U.S. national team player Sydney Leroux talks to reporters during an interview on Tuesday in Vancouver.
Photograph by: Gerry Kahrmann, PNG
VANCOUVER — Growing up in a single-parent household, Sydney Leroux doesn’t hide how special the next two weeks are. Her soccer career is about to come full circle when the U.S. women’s national team begins the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament in Vancouver.
Leroux grew up in north Surrey with her mom Sandi.
Her endeavour into soccer began at age four in the same community — where she also played baseball — then perpetuated when she left home just 11 years later to pursue her dream of playing in the college ranks before moving to the professional circuit.
It has culminated with her selection to the U.S. national soccer team in its quest to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics in what Leroux still considers to be her hometown.
But the decision to leave home and her mom wasn’t easy.
“Me and my mom are all we really have, so for me to leave her and to her not have me at home anymore was really hard,” said Leroux on Wednesday, two days before the American squad kicks off the tournament at BC Place Stadium against the Dominican Republic.
“That was very difficult for me, just not having my mom. My mom was my backbone and she’s my everything and she pushes me. If it wasn’t for my mom to push me towards my dreams and what I wanted to do, I definitely wouldn’t be here. I definitely owe everything to her.”
Now that Leroux is back, it’s natural for some Canadian soccer fans to wonder why she isn’t donning the red and white. A duel citizen, and daughter of American Ray Chadwick, a former professional baseball pitcher, she has represented Canada before in international competition, including the U-19 World Cup team in 2004.
Leroux has another notable Canadian connection, having been formerly engaged to Langley-reared Major League Baseball player Brett Lawrie, who now stars for the Toronto Blue Jays.
Leroux was the youngest player on that 2004 team, playing as a 14-year-old.
But the first overall pick of the Atlanta Beat in last week’s Women’s Professional Soccer draft said she always knew she wanted to play soccer down in the United States.
“I knew that I was going to live my life ... in the States and that I was going to college and pursue a career there and eventually build a family there. So it just made sense that I’d play there, as well.”
Just like leaving home, finding a permanent place to live and go to school once stateside accounted for its fair share of hardships.
She attended Eastside High School in Seattle in 2006 before moving even farther south to Arizona and the Sereno Soccer Club until 2008.
“It was very difficult,” she said. “Being by myself, not having a family, not having any of my friends who knew me. I was like the new kid. I think that’s difficult being in high school and not really having a place or any feeling of place. I think that was definitely the hardest part.
“I lived at a bunch of different houses, trying to find the right fit. Went to a bunch of different schools. But i guess it was all worth it. I’m here.”
Having turned over to the American side as a 16-year-old, Leroux wound up being a star forward at UCLA, and is in a special position to not only win the CONCACAF Olympic qualifier in her hometown, but also perhaps against the home team.
U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo went so far as to call Canada a “physical, brutal team to play against,” and it seems almost like the event’s schedule makers have made it so the two nations will face each other in the tournament finale on Jan. 29.
It’s a possibility. But for Leroux, just playing in her old backyard is enough to bring about a pleasant smile and the competitive fire.
“It’s pretty amazing. I’m very excited. I get the chance to play in front of my family and friends again, which hasn’t happened in a long time,” she said.
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