Sydney Daines is one of the bright young soccer players in Central Alberta.
The Innisfail native is highly recruited and will attend RDC in the fall to play with the Queens.
But that’s not the only thing the Grade 12 student will be looking at. Daines is also interested in playing basketball at the college and has caught the attention of RDC Queens head coach Mike Woollard, who was on hand to watch her during the 37th annual 3A-4A Senior Bowl at Lindsay Thurber Tuesday.
Woollard invited Daines to practice with the RDC team over the last couple of weeks and will also attend the Queens ID camp Saturday at RDC.
“I love both sports,” said Daines, who was on the Light team that dropped an exciting 75-74 decision to the Dark squad.
“I’ve been practising with the RDC basketball team and will attend the ID camp this weekend, so it depends on how that goes if I try to play both sports this year . . . I hope I can,” explained Daines, who played basketball with her Innisfail Cyclones high school team.
“I did play a year with the Red Deer Heat program when I was 12,” she added.
Woollard would like Daines to continue to practice with the team during the summer, at least until soccer starts.
The soccer Queens will start training in early August in preparation for the ACAC season in September.
Daines will also return to the Red Deer Renegades Alberta Major Soccer League team as much as she can this season.
“The season begins in June and I’ll play as often as I can, but I’m also into rodeo as well,” she said. “I’m in barrel racing on the pro circuit and in high school rodeo as well.”
It’s no surprise to see her involved in rodeo as both her parents were in the sport.
Sydney has that tough attitude that shows on the court as she was a solid defender and not afraid to drive to the basket. She also believes playing soccer helps her basketball.
“It helps see the gaps and soccer certainly gets me in shape which helps getting back and playing defence,” she said.
She finished with eight points, but believes her shooting needs some work.
“That’s for sure, but it’s something I’ll work on.”
Bradi Lorenz of Camrose led the Dark squad with 15 points while Mary Krause of Wetaskiwin added 10 and Chantelle Gamez of Wetaskiwin seven.
Kaylee Campbell of Sylvan Lake and Jaden Robinson of Hunting Hills had 10 points each for the Light team while Natalie Holmes of LTCHS had nine and her LTCHS teammate Kelsie Smale eight.
Both Robinson and Smale have been invited to the Queens ID camp as has Lorenz.
Meanwhile, the Dark boys’ team pulled out an 92-87 victory.
Jesse Ross of Hunting Hills had 13 points for the Dark side while Judah Knip of Lacombe added 10 and Braden Deagle of Stettler, Thomas Soodsma of Rocky Mountain House, Keegan Cooke of Lacombe and Justin Fleischhacker of Stettler had eight points each.
Ethan Minde of Ponoka had 16 points, Evan Adams of Camrose 10, Jesse Kerr of Camrose nine and Amet Deng of Notre Dame eight for the Light team.