Edition:
January 21, 2005
News: news@goldingpublications.com • Advertising: ads@goldingpublications.com • Public
Notices - DBA Info
|
||
Reporter
Kelli Keigwin, 15, has a lot on the ball, literally. The daughter of Jon and Kimberly Keigwin, is the only freshman on the varsity soccer team at Elsinore High School. Kelli has been playing soccer for the past five year and was part of the Elsinore Middle School team, on which she was a forward.
This year, Kelli decided to try out for the Junior Varsity team but was picked for a varsity slot. She was introduced to the game as part of the American Youth Soccer Organization and now her level of proficiency and her zeal for the game has coupled to make her a young athlete to watch.
This year she plays left midfield, and she is the player who makes all the crosses from the side to the team forwards “So they can score,” she says. She likes playing the new position, adding, “I feel more comfortable in the left wing because I know what I can do.” Her coach, Gary Adam, agrees. He is already advising her to check on applications to various schools where soccer scholarships are available.
The day Kelli learned she had made the team, the list was posted by the school’s administration office. “My friend and I had to go during lunch break. The tryouts were a lot of fun but I was nervous. Then when I saw I got picked, I was so excited. I almost couldn’t believe it. I had to go back later and check the list again to be sure,” she adds. Being the only freshman is not a bad thing for Kelli. She claims all the rest of the team treat her like she belongs and is truly one of them. “It’s like, this is cool, we have a freshman,” she says.
Her parents are a big part of Kelli’s support system. According to the teenager, they come to every game and her younger brothers, TJ and Kevin, are also there to cheer her on.
The team spends a little more than a hour in practice whenever they aren’t actually playing and Kelli has her own drills that she works on to help her with speed and agility as she movse the ball. “It’s a fun game. I enjoy playing,” she states with enthusiasm.
Currently Kelli has a GPA of 3.25 or higher and enjoy psychology as her favorite class so far in high school. But her favorite teacher is the ASB advisor she had at Elsinore Middle School, Erica Matthies. While at the middle school, Kelli was part of the school’s ASB program, and consistently made honor roll and was part of the Sensational 75.
Kelli hopes to get more involved in activities at Elsinore High this next semester “just to help my school and be an active part of everything that is going on,” she says.
When she isn’t working on soccer drills and skills, she likes to wakeboard and snowboard or go snorkeling.
Her future plan includes going to the University of California, San Diego, where she wants to enroll in the marine biology program. If she can earn a scholarship to the school in soccer, that would be icing on her cake.
“I really love playing soccer and being on the varsity team right away makes me really want to work hard and do my very best for the team and my school.”
|
