kerman pannu

soccer school: Panorama Ridge (Surrey) freshman’s future: UBC

Kerman Pannu’s goals have always carried significance. But in case you’re thinking only about the strike-minded prowess of one of B.C. youth soccer’s most dynamic offensive players, it’s important to note that in his world, it’s as much about achieving goals as it is scoring them.

On the pitch, the senior attacking midfielder defined the most clutch aspects of his nature last November, scoring all three of his team’s goals, including a pair off well-timed headers, to carry the Panorama Ridge Thunder to a 3-1 win over North Vancouver’s Sutherland Sabres for its firstever B.C. Triple A high school crown.

“I guess for the last few years I have been scoring a lot of goals,” the under-stated Pannu admits. “But I’ve pushed myself in that area, really made it a goal for me to achieve.”

Yet to ignore the head he brings to score big marks in the classroom would be like missing half the equation.

Earning straight A’s over his senior year in a tough curriculum that included a pair of calculus courses and law, Pannu has proven to not only be golden on the soccer pitch, but in the classroom as well.

Clearly, it’s the kind of combination that carries some cache, and for Pannu, it’s equalled an opportunity to continue his climb to the post-secondary level.

“I knew that if I wanted to stay in Canada, that UBC was going to be my No. 1 option,” Pannu says. “Every year, they are one of the top 40 schools in the world. I already knew that I wanted to go there, regardless of whether it was also for soccer or not.”

Talk about getting the best of both worlds.

Pannu, who was named the MVP at the B.C. championships and has already helped Surrey United to a national club championship over his youth career, now joins a Thunderbirds program which under veteran head coach Mike Mosher has won four CIS national titles and five Canada West conference crowns.

And he’ll head to the practice pitch from his classes at the school’s world-renowned Sauder School of Business.

“I don’t know completely what I want to do just yet,” says Pannu, who also finds time to coach elementary school-aged players throughout his busy weeks. “But I want to be an entrepreneur, own my own business or manage a company.”

While all of that is still a number of years down his road, it isn’t out of place to call Kerman Pannu the boss.