by Stephen M. Lewis
DigitalSports Richmond
slewis@digitalsports.com
(804) 240-2191
Kyra Byron is the latest girls soccer player of the week.
But last week’s effort and her journey, deserves a little more than a question-and-answer session.
Byron, a 5-10 goalkeeper for Mills Godwin, beat Deep Run with her foot, a penalty-kick boot that gave Mills Godwin the Colonial District tournament title. Just read about how she got to that point.
“The day before that game in practice, my coach [Ali Toole] had about seven or eight of us stand in a circle,” Byron said.
Who would like to take a penalty kick, Toole asked. Continue Kyra.
“And I raised my hand and I said you know what, I’m so confident I can do this. I was partially kidding. We get into the game and everything’s going well. We get into PKs and my coach is like, ‘Are you ready?’
“I didn’t have a uniform. She immediately took her bag and started throwing out shorts, throwing out jerseys. It was funny.
“When I went up to kick I didn’t even know that if I scored we’d win. It calmed me down. I get up and I shot it and I turn around and all the parents are cheering as loud as they can. And I’m like, oh my God, I must have scored the winning PK. OH my God,
this is the greatest moment. It was so great. I couldn’t have asked for
anything more.
“It really gave me a lot of confidence to do anything on the field.”
Back in November, she’d do anything just to get on the field. The 18-year-old pulled a muscle in her lower back suiting up for her travel team, the Richmond Strikers. It hampered a nerve in her back, which caused complications with one of her legs.
“It was really, really bad. I had been to the chiropractor for the first month and a half. I went to physical therapy, which was good. It really strengthened it and helped me withstand the pain and be able to play again.”
Byron started earlier in the season for the Eagles, ranked first in the DigitalSports Top 10 for a long while. The Longwood signee now shares time with talented freshman keeper Jessica Ashworth, but doesn’t care how she gets on the field. She’ll be ready.
“I would say that no athlete should ever get truly comfortable with one position. If the coach wants them to play goalie and they’re a forward … It’s what playing the sport is all about.”
Funniest teammate: “Anna Boyce. She just lightens us up. Anything is funny that happens in her day. She’s just a great girl. So happy to have her on the team. I just sit here and laugh thinking about her.
She walks into a room and has to let everyone know who she is.”
On college: “Awww, so excited. Really, really nervous. The coaches there are so great. Knowing that they’re here for me just makes me want to get there quicker. They’ve worked with me. They’ve talked to me a little bit about what’s going to happen. They really clued me in on how things are going to work. That’s what makes it a lot easier. I’ve known about going there for a long time. I committed back in April 2008, so knowing that amount of knowing where I’m going made things a lot easier. I could finally not get so worked up about school and worked up about where I was going.”
Dream Prom Date: “Anybody that would just want to go out and have a great time. Someone that doesn’t worries about the past and lives in the moment and wants to have fun.”
Most wouldn’t know: “It’s kind of weird. I just kid of say random things, [my teammates] just get a crack out of it. I do something funny. I have a personality that they understand. It’s good to be around these girls that understand me and know who I am.”
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