Allan commits to Medaille
Putting all his eggs in one basket four years ago has paid off big time for Henry Allan.
The 17-year-old, Grade 12 student at Sir Winston Churchill gave up playing AAA hockey in Grade 9 to focus on soccer, a decision which has earned him a scholarship from Medaille College in Buffalo, where he plans to study concurrent education.
“Since Grade 9, I started focusing on soccer and trying to get the scholarship,” said Allan, who indicated he will received a full academic scholarship. “It was tough picking (soccer over hockey) but in the end I loved soccer more. It’s my passion and I wanted to pursue it.”
Allan is looking forward to attending Medaille, a small private liberal arts college.
“I looked at a couple of others (schools) but what sold me on Medaille was the community feel,” Allan said. “It’s a smaller school so I’m going to get a chance to know everyone and meet all my teachers. They’re going to know me by name rather than a number.
“I’m going to be right at home.”
Allan is excited about the athletic component of the scholarship as well.
“They’re a good program. They’ve won their conference (Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference) the last two years so I’m going into a good situation,” he said. “The coach said he is looking for two centre-backs to come in so I can come in and claim a starting spot right away.”
Having said that, Allan realizes there will be some culture shock going from St. Catharines to Buffalo.
“I’m a little nervous,” he admitted. “It’s different. You go from being a big fish in a little pond to a little fish in a big pond. I think where I am playing this summer will ease into that transition going forward.”
Allan is playing for the Hamilton United U21 League 1 reserve team this summer. He previously played on club teams in Brampton, Woodbridge and Winstars Academy Vaughan.
He describes himself as a big, physical presence at the back.
“I’m able to easily play with both feet. I’m comfortable on the ball and I don’t get rattled easily,” he said. “When I first started taking soccer seriously, my coach told me if you play defence in hockey then you’re going to play defence in soccer, too. That’s how I started playing defence, but I love it.”
Allan mentioned former coach Bill Dixon of Brampton and his parents, Paul and Laurielle Allan, when asked who helped him achieve his goal.
“My mom and dad sacrificed a lot of time over the last four years for me to be able to pursue this,” he said. (Bill Dixon) really pushed me to continue with soccer and told me not to get down because it was taking time for it to happen.”
Allan scored once Thursday while Nate Smythe added three as the Bulldogs topped the Governor Simcoe Redcoats 4-1 to advance to the senior boys Zone 4 AA finals versus Holy Cross next week.
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