Batson has Bob Jones soccer fans buzzing
Avery Batson in action
Speaking with Avery Batson she looks like an ordinary high school freshman. But put her on the soccer field and it is easy to see her skills are extraordinary.
Last November, she was among the top 300 soccer players selected to attend the US Olympic Development Program’s Interregional Event in Boca Raton, FL. There she competed in front of US National Team Coaches and over 60 Division 1 soccer coaches.
She was selected by the coaches as an All Star player which identifies her as one of the top 11 girl’s soccer players in the nation in her age group of 15 years old.
She is in San Jose, Costa Rica Feb 14-21 playing on the US Olympic Development team in matches against Costa Rica.
As exciting as those events are, the season opener for the Bob Jones girl’s soccer team this week seemed to be a bigger event to her.
“I’m very excited to finally be at Bob Jones,” Batson said last week in a break after practice. “I love ninth grade, it’s the best. At Discovery it was so much smaller but now I’m playing with juniors and seniors. The much better competition will be harder and it will push me. It’s good that I will be competing against girls older than me when we get into the season.”
Batson turned 15 in early Feb.
Bob Jones girl’s team will have a new coach this season in Tony Schroeder. Last season the team came up one win short of making the state tournament at John Hunt Park. Something a Bob Jones team has never accomplished.
Batson has been playing center-mid field in practice for the upcoming high school season. “It’s more of an attacking position. You’re in the center of the field so you can attack and defend,” Batson said.
The strong part of her game is ball handling and striking.
Her first game with the Bob Jones varsity team will be on Feb. 27 at home against Spain Park. Bob Jones opens the season against Mountain Brook on Monday, Feb. 18.
Batson has her eyes on the 2016 Olympics which will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on August 5 to 21, 2016. Batson will be a freshman in college at that time and hopes to be playing at a Division 1 college then.
“It’s been my main goal since I started playing. I always wanted to be on the Olympic team.”
Batson started playing youth soccer when she was six years old. She started with the Olympic Development program in Alabama when she 9. She was invited to her first NationalTrainingCenter at 14 and got invited to her first national camp at 14.
Only a week into the season, she has already made an impression on Bob Jones soccer coach Tony Shroeder.
“She’s good. She’s very fast and has good touch on the ball,” Shroeder said. “Her thought process is faster than most players. She is thinking ahead of everyone else.”
Shroeder said she is most impressive attacking the goal. “Her left foot shot is on target and away from the keeper. She is a natural lefty which is an advantage in soccer.”
