Don't overlook soccer star Kelly Cobb just because she's from Alaska

Kelly Cobb has had to go "outside" to get inside America's top soccer realm.

It's hard enough to make the U.S. National U-20 women's soccer team, earn a scholarship to Duke and secure a spot on the PARADE All-American Team. It takes the usual bundle of talent, determination and connections to do all that, and not many players possess enough of those ingredients to earn those accomplishments.

What makes Cobb so special is that she has all those traits, and has accomplished all those spectacular achievements without living in the contiguous 48 states. It requires a much different training and travel regimen compared to pretty much every other elite player.

It requires leaving the confines of America's least-densely populated state.



As Alaskans say, it requires going "outside" the boundaries and into the lower 48.

The Chugiak (Eagle River, Alaska) senior lives in a place where snow and cold relegate soccer to indoor venues for many months each year. When kids in Florida, Texas and California are out playing winter soccer on grass fields in sunny weather, Cobb is practicing in gymnasiums and the Alaska Dome, which is Anchorage's indoor sports venue and is the largest air-supported structure in North America.

"I work out when I can, when the field is open at The Dome. During the winter that's all I have," Cobb said. "At the high school I practice in the tiniest little gym and it's frustrating on a basketball-size floor. It's not the same as practicing on a field."

Alaska just isn't hospitable to outdoor soccer year-round. And that can stifle growth for some players. So Cobb and her family travel the nation for club tournaments and concentrate on doing the little things while in The Last Frontier.

Her father, Gardner Cobb, has found unique ways to challenge his 5-foot-9 daughter and help her get better because of the lack of consistent high-caliber competition.

"One of the things we can do up here is get technically sound and work on a lot of ballhanding drills. A guy in the military was here from Panama and he taught me a lot," said Gardner Cobb, who played college football at Cincinnati. "What she can't get up here is playing against top-notch players. She's got to play with boys teams up here to get that."



Continue reading{PAGEBREAK} High school soccer can sometimes be a little below Cobb's level in Alaska, and it takes a back seat to elite club and national team activities. Sometimes there's even consideration of sitting out high school games in order to conserve energy for club tourneys. She took last year off from prep soccer to focus more on traveling and securing her scholarship.

It's not aloofness, though. It's just the realization that in order to be the best, you have to play the best, the 18 year-old said.

"When you're down at a nationals game or a regionals game, you have the select players, the best of the best. For high school you have what's given to you from that region," she said. "At Chugiak we have a small population, not too small, my grad class is more than 200. Talent-wise there's just not a huge population. Up here you have to train by yourself and find your own competition."

That hasn't prevented Cobb from embracing the team aspect with her classmates, coach Paul Brehmer said. And just having her there is making it easier for other players to experience success.

"She makes the team better and we are still adapting to having her back and being able to take advantage of it. It makes it easier for the rest of the team just because the other teams defensively have to account for Kelly. A lot of times she is double-teamed so it opens things up for other players," he said. "She's very attack-minded and she has good ball skills and she is very fast. She has a good strong shot, she's worked on it a lot and she's able to beat defenders."

Chugiak is off to a 5-2-1 start this year, an improvement from the team last year that finished 7-11-3. That's partially a testament to Cobb, and since that is the case, it's also a testament to the Cobb family. Kelly said that the support of her father, her mother Kathy, her sister Abby and family dog Molly make it possible for her to practice and play as much as she does.

Alaska's climate and location play a large role in Cobb's choice to go all the way to North Carolina for college and play at Duke. There is no NCAA soccer at the campuses in Fairbanks and Anchorage, so in order to play at a high level, leaving Alaska is the only option. It's just another example of how limited the opportunities to impress college coaches are in Alaska.



When players from places like Alaska do get the shot to play in front of college coaches, they'd better impress in a short audition.

"No coaches come watch you so you have to take effort and money to go to tournaments. And it's expensive," Cobb said. "When you're down there you have to have a great tournament because everything can come down to one impression. When you are labeled from Alaska you are underestimated."

Speaking of impressions, Cobb made a huge one on March 8 in La Manga, Spain. In a friendly match for the U-20 American team she tallied a goal and an assist against Norway. It could be a harbinger of future success on the worldwide stage.

But Cobb says not to pencil her in for any World Cup or Olympic performances any time soon. She wants to concentrate on some other goals before that kind of talk comes up.

"I'm just focusing short term, If that comes it would be a great honor," she said. "But right now I am on the U-20 team and the next step is the U-23 team and to win an NCAA title at Duke. If I make the Olympics it would be pretty awesome."