Virginia Nikkel, a Grade 7 student at Wix Brown Elementary School, was honoured at the Langley FC annual general meeting as the 2011-2012 U13 Player of the Year.
Presenting the award, coach Jamie Plowman commented: “I’ve coached 10 years in the league and hundreds of kids over that time. You run into a special kid only once in a while. What is a player of the year? Are they the top scorer? Do they make the best passes? Are they the best defender?
“All these are great attributes of a great soccer player, but do they make the player of the year? For me, the player of the year is the who comes to every session with a great attitude, a great focus and a great effort — they’ll run the drills as they’re asked and they’ll understand how to put those drills into the game.
“They’ll understand the role as a team and they don’t put themselves first ever. They become a better player over the course of the year because of these things. My choice for player of the year is all of the above and more.”
Plowman said that Virginia put the hardest effort into every session.
“And when you talked to her she’s looking me square in the eyes. Always. She never leaves the field without making sure everything’s collected and cleaned up. She may not show up on the score sheet every game, but she is our player of the year.”