18 - Wednesday, November 14 , 1990 - North Shore News

SPORTS
Cap Blues
soccer star
shoots for
the Olympics
THE BLUES' Mike Dodd is as
quiet off the soccer field as he is
skilled on it.

By Guido Marziali
Contributing Writer

NEWS photo Mike Wakefield

OLYMPICS BOUND: Capilano Blues player Mike Dodd warms up
his soccer skills on the field at Capilano College. When he's not
playing for the B.C. champion Blues, Dodd is playing for the Canadian Olympic soccer team.

Just weeks after the 19-year-old
midfielder led the Capilano College team into the B.C. Collegiate
Championship, Dodd is leaving
for Esquimalt to train with the
Canadian Olympic Team.
But don't expect a lengthy explanation of how he was selected
to the Olympic team.
He says that last spring the
Blues played the Olympians and
"I had a good game, I guess."
And, why was he chosen? "They
just liked the way I played." OK,
what particularly did they like? "I
have speed," he elaborates, and a
"good work rate." With typical
brevity but a telling eagerness, he
confides "I like to push up'' (to
the attack).
Although reticent, Dodd has
vocal supporters. Les Wilson,
manager of the Olympic and

World. C'iip teams, rave , i · -vut !,Si.
young prospect. He has bee1 ,
scouting Dodd for years and chc · c
him MVP of the 1988 Hi~n
School Championships, in wh i-:JDodd led the Argyle Pipers I o v;
tory.
Docf'd "has a tremendou s
amount of natural ability ... we're·
very, very high on him," says
Wilson.
But while comparing him
favorably to ex-Whitecap Gerry
Gray and English superstar Peter
Beardsley , Wilson warns the
youngster needs to "push himself
a little more ... I hope he sees the
chance and grasps it."
Nevertheless, Wilson says Dodd
has performed brilliantly in two
exhibition contests to date.
"I would recommend him to
any CSL team," .he says.
Next spring, Dodd and the rest
of the team begin qualifying play
for the 1992 Summer Olympics to
be held in Barcelona, Spain.
Off the field, 'Doddie' as his
buddies call him, seems anything
but intense.
The Blues' co-captain with
Leone Corra, Dodd relates a
favorite maxim of Blues coach Joe
Iacobellis: "He says Leone leads
the team verbally, r ,.-. ,ct them
through my actions .'

frue enough, but sometimes
when he walks onto the field, ,
Dodd drops his meekness.
In the Nov. 3 league semifinals, he offered certain comments concerning the officiating
("the ref was frustrating me"),
traded courtesies with a rival
player, and got the boot and a
one-game suspension.
Forced to watch the next day,
Dodd was his usual demure self,
shuttling between the bench and a
place by his girlfriend in the
stands, as his teammates fashioned an impressive championship
victory over Fraser Valley College.
Despite missing the final, Dodd
was named All-Canadian for the
season by the Canadian Collegiate
Athletic Association. The only
other B.C. player so honored was
JCIT's Geoff Aunger, also
. re.nowned as the star of the Canadian Soccer League's Victoria
V-:stas.
Dodd follows several
distinguished Capilano alumni.
Most prominent is George Beris
Jr. , who left Cap after the 198788 season to play for the Greek
1st division team Olympiakos.
Beris is still with the team and is
being considered for the Greek
national side.