Hurrle chasing soccer dreams in Portugal
This Thursday, Ella Hurrle is heading off on an adventure of a lifetime.
The Niagara International Football Club striker and clubmate Beatrice Allan will be travelling to Lisbon, Portugal, to showcase their talent with professional women’s soccer team Atletico Clube de Portugal. Atletico won promotion last year and now plays in the Portuguese Women’s Liga BPI league.
“The club is paying for everything; accommodations, transportation and training. It is a real professional thing,” said Niagara International president and head coach André Pacheco. “A lot of people say their kids are going here or there but they’re spending thousands of dollars and it is kind of a money grab.”
According to Pacheco, if a player doesn’t have an European passport, they’re not going to get looked at seriously unless they have exceptional talent.
“For these girls to be going over to Europe to a club and head coach who really wants to take a look at them means a lot,” he said. “And these girls are going to be training not with the reserves or the second team but they will be training with the actual primary team. The head coach and I are in touch, we talk daily and he can’t wait to work with them.”
Hurrle, a 16-year-old Jordan Station resident, is looking forward to the trip that was postponed a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I am really excited but there’s also some nerves because I don’t know what I am getting into,” the Grade 11 student at Eden said. “It is an excellent opportunity for someone my age to be going and to get that experience before college.”
She is looking forward to a new level of training.
“It is very high level where we play now but it’s going to be that extra cherry on top when we get there. I am really looking forward to that level and getting in with the team.”
The 5-foot-7 striker is in her third season with Niagara International.
“She is a very versatile, dynamic striker who is always looking for the ball and always looking to score. She has grown tremendously since joining us,” Pacheco said. “She is much more tactically aware and she is at a young age where she can still develop. We have had an opportunity to get her in front of some of the coaches and they have really loved the videos we’ve sent. They want to work with her and develop her abilities even more than what they already are.”
She started playing soccer when she was six and moved up to a high level academy when she was in Grade 7.
Hurrle was a competitive tap dancer until Grade 6 when she quit to focus on soccer.
“I was a tap dancer so it really helped with my agility,” she said.
Eventually she found her way to Niagara International.
“I have really liked it here so far. We played in the States and it was great until COVID and we had to stay in Canada.”
Training through the pandemic did have its advantages.
“With COVID and doing at-home training by myself, I have really improved my dribbling and shooting. It is all the stuff that I could work on by myself to become a better player for the team. Now it is putting all the teamwork together and working as a unit.”
She agreed being disciplined to train wasn’t easy.
“It was tough to stay motivated but we had Zoom classes with our coaches in the States two or three times a week,” she said. “My motivation came from the coaches on Zoom and seeing mostly everyone on the team participating. I saw other people working so I wanted to stay at their level. That pushed me to get better.”
Her goal in soccer is to play at the university level.
“Ultimately I would love to go on a soccer scholarship in the States but if that doesn’t work out I would like to stay in Canada and go to university and get an education,” she said. “If I could do that playing soccer, I would love that. If things don’t pan out that is OK too.”
