A St. Albert striker has signed a professional contract to play soccer in Poland.
Medyk Konin, a Polish professional club based out of Konin, scouted Brittany Kindzierski while she was on a soccer trip to the country.
Kindzierski was playing on a North American soccer team made up of women who have Polish ancestry. While she was there, one of the teams she played against noticed her and signed her and three other women from the North American squad.
“I’m super excited to be here. I’m just super thankful for what soccer has given me. I get to travel and paid to play. What more could I ask for?”
Kindzierski has been playing soccer since she was six years old and has dreamed of playing at a professional level.
“My first reaction was actually fear because I actually thought of my boyfriend, my family and my team,” Kindzierski said. “I was scared at first but I knew that I had to do it. There was no question in my mind.”
Kindzierski said that being scouted by Medyk Konin was an “incredible” feeling because she was one of the oldest players travelling with her team and she was excited to know she was able to keep up with her younger teammates. The 26-year-old said that while her youthful comrades were still in the thick of their university soccer careers, she had been out of university soccer for four years and wasn’t playing as often as they were.
Before she left for Europe, Kindzierski was playing for the St. Albert premier women’s Impact squad and was one of the top goal scorers on the team.
When Kindzierski left for Poland on July 3 she had only planned on spending two weeks in the country. Once she signed a contract she had no time to come back to Canada and stayed to begin training.
The educational assistant, who is finishing an education degree at the University of Alberta, signed a year-long contract to play with the Polish squad. The season will run from July to November and then a second season will start January and run until June.
One of the biggest challenges playing in Poland is the language barrier. Kindzierski and her other three teammates from the North American team only speak English and have to rely on others to translate for them. One of her teammates is an American with Polish ancestry who speaks both languages perfectly. She has to translate and speak for the women most of the time.
“It’s definitely the highest level I’ve ever played and the language barrier has made it quite difficult but we are slowly learning some Polish and learning how to communicate with each other so that’s made it easier,” Kindzierski said.
Right now the team is in the preseason. They lost to a team in Germany last week and then won on Thursday against a team in Slovenia. Kindzierski scored two goals during the game, which fell on her 26th birthday.
The team plays back in Konin on the 29th against a Norwegian club. Once the regular season begins they will be playing in the Polish league and will be travelling around the country for their games.
