| BE's Halmon is T&D's All-Area soccer play of the year
His first start turned out to be the foundation of his high school soccer career as he ultimately built off of that experience. Over time, he sharpened his skills to become one of the best goalkeepers in the state and the 2009 Times and Democrat Soccer Player of the Year.Halmon, the Red Raiders’ most valuable player, didn’t originally have an interest in soccer. In fact, he played basketball almost as far back as he could remember. Halmon, who was a fan on NBA legend Michael Jordan, played on the junior varsity team and had dreams of going pro. That was until a few of his friends convinced him to give soccer a try and he made his way on to the B-E varsity squad during his junior year where he started out as a defender. After a few games and a few more practices, Halmon was moved from defender to goalie.
A 'soccer man' meets his (tennis) match
"I'm a soccer man," I told myself all throughout last week, as the Davis Cup encounter between Israel and Russia approached. I tried hard to ignore the event, even though I've been flirting with the White Sport for a long time. I always watch the big matches and found it gives me the kind of satisfaction soccer rarely does.
On Thursday night my friends, with whom I play soccer every Friday afternoon, saw I was thinking about deserting the weekly match in favor of watching the Davis Cup encounter. "Come, it'll be fun, we need more players, don't be a loser," they told me, trying to persuade me to come. I told them I would sleep on it.
When I woke up at 6:30 A.M., I knew what to do: I rode my bike across town to Haaretz's offices and picked up tickets for the match.
Sanford enjoying a soccer 'high'
Campbell River's Corey Sanford has been a star midfielder for the UVic Vikes men's soccer team for the past three years. So when the university soccer season ended in March Sanford, 22, thought he'd be playing men's league this summer. Well as fate has it the semi-pro Victoria Highlanders became the newest franchise to join the United Soccer League (USL) family. The Highlanders were to begin play in April as part of the Northwest Division of the 67 team Premier Development League (PDL). The PDL is a training ground for the best up and comers in the sport and a stepping stone to the major leagues. The Highlanders management decided the team would be made up of players from NCAA Division I teams, Canadian Under 20 National Team and local Vancouver Island players. So the call went out from the Highlanders for a university player tryout.
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