Friday, October 03, 2014

LeBron James, Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe and Martina Navratilova are all famous athletes also known for wearing headbands. Perhaps Brittany LaPlant will join them on this list one day.

The 16-year-old Queensbury resident is easy to spot not only because of her headband but also because she has scored lots of goals at every level of soccer that she has played in. For that reason, she is being honored by the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) as our October Personality of the Month.

Brittany began playing pee-wee soccer at three years old, then played on a local YMCA team, the Goal Getters, before competing with Capital United of the Capital District Youth Soccer League (CDYSL), starting at age 10. She played up in age with the Capital United Blue Fusion, winning three Regional Presidents Cups from 2011 to 2013 and the National Presidents Cup in 2013. Brittany also led the Capital United Blue Thunder to the 2014 Northeast Regional Premier (NERP) League championship earlier this year.

"Brittany is a gifted, technical soccer player, with a great ability to find the net," said her longtime club coach, Liz Villamil. "She is an extremely dedicated player with a tremendous work rate, striving to bring her best every time she steps on the field. Brittany is a player every coach wants in their program."

Her Eastern New York ODP North team won Regionals this past June and will play for the national championship next March.

"Brittany may be quiet and unassuming but she is a handful on the field," commented her ODP coach, Jason Weisberg. "She is consistently able to keep defenders on their heels. There are not many players who are as dangerous going to both sides with clean finishing technique and an uncanny ability to make something out of nothing and find a way to score. She is an exciting player to watch because if you give her an inch, she will change the game."

Brittany also plays on the Region 1 ODP, and she will play with that team in Croatia in 2015, and for Queensbury High School, where she broke the New York State high school scoring record. The high school junior has been playing for the Spartans since 8th grade so this is her fourth varsity season. As of September 28, she has scored an amazing 173 high school goals or more than three goals per game, higher than the average goals scored per game by both teams in most soccer games.

"Ive been fortunate to have experienced a lot of great moments, such as recently winning the Region 1 ODP championship and making the Region 1 ODP team," she stated. "My best moment ever on a soccer field was breaking the single season New York State scoring record, reaching 100 goals is a close second as the team and Coach Tenner made it a very special experience. That would probably be tied with the experience of winning the Presidents Cup Nationals in Florida, playing for Capital United, with teammates who I played with for many years. We were very close so the win was extra special."

Brittany will take her headband and goal-scoring prowess to Piscataway, New Jersey in 2016 to play for Rutgers University.