Ever since she was three years old and first set foot on a soccer pitch, 13-year-old Kennedy Kieneker has felt right at home.
Like many youngsters, she started playing in recreational leagues in her youth and eventually joined a competitive club team, Crossfire, that pushed her game to the next level.
Recently, she was invited to play at a select camp at the University of Idaho along with 256 of the top soccer players representing 13 states, all vying for a coveted spot on the Sounders Olympic Development Program (ODP) team’s Washington chapter.
“During the camp we did a game in the morning and a lot of training in the afternoons,” Kieneker recalled. “It was really fun, I got to meet people from the whole region and that was cool.”
Kieneker shined at the camp and soon after got word that she had been selected, one of only four from the state of Washington.
“I was really happy because I worked really hard,” said Kieneker on her reaction when she heard the news.
Just last weekend, the soft-spoken Redmond Junior High student attended another camp in Ontario, Calif., where she played for a chance to make the ODP National team.
Although she felt she was able to keep her game up with the other girls and feels she “has a chance” to make the team, Kieneker said she was surprised to see the huge jump in the level of competition.
“It was different because the competition was a lot harder,” she said of the regional camp. “There were a lot of really good players there.”
Kieneker, who lives in Bear Creek Country Club, also excels at basketball and golf, but soccer will always be her first love – a sport that she has high aspirations for.
“I want to play in college… and pro maybe,” she said, adding that representing her country in the Olympics some day is another goal.
All of her success, however, is not without plenty of hard work. Kieneker practices as much as seven or eight hours a week and is fortunate to get top-level coaching through the ODP to improve her game.
“I really like my coach this year, Justi (Baumgardt), who plays for the women’s Sounders team,” she noted.
And like any soccer parents would, Kieneker’s mother, Lisette, and father, Henry, are anxiously awaiting the results of the regional camp.
“We are waiting on pins and needles to find out if she has made the National Pool,” Lisette said. “They told (us) to look for an e-mail in the next few weeks, so we don’t know yet… but what a great opportunity this would be for her. We’re so proud.”
