Coupeville Sports

Kenzie Perry

The Whidbey Islanders GU18 select soccer squad, which brings together players from all three Island high schools, returns to action in December. This is one in a series of articles on the girls who proudly wear the jersey.

Soccer is an unpredictable game, and Kenzie Perry likes that.

The Oak Harbor High School junior, a standout goalie both with her Wildcat squad and as the primary net-minder for the Islanders select squad, is an avid photo bomber.

And just like you never know where or when she’ll pop up in a photo, the same is true on the pitch. She often moves out of the net and plays in the field, and, when she does, she plays like a girl on fire.

“I enjoy the game. Simple as that,” Perry said. “There’s so many different outcomes and ways to play that it’s always fun and never gets boring.

“I like to think my strength is my presence on the field,” she added. “I don’t get much time on the field, so, when I do, I do everything in my power to get the ball.”

Perry has been chasing a soccer ball for most of her life, first playing in a rec league as a third grader. Three years later she made the jump to select soccer and continues to improve by leaps and bounds.

Not that there’s not a lot of hard work involved. She puts in the time behind the scenes so she can dazzle when the spotlight comes on.

“I’d like to work on my foot skills so when I get my time on the field I can really wow the other team!,” Perry exclaimed.

Away from soccer, she enjoys her science classes (“I’ve always liked science, at least when I understand it!”) and spending time with her many teammates, who she’s drawn quite close to over the years.

“I really think my team has been my inspiration,” Perry said. “Soccer has always been a big part of my life and having not only teammates but great friends right by my side playing with me has really impacted me.

“From getting coffee to random trips to the beach, we are usually together,” she added. “I don’t know where I’d be without them!”

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Morgan Zylstra

The early days of a soccer ace.

The Whidbey Islanders GU18 select soccer squad, which brings together players from all three Island high schools, returns to action in December. This is one in a series of articles on the girls who proudly wear the jersey.

Morgan Zylstra is never far from her camera.

A committed shutterbug (“I like to take pictures of everything and anything”), the Oak Harbor High School junior is taking photography classes through Skagit Valley College as a Running Start student.

While she’s a strong student across the board, artistic endeavors such as photography draw Zylstra’s interest far more readily than basic classes do.

“I will most likely have my camera on me at all times,” Zylstra said. “I guess I could say my favorite subject would be career and tech electives. I don’t struggle with the other subjects, it’s just that they’re not my favorite.”

On the soccer field, she uses her height to her advantage, but is intent on increasing her skill set.

“My strengths would be not only my height, but my strong shot,” Zylstra said. “I’m not the fastest, but when I want to be fast I can be pretty fast.

Zylstra first found the beautiful game as a young girl (“I started a little late, at the age of six or seven. I can’t remember, it was so long ago”) and has played consistently over the past decade.

She bounced from rec soccer to academy play, before winding up splitting duty between the Wildcats during the high school season and the Islanders the rest of the time.

“Now that I have found my home with the Islanders, I couldn’t be happier,” Zylstra said. “What I love about soccer is that when you’re on the right team, you not only play the sport, but also receive a second family.”

That feeling carries over off the field, as well, where she spends a fair amount of time with her teammates.

While she has a large support group (“I would have to say that my parents, my team, and my church family are a big part of who I am today”) it’s the Islanders she dances with as they use the music of 2 Chainz and others to get in the mood for kickin’ butt on the soccer pitch.

“I enjoy my soccer team and we like to hang out together off the field as well as on the field,” Zylstra said. “I think that is very important for a team to do well in their games. Before games we always blast songs to get pumped.”

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Becca Pabona

A soccer life.

The Whidbey Islanders GU18 select soccer squad, which brings together players from all three Island high schools, returns to action in December. This is one in a series of articles on the girls who proudly wear the jersey.

Becca Pabona is a two-way threat.

The Oak Harbor High School junior is a standout on the soccer field, both for the Wildcats, where she was a Second-Team All-Wesco pick as a defender this year, and for her select team, the GU18 Whidbey Islanders.

But get her off the field and she’ll impress you equally with her academic skills (“I really enjoy chemistry”) and her chops on the flute, which she plays in an all-ages choir (“We do performances and stuff; it’s cool”).

Plus she has excellent taste in movies, favoring ’80s classics like “The Breakfast Club,” which shows wisdom beyond her years.

On the pitch, she’s always rough and ready and rarely, if ever, backs down from a play.

“I like to think that I play pretty feisty,” Pabona said with a laugh. “And I feel like I have good ‘soccer smarts.’ Like I just see the field and anticipate how things should be.”

She’s now addicted to the game, though she had to be talked into trying it at first.

“I started playing in third grade because my mom encouraged me to and at first I didn’t want to but I’m so happy she made me,” Pabona said. “I really enjoy playing with all different kinds of people and meeting and making new friends. And for me playing soccer just makes me happy and for me it’s a stress reliever.

“I just love the game.”

Like many of her teammates, Pabona has worked her way up, starting with rec teams, then advancing to academy squads. Playing for one of those, the “Breakers,” in sixth grade, she helped lead them to an unbeaten season.

Since joining the Islanders she has expanded her on-field responsibilities, alternating between her traditional defender post and running the show from midfield.

Regardless of where she lines up, Pabona is always looking to tweak her game and take it up a notch or two.

“I’d like to work on being more confident when it comes to challenging the ball, and especially balls in the air,” she said. “Even though I usually feel confident enough to do a couple tricks, I’d like to expand on the tricks I’m able to do successfully and confidently.”

Success, both on and off the field, is due to her hard work and natural skill, but having a strong support group has greatly benefited her growth.

“My parents have been great role models for me and allowed me to be fairly independent and learn things on my own, but I learned everything through them,” Pabona said.

Her time working with Islander coaches Sean LeVine and Scott Rosenkranz has helped her to make great leaps in her game, as well.

“I’ve learned so much not only about soccer but about being a good person and life in general from all my coaches I’ve had,” Pabona said. “They don’t only want us to be great soccer players but great people too.”

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Kendra Warwick

Warwick (second from right) celebrates with her Islander teammates.

The Whidbey Islanders GU18 select soccer squad, which brings together players from all three Island high schools, returns to action in December. This is one in a series of articles on the girls who proudly wear the jersey.

Kendra Warwick is a young woman of many interests, of which soccer is just one.

“Outside of soccer I like to be sassy, go hiking with my mommy, watch hockey, spend time with family and friends, and I really enjoy eating,” she said. “In school, my favorite class is math — when I understand.”

The South Whidbey High School sophomore, who plays center mid and defense for the Islanders, still finds a lot of time to spend on the soccer pitch, however. In many ways, she’s lived there since she was 10.

It was then that she made the leap from rec soccer (where she started at age five) to playing for select teams, joining a squad in Mill Creek.

“I decided to take my soccer playing to the next level and I played for Evergreen for two years,” Warwick said. “In those two years I think I grew the most.

“I had a coach who pushed me to limits I didn’t know I had. He expected nothing but the best from me,” she added. “Looking back now he is my all-time favorite coach.

She went on to play an additional two years after her squad joined forces with another one, than sat out a season before being lured back by the chance to guest play for various squads.

After bouncing around with Snohomish, Northwest Nationals, Rush and then Whidbey, she decided to make the deal permanent and joined the Islanders full-time last year. It was a perfect fit.

“The Islanders accepted me right away and made me feel like I had been a part of the team for years,” Warwick said. “This team is by far my most favorite team. We go through ups and downs but we always come out better than before.

“Sean (LeVine) and Scott (Rosenkranz) are the most caring coaches I have ever had. They care about the all-around player, not just the soccer aspect,” she added. “We are expected to do well in academics and have a good attitude on and off the field, whether we are with the team or without. I think that’s really cool.”

Whether she’s playing for the Islanders or with the Falcons during the high school season, Warwick is a warrior on the pitch.

“I like soccer for the competitiveness and the physical and mental strength you have to have to even compete,” she said. “I also like the feeling of accomplishment when I beat the opposing team, or achieve one of my goals.”

Warwick picks “having good vision on the field and having good ball placement” as her strengths, while she continues to fine-tune her game, with the goals of “winning the ball out of the air and having more confidence in front of the net.”

Win or lose, she knows that she can look in the stands and know that her biggest fans will always be there for her.

“My inspiration and biggest supporters without a doubt are my parents. Without them I would not be who I am today,” Warwick said. “They have taught me to go for my dreams and when I feel like giving up that’s when I need to put my heart in it the most.

“They have always kept me humbled by not talking me up too much and letting me know there is always something I could do to improve,” she added. “They have sacrificed a lot for me so I can make it to practices and live a pretty easy life. I don’t know what I would do without them; they are the ones I fall back on.”

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The many faces of Vivien Valles, captured in a photo collage she created.

The Whidbey Islanders GU18 select soccer squad, which brings together players from all three Island high schools, returns to action in December. This is one in a series of articles on the girls who proudly wear the jersey.

Vivien Valles has been on a lot of soccer teams. A lot.

“I’ve always played high school, recreational and select soccer. Every year,” Valles said. “I’ve been on so many different teams, I can’t even remember all the team names!”

The Oak Harbor High School junior first picked up the sport when she was five, playing rec soccer until joining an academy team, the NWSC “Breakers,” at eight.

After that came select soccer play with the Islanders, but, regardless of the team jersey she’s wearing, one thing is certain for the outside midfielder. She’ll always be in the middle of the action, a huge smile on her face as she dazzles opponents.

“What I enjoy about soccer is every bit of it!,” Valles said. “The sport in general and the people you meet along the way. You make lifetime friends and memories.”

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