Christine Sinclair: Ready to strike

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Story content

• Dream come true
• 92 goals in 122 games
• Olympic dream smashed in 2004
• 'We're such dorks'

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It was the end of summer and Christine Sinclair was on the bus with her 13-year-old teammates, driving home to Vancouver from a game in California. Her under-14 provincial coach pulled her aside and told her soccer would become her life.

She was 11.

"He said, 'You're going to be on the national team, and it's not going to be when you're 25,'" she said. "I was so young, I didn't really see what that meant."

Some four years later, at 16, she was lacing up with Canada' s national senior team - and beginning to realize her coach, Keith Puiu, was right.

"He told me to keep working hard and challenge myself by training at the highest level. His words are still with me," she said. "I can't imagine my life without soccer. It's been part of who I am. I wouldn't have it any other way."

Dream come true

Today, the 25-year-old native of Burnaby, B.C., is leading Canada' s first Olympic soccer team to Beijing.

"It's a dream come true," she said.

At five-foot-nine, 150 pounds, the sensational striker has become a household name for soccer fans around the world. A glance at her accomplishments is exhausting.

Since 2001, the University of Portland graduate has been top female college athlete of the year, W-League MVP and winner of Broderick cup. She was named Academic All-American of the Year by ESPN The Magazine and received national player of the year honours three times. In 2002, the Globe and Mail named her one of the 25 most influential people in Canadian sport.

It goes on: Finalist for the Hermann Trophy. West Coast Conference Player of the Year - twice. Repeated All American. That's not counting being short-listed twice to FIFA's World Player of the Year award.

92 goals in 122 games

The number of records she holds for goals scored are too many to name, though one is with Canada's national team. As of August 1, 2008, she'd put the ball in the net 92 times in 122 games while sporting the Canadian jersey.

"Playing with Christine is just amazing. She's one of the best in the world," said Erin McLeod, goalie for the Canadian team. "The fact that she remains so humble is a challenge in itself."

And humble she is.

"I look at my teammates, and we have so many amazing players. You know, I catch myself watching people at practice all the time, and I think, 'Oh my God, how did they do that?' I don't think I stick out at all," she said. "That's what makes this team so special, there's just so much talent."

And while that may be true, it's her talent that is most in the spotlight. A visit to the Canadian Soccer Association website shows she's the poster girl for the club. There is a photo of Sinclair on the screen-wide banner.

"It's shocking," she said, her blue eyes widening. "I'm not a very out-going person, so it's something I've had to get used to."

She's aware, however, that the publicity that surrounds her is helping the sport to grow. "It's amazing because kids can see there's a future in the sport. That's something I would like to have had," she said.

Olympic dream smashed in 2004

And this year, with the Canadian team Beijing-bound, young players certainly have something to look up to. But it wasn't supposed to be the first time. Four years ago, Sinclair and her teammates were so sure they'd be in Athens, they were practically packing their bags.

During the semi-final game of the qualifying tournament against Mexico, their Olympic dream was smashed.

"I remember a group of us just sitting in our hotel room staring at the walls just thinking, 'What just happened?'" she said. "We didn't know what to do. We'd planned our lives around going to the Olympics. Not qualifying was the biggest low."

In April of this year, the tables turned. Canada battled Mexico yet again with the Games on the line. This time, the Canucks beat them 1-0 on Mexican turf to secure their tickets to China.

"It was sweet revenge, absolutely perfect," Sinclair said. "Just thinking, 'You're going to be an Olympian.' It just tops them all."

The competition in Beijing will be tough, she said, noting that on their best days, the top teams are equally strong. Canada's goal is to play its toughest and strongest for every minute they're on the pitch. And while much of their focus is on preparation, to ease the mounting pressure, the team has taken up Guitar Hero.

'We're such dorks'

"Our team is hooked. We're such dorks," she said, adding she could string 'Freebird' by Lynyrd Skynyrd, "and that's one of the hardest songs on the game." Her connection to music doesn't end there - it's also part of the fuel that fires her up. On game days, she always listens to Michael Jackson's "History" album.

"And I have to listen to 'Man in the Mirror' before every game," she said.

Her pre-game ritual also includes a trip to Starbucks for a caramel latte.

"I just sort of get in my zone," she said. "Then you get to the locker room and it turns into a dance party."

Thankfully, both the music and latte are available in China. But what's also there, and perhaps even more igniting, is the team's mission to make Canada proud.

Recently drawing with fourth-ranked Brazil, and nearly catching the number one-ranked U.S. squad, Sinclair says the Canadian team has the ability to reach the podium.

With the words of her former coach still pushing her, she said, "I continue to challenge myself everydayWe're striving to get a medal."

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