National team player’s soccer career was kick-started in Kitchener

That’s where it all started for Shelina Zadorsky, a defender for the senior Canadian women’s soccer team that is trying to qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio down in Texas this week.

The Canucks are led by captain Christine Sinclair and six other veterans of the team that won bronze at the 2012 London Olympics, and 13 players from the World Cup team that finished sixth last summer.

Zadorsky was added to the roster by coach John Herdman, who infused his team with youth.

On Monday, she signed with the Washington Spirit, the Maryland-based franchise in the National Women’s Soccer League bringing her back to North America after playing professionally in Sweden and Australia.

Zadorsky, who had her first call-up to the senior national team in January 2013, earned a spot on the Olympic-qualifier team with her performance at the Pan Am Games last summer, including a pair of goals against Ecuador.

After leaving Kitchener as a teen, Zadorsky moved to the back of the field, and made the switch to a defender.

She particularly remembers her time on the Kitchener Spirit under-14 team that was coached by Joel Georges and Willy Latyn.

“Right from the get-go, when she was about four years old, she was always pretty committed, at a time when most other kids are just picking dandelions,” said Latyn, who also coached Zadorsky through years of house league teams.

Mario Halapir, who coached Zadorsky in the Kitchener Soccer Club’s co-ed instructional program, recalled a young athlete who eagerly absorbed more technical coaching around the game’s finer points.

Canada may be the odds-on favourite to win its qualifying division in Houston, but Zadorsky says the women aren’t assuming anything yet.