Caps duo earns nod
Last year it was her brother, Connor. This year, it is Kira Lee’s turn to shine in the soccer spotlight. Lee, a 14-year-old Seaton student, will head to Tampa, Fla. for the Super Y League’s Olympic Development Program (ODP).
Lee, who plays with Thompson Okanagan Whitecaps FC, was chosen from hundreds of Pacific Northwest division players to attend a week-long camp next March, where she will train amongst the top two per cent of Super Y soccer talent in North America.
“I didn’t know that at this age we were going to go because my brother (Connor, who graduates from Seaton this year) went last year. I was so surprised and I still haven’t digested the fact that I’m going to Florida. It’s crazy.”
Like her big brother, Lee plays on the back end as central defender.
She adds, grinning: “He (Connor) plays wide because he’s shorter. He’s still taller than me though.
“He doesn’t talk too much, but he said it (ODP)was cool and that I’d learn a lot from it. I’ll talk to him more about it (before I leave).”
At the ODP, Lee will be showcasing her skills in front of university coaches and scouts.
“There’s different people there that I haven’t played with and it’s going to help me improve so much. It’s going to open a lot of doors too.”
Added Whitecaps Soccer Academy coach Dave Broadhurst: “It will be a new experience for her, a different training environment. It will be an opportunity for her to put herself against better players and see what the standard is like.
“It’s also going to get her on people’s radar. If you can get spotted early, you have a good advantage.”
Paige Doherty, who led the U16 Whitecaps in scoring last season, also received ODP recognition, but won’t be going to Florida. Instead, the Grade 12 VSS student will be added to the National Select pool that will be promoted to more than a 1,000 colleges across the continent, as well as to the USSF and Canadian Soccer Association.
Like Lee, Doherty credits the Whitecap academy for developing her skills and keeping her game sharp.
“It has definitely made me a lot more confident...just being able to practice every single day. It helps me keep my touch and keep everything over the year.
“It was my first year playing Y league with the girls Whitecaps...so it definitely showed me you can really go for something and be the best at it.
“My overall outlook for the game, it really became a part of my whole life when I started this program. I got coaches that were so into it and showed me a whole new side of what it could do for my life. It gave me something to look forward to every day and I basically couldn’t get enough of it.”
Added Lee: “Soccer academy helps so much. The first year I did Y League I was good, but then I went into soccer academy and holy, I improved so much. Dave is such a good coach and now that Claire (coach Patterson) is here too it helps so much.
“I play other sports (soccer and basketball), but soccer is what I’m best at.”
Doherty remembers what it was like breaking into the sport as a five-year old, and she is taking the time to give back to grassroots soccer as a coach with the Soccer Patch kids program.
“I see the little kids running around saying ‘I don’t want to play soccer right now,’ and you have to sit them down and explain soccer is a really great sport,” smiles Doherty. “There was this one kid that didn’t want to come back, and the next week he came back and scored five goals and was like “I love soccer, this is the greatest sport ever.’”
Doherty, who dreams of playing NCAA soccer somewhere “down south where it’s nice and hot,” will have a chance to strut her stuff when she travels with the U16 Whitecaps to a showcase tournament at the end of the month in Seattle. More than 40 scouts and college coaches will be on hand to assess the talent. There is another similar tourney scheduled for April.
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