One look at Carleigh Miller’s athletic and academic achievements makes you wonder if there’s anything this St. Albert soccer star can’t do.
This was Miller’s fifth year playing with the University of Alberta Pandas soccer team and her final year of eligibility.
It’s been an excellent run for the 22-year-old. During her time as a nursing student, Miller was a Canada West first team all-star in 2010 and 2011 and a Canadian Interuniversity Sport second team all-Canadian in 2010.
She also won the Canada West Student-Athlete Award last season and was awarded a Block A Ring, presented to athletes demonstrating an exceptional contribution to interuniversity sport in athletics, academics, community support and leadership.
“I was shocked,” Miller says of receiving the ring. “ I didn’t know I was going to get it. It was a nice honour.”
Unfortunately, Miller’s last year with the Pandas didn’t end with a trip to the CIS women’s soccer championship. Last year the Pandas finished fifth at nationals.
“We just weren’t consistent enough, I think, this year,” Miller says. “We had one weekend where we really just weren’t playing to our potential and just weren’t focused enough, and it really cost us in the end. It really shows how in this league, in CIS, that you really have to play every weekend just as well as you can. And you can’t really have a lapse of focus or anything.”
Now that the Pandas’ season has come to an end, Miller will continue playing with Edmonton Victoria in the Alberta Major Soccer League and is hoping to make a trip to the 2013 Summer Universiade in Russia in July.
“I’m going to Victoria to try out for the FISU (International University Sports Federation) team and hope to make it, so that’s what I’m gearing towards now.”
Miller made Canada’s FISU team in 2011 and participating in the last Universiade games hosted in China.
Miller’s athletic talent and dedication began to earn her recognition in high school. In Grades 10 through 12, she was St. Albert Catholic High School’s athlete of the year as well as grad of the year in Grade 12.
In high school, Pandas’ head coach Liz Jepsen taught Miller French and phys-ed and was also one of her basketball coaches.
“I think it strengthened our relationship as player and coach because I was able to talk to her. We understood each other,” Miller says. “I was able to get to know how she coaches and the person she is and it kind of helped make my decision easier to go to the U of A.”
In addition to being a force on the pitch, Miller has been behind the bench since she was 13 years old. She has helped out with the St. Albert Soccer Association’s U16 and U14 teams and is currently coaching in the U10 development league.
Miller loves coaching and the opportunity it provides to give back to the community.
“A lot of the coaches that coached me, I’ve been working with so it’s kind of turned into learning from my mentors now,” Miller says. “Rather than learning how to play soccer, I’m learning how to coach soccer. It’s kind of a nice change, and it’s helped me grow as a player.”
Miller graduated from the University of Alberta in 2012 and is now a nurse at the Royal Alexandra Hospital. Working full time, playing on a number of soccer teams and coaching keeps her busy, but Miller seems to have mastered the art of balance.
“I’ve learned time management is huge; I learned that in high school,” she says. “I was playing sometimes in high school on four different teams at a time. In order to balance that all out, you just need to make time. Otherwise, if I was struggling in school I wouldn’t be able to play on the team, so I just learned very quickly to do well in school and you can do well in whatever sport you’re doing.”
Perhaps surprising is the fact that Miller’s favourite athlete isn’t a soccer player.
“One of the trainers who worked with Sidney Crosby said that he was always that player, or that athlete, that even on his off days would go into the gym and try as best as he could to get better,” Miller says, “and I think I have always tried to do that in my own athletic career.”
