Pitman wins Whitecaps FC Skills Challenge
As it turns out, southern Alberta soccer players can more than kick it with their peers from across the country.
After winning their way into the national finals as part of the Vancouver Whitecaps FC Skills Challenge, Medicine Hat’s Ethan Pitman and Brooks’ Wyatt Davis did more than just show up Sunday.
Pitman won the event at the University of British Columbia, with Davis finishing second.
“It wasn’t intimidating, I was excited for the challenge,” said Pitman, who beat out thousands just to reach the finals, where an estimated 50 showed what they could do in a series of events.
Pitman had a couple perfect scores among the four stations. As the Grade 10 student at Hat High watched other players go through, he started to think more and more than he might be in line for a top prize.
“I got a perfect score on the one, thought that was pretty good. I listened to other people’s scores because I was trying to compete against them,” he said. “I got a signed ball from the team, a picture, so it was really cool to have that experience.”
Davis was only a couple points behind, and felt it was a good showing for Albertans.
“Alberta’s the place where it’s at,” he said. “It was good experience.”
The challenge included a tour of the Whitecaps’ training centre, then a chance to watch the MLS team play FC Dallas.
Davis even had a chance encounter with Vancouver star Alphonso Davies.
“We were just touring around, doing our own thing, then we’d seen this Whitecaps store so we went in. I couldn’t really believe it, but Alphonso pretty much walked in the front door,” he said. “I got pretty excited.”
Both Pitman and Davis now head into the indoor season with a renewed sense of what it’ll take in the next few years to get to the next level. They’d both love to play at the post-secondary level and beyond, and are seemingly on pace skill-wise to do so.
The key now is a lot of hard work behind the scenes.
“Most of it is a lot of training on your time, just hustle, have that goal to make where you want to make and keep pushing,” said Davis.
“I’m motivated to make it to the next level,” added Pitman, who moved to the Gas City from Grande Prairie a couple summers ago. “I really want to push myself, really need to get going.”