Korrio Player to Watch, July 2012: Kahla Seymour
By Roger Gonzalez
The blue-chip talent on Braddock Road Youth Club’s ’95 Elite Under-16 squad has led to success in U.S. Youth Soccer Region I Premier League, Virginia State Cup action and much more.
But few players on coach Larry Best’s team have been as dominant as attacker Kahla Seymour, the girls’ recipient of Potomac Soccer Wire’s Korrio Player to Watch award for July.
A versatile star who also plays high school ball at Trinity Christian School in Fairfax, Va., the 15-year-old from Vienna, Va. is one of the big reasons for the success of her club team, which just took home the Region I title in early July.
“She is an athletic kid,” said Best, her coach at BRYC. “She keeps developing. Her work ethic is off the charts. The kid just shows up and she trains very, very hard. Now as a soccer player, she is starting to blossom.
“As a striker, she has the ability to not just score goals, but to drop back into the midfield and play-make. When she can drop back, she is very dangerous at running at people.”
For Trinity Christian, she also contributes, bagging many goals and assists. It is all because of one reason.
“I feel like I work very hard,” Seymour said. “I try to do my best, I play for the team. I’m a big passer. I probably need to work on dribbling more.”
She takes pride in her ability to convert into a midfielder mid-match, willing to do whatever it takes to aid her teammates.
“I think it is very important,” said Seymour of her versatility. “You’ve got to be able to defend…You need to be able to support your team.”
Some of Seymour’s honors include State Cup championships, U.S. Club Soccer Regional Cup, Virginia ODP participation and a Region I tour of Portugal.
Soon, she hopes to earn more honors, both team and individual ones, on the college level. A rising junior, Seymour has received plenty of interest from a range of institutions and is still mulling her decision.
“Right now, I think she has it down to about [six] schools,” Best said. “Wake Forest, Virginia, James Madison, Georgetown, South Carolina and Princeton. She is a very good student. She wants to play at the highest level. She is really now hitting the radar of a lot of schools. Her development is getting better and better.
“If you would have seen here two years ago, you wouldn’t think she was a soccer player. She just keeps developing.”
JMU, Princeton and UVa are her top three at the moment.
“This is really exciting for me,” Seymour said. “I enjoy going to visit the colleges. It’s just a great experience right now.”
She clearly knows what she is looking for when pondering where to spend her first four years after high school.
“It has to have both good academics and good soccer,” Seymour said. “If something happens with soccer, I still want to be able to go there and love the school, without any sports. The academics have to be great. I’m not much of a city girl when it comes to campuses, but I love the rural areas and stuff like that.”
The big decision should be coming fairly soon.
“I’m hoping by the end of this fall, starting winter,” she said. But first, her focus is on winning national championship with BRYC ’95 Elite later this month.
“So far, that is the biggest tournament that I’ve ever won,” said Seymour of the Region I tourney in Pennsylvania. “I’m excited to go to nationals now.”
If she continues to perform at this level, more schools will likely come calling as she plans to shine on one of the biggest stages. If they do, she plans to listen.
“Oh yeah…I will definitely look up the school,” said Seymour, who turns 16 on Monday. “I’m not putting anything off. If a school [expresses] interest, I will give it a shot.”
