Kelly Cobb is headed to Duke for college, not anywhere close to the Cook Inlet area of Alaska.
Photo by Carl Auer
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."
Kelly Cobb has worked extensively onher ballhandling skills since it can bedifficult sometimes to find challenginggames in Alaska.
Photo by Carl Auer
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."