Whitecaps

This is my first year participating in the Whitecaps Residency Program. It is a team that trains together all year, plays exhibition games and enters tournaments. Tournaments such as Surf Cup in San Diego and a college showcase tournament down in Las Vegas. This team consists of about 22 players, both of '92 and '93 born. Most of the older girls that play on this team I've played with in the National Training Center. Training takes place up at Simon Fraser University about 4 times a week. I just started training in January of this year as I was out because of my leg when the program started back in September. It's been difficult getting back to playing because I had been out for about 8 months. Going from playing with the provincial team to breaking my leg then to getting into playing with the Whitecaps has been really hard because it's such a big difference between the two teams. Whitecaps is a lot more intense with the older girls as the are very good players. The timing of breaking my leg between the programs was pretty bad. I've been playing with the team for over five months now and it's still pretty difficult having to play again. This program runs until August so maybe hopefully by then I'll be fully used to playing again. However this program has a great reputation from over the years from doing well in tournaments and I am fortunate to be apart of it. Many college/ university scouts have come to see our team play in showcase tournaments which is great exposure for all of our players. Many of our older players have already committed to schools like the University of Victoria, Trinity Western University, Washington and many others. I am hoping to have the opportunity like our older girls to get into any of these great schools.

Breaking My Leg

I continued to play on the U15 and U16 Provincial Teams Program for the next two summers. We traveled back to Germany in U15 and stayed in the same two places. However some of the teams we played weren't the greatest. One friendly game we played we won 25-0. It was the highest scoring game I've ever played. U16 was a shorter season for me because I broke my leg during a tournament down in Portland, Oregon. The other girl came into the tackle with her cleats up directly hitting me in the shin. It really just felt like a really hard kick to the shin but I didn't think it was anything serious at first. But I noticed my leg felt really weird when I was sitting on the sidelines. After the game I was taken to a clinic in Portland where I had to wait quite a while before I got checked. I finally got an x-ray and was told I broke my tibia.

X-ray of my right leg

If I stayed down in Portland to get dealt with I would've had to wait til the Tuesday and it was only Saturday. My dad decided that to make the car ride back to Children's Hospital that night. It took us around 4 hours to drive back which was a lot faster than it normally takes to get back. I spent the night at Childrens and got my bone put back into place the next morning. The bone went back in perfectly so I didn't need any pins to hold it in place. I was put in a full leg cast which I had to wear for a few weeks. I pretty much lived downstairs for couple months because I couldn't get up and down the stairs. Having a shower was always a lengthy process because I couldn't stand up and I couldn't get my cast wet. I would have to sit on a little chair with my leg out of the shower while wrapped in a garbage bag. I accidentally got water down my cast one time and it was an very uncomfortable feeling. U16 was the last year for the provincial teams program so it was disappointing that I could finish off the program. But I honestly really enjoyed the time off soccer. I got to spend a lot more time with my family and it was really relaxing not having to do anything. This was an experience I surely will never ever forget!

This is a video clip of some very talented individuals who are amazing at soccer tricks! I really wish I could do some of the tricks they show but I would imagine it would take a lot of practice. There are so many talented individuals such as these people in the video all around the world it's incredible how skilled they are! This video makes me want to pick up a ball and practice, practice, and practice some more until I can do even just one trick. So please enjoy!

National Training Center

After nationals were over in the summer, myself and a number of girls from the provincial team continued on with the National Training Center (NTC) in the fall. It's a training program for both boys and girls of a two year age gap. I was born in '93 so half the girls I trained with were '92 born. We trained at the same time as the boys but we didn't train with them which was good because that would've been very difficult! Training took place up at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, which was about a 45minute- 1 hour trek twice a week. A lot of my homework was done on my travels back and forth from the mountain since it felt like most of my time was spent in the car. NTC was a great program that provided a fun and competitive training environment. I really enjoyed training with older girls because they are great players and they really were supportive of us younger girls. Apart from the occasional fitness tests, which I am still horrible at to this day, I really enjoyed the program.