His summer break won’t be much of a break at all – and Burnaby’s Max Anchor would have it no other way.
The teen will spend the next few weeks in Florida, but his focus won’t be on the beach or Disneyworld, but as a netminder with the Canada’s under-15 national soccer team at the 2019 CONCACAF u15 championships.
There’ll be time for rest, relaxation and chillin’ with friends later.
“I was very excited and humbled,” he said of reading the email telling him he’d made the final roster. “It’s an overwhelming moment when you read the words. I had worked so hard to get there, it was truly motivating to know that all my work was really paying off.”
The road to making the squad was part-and-parcel of the national development program; having been ID’d during his play in youth leagues and as a member of the Whitecaps program for the past two years, Anchor was on the national team’s list of potential players for the tourney.
The team will spend this coming week preparing for the tournament, which starts Aug. 4 when Canada faces El Salvador.
“I guess we’ve been preparing for years, if you really think about it. But now we’re down to the last minutes. We want to win this tournament, of course, and there are a lot of tough teams we’re going to have to battle to do that – Mexico and the USA, to name only two. We’ll take it game-by-game and just play the beautiful game we all live for.”
As part of the Whitecaps Residency program, Anchor has been attending Vancouver’s University Hill Secondary, which is located across the street from where the on-field training goes on.
His route to becoming a goalkeeper took him away from being a scoring forward, which he enjoyed. But it presented a challenge that at the age of 10 he embraced.
“There are many challenges to my position. It’s very different than any other on the pitch, but the biggest challenge while you’re growing up a goalkeeper is, by far, learning to get scored on,” he admitted. “It’s tough. Out-players make a mistake and it’s possible that no one notices; if I make an error, it results in a goal, and that goal could change the outcome of the match for my entire team.
“As you mature and learn more about the game though, you see the piece of that goal that’s owned by the entire team, so it gets marginally easier. You never get over it entirely, and if you’re lucky, it motivates you to work that much harder to never let it happen again.”
Along the way were such highlights as helping his school, St. Helen’s, with a championship, and playing against a Crystal Palace FC youth squad on their British turf.
He’s received endless support from his family, and credits the early coaching of Dino Alberti and Angus Brown in helping him become the goalkeeper he is.
Now, bonding with his Canadian teammates as they battle for CONCACAF wins is front and centre.
“It is definitely an awesome responsibility. It’s not to be taken lightly, that’s for sure. But, the pressure is also thrilling and I’m really looking forward to every moment of this experience,” added Anchor.
