She routinely blows past defenders, has explosive lateral movement with the ball at her feet and can effortlessly finish into the top corner of the net. So what propelled Summer Clarke into becoming one of the country's top up-and-coming soccer players?
"When I was 10 or 11 years old my dad use to always make me go to my brother's practices. He basically had to drag me there," laughed Clarke. "It was a challenge just to try and keep up with them but it definitely helped me when I was playing with girls."
Summer's older brother happens to be Caleb Clarke of the Vancouver Whitecaps and her father Clive is one of the most successful coaches in the history of youth soccer in Richmond.
He just guided a third local team to a Coastal "A" Cup championship.
Those days of training with the boys have since paid off in a big way for Summer. She had a leading role in Canada qualifying and competing in last fall's FIFA U17 Women's World Cup in Azerbaijan. She is also headed to Louisiana State University this summer on a full-ride scholarship.
She agreed to the lucrative deal soon after touring the Baton Rouge campus in November. The recruiting process began when Clarke was playing for the provincial U16 team two summers ago. LSU was originally interested in her B.C. teammate Emma Fletcher but it didn't take long for Clarke to get their attention as well. Now both girls are heading south, along with another Canadian U17 member - Rebecca Pongetti. The trio will be living together on campus when the Tigers' training camp opens the second week of August.
Clarke admits she had other options, especially once she cracked the national team roster and led Canada in scoring during qualifying play.
"Scouts would come and watch us train," said Clarke who estimates at least a dozen schools were in pursuit of her, including Christine Sinclair's alma mater - University of Portland. "The national team definitely opened a lot of the doors but in the end I was always impressed with LSU's program and what the school had to offer. Besides, one of the things on the top of my list was playing in warm weather all the time."
Clarke split last season between her national team commitments amd helping the Richmond Red Hot Selects repeat as provincial champions, this time at the U18 level. She then suited up for the Richmond-based Total Soccer Systems girls' elite team in the Pacific Coast Soccer League (PCSL) before finally accepting a long-standing invitation to join the Whitecaps Residency program where she has been reunited with former Red Hot select teammate Justine Do.
The Whitecaps commitment includes four training sessions per week at Simon Fraser University and at least one game.
"It's been a really good experience," said Clarke. "Jesse (Symons) is an excellent coach and I have learned a lot during my time with the program."
The Whitecaps are currently playing in the PCSL where Clarke has been on a tear. She has seven of the Whitecaps 12 goals in three wins, including a pair against her former TSS teammates last week at Minoru Park.
"The league itself is actually quite strong," said Clarke. "I think, overall, we are just a bit further along with our skill development but the competition has been really good for us."
Clarke had to decline a recent invitation to a national U20 development camp to on finishing her Grade 12 year at RC Palmer. More camp invites are sure to come in the months ahead.
