've remained friends with for life.”
A Houston native, Robinson said after she retired from active duty in 2012 she immediately returned back home to settle and begin a new chapter of her life. Despite being a Houston native through and through, Robinson says she will always call Norfolk, Virginia home. The Navy veteran welcomed her children there and she spent the bulk of her service time on the East Coast.
Robinson says she had the support of her parents since that start, who signed for her to enlist because she was underage at the time after graduating high school early. Later in life, Robinson said her mother provided unconditional and global support after she gave birth to her children.
“My mom, she moved to Italy with me when I had my oldest daughter,” Robinson said. “She moved back to Virginia and my kids never went to daycare because their grandma was there to take care of them when I deployed and worked, shift work, overnights weekends, whatever. They always had grandma with them.”
Robinson says she was first introduced to soccer through her children who grew up playing the sport. When she left Houston in the mid-90s there weren’t any professional soccer teams in Houston, so when she returned to the city, she would take her kids to Dynamo games and Dash games once the Dash were established.
Robinson says she is excited to attend Sunday’s match where her two kids and a friend.
“You know, we'd love to see the ladies win,” Robinson said. “Who doesn't want to see your home team win.”
