The following article was posted in on June 7th in the Kitsap Sun
Gig Harbor’s “Harbor Premier” soccer club has been helping eight to 18-year-old boys and girls to excel at soccer since the mid ‘70s.
Today, the club has more than 1,650 youth running through the select system. And this year, a handful of them have earned a chance to play in college.
Mike Burton has been coaching club players for 17 years. This year, he is an assistant coach under Tim Duffy, both of whom live in Gig Harbor and coach the club’s U-18 squad.
Duffy said that something special has developed among the players.
Fifteen of the team’s 17 are playing as high school seniors, and will be going on to higher education. Of these 15 players, 12 have scholarships to play soccer in college. One has a scholarship to play basketball, Duffy said.
Duffy said that, for the first time in Harbor Premier history, a player, (Angela Celedon) has made the U.S. National team.
Six of those who are college bound are from Gig Harbor: Hanna Massee and Emma Ostergren will be attending St. Martin University, Hanna Burton is going to Willamette University, Katie Brooks is headed to Western Washington University, Nicole Hermoso will go to the University of Montana and Dana Gualarte will go to Western Oregon University.
“These very mature girls all have excellent grades, and they have developed into amazing young ladies. It has been great watching them turn into quality athletes too,” Burton said.
He said that the amount of players earning scholarship this year is unusual for the club.
“Generally, there may be one player going on with a full ride to college. The fact that we have 12 of 15 is amazing for us, and it’s good for the younger girls in the club to see this. We want them to know that soccer won’t get you a paycheck, but using soccer to get into college is a great tool,” he said.
Coach Duffy agreed.
“Year after year, this club grows stronger with more players from neighboring communities coming to play here. The results of these local girls on the U-18 team are a compelling example of achieving scholastic and athletic goals. We couldn’t be more proud of them, and all our players,” Duffy said.
For information, visit harborsoccerclub.com.
Read more:
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2011/jun/07/dozen-harbor-premier-soccer-players-nab-college-sc/#ixzz1PBaXqVwB
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Topic: Congrates to a GU18 team (Read 309 times)