Lady Gaiters' Kelly McInerney Chases Future

(Lennoxville) - When Kelly McInerney swings into the coffee shop to meet me, it's obvious she's been hurrying by the way she checks her watch, but she isn't winded. It's no wonder; the athlete has spent years in the hurry of her life, hunting the black-and-white grail always one step further, one pass away.

In September of 2012, her perpetual motion paid off in a way even she would never have guessed and sometimes still has trouble believing. The Bishop's University Lady Gaiters were playing the Concordia Stingers, who were stinging them 1-0 towards the end of the game. McInerney, the defender and sweeper for the Bishop's team, picked up the ball from Concordia to assist a forward, giving it a swift kick with her laces, when the wind caught it and it sailed much farther than she'd anticipated. This kick tied the game, giving the Lady Gaiters their second goal of the season - and first tied game - and McInerney her first Canadian Inter-University Sport goal.

McInerney told The Record that it was the "happiest thing" for her when she scored. She remembers being in shock and jumping up and down, shouting "I never score!" To this day, even though the game won her Provigo Robert LaFond Athlete of the Week and was written up in The Campus newspaper, she sometimes still feels shock and disbelief.

She's had plenty of time to hone her skills, though. McInerney has been playing soccer since the age of seven in Whitby, Ontario, when she and her parents decided she should take up a sport. The love of soccer ran in her family: her father and her aunt had both played in their youth. McInerney was to follow suit, adding volleyball and basketball to her skill set in high school.

She continued to chase both the soccer ball and her passion, following it to Bishop's University, where she enrolled at age 18 in the Sports Studies program.

Of the sport, McInerney says she loves the intensity and fast-paced timing. She loves the challenge of facing off against the province's best university players, especially when she can take them on. "I'm the rock they have to get by," she says, adding that this struggle is "an amazing feeling".

McInerney says that what's important is to remember that hard work will always pay off. She never mentions talent, preferring instead to emphasise that "hard work is the difference between a good player and a great player", and that heart can be a game-changer. Her coaches agree, calling her "the hardest worker on the field".

What will Kelly McInerney chase next? She tells us that after she gets her bachelor's degree in Sports Studies from Bishop's, she plans to get her trainer's certificate and spend some time as a personal trainer, after which she may become a soccer coach. She also mentioned a desire to manage athletics at a university. "Sports Studies is so open," she shares.

The future for McInerney isn't as black and white as the soccer ball she will continue to follow, but one thing is definite: she can't leave her sport behind. The field ahead of her is wide open. Chase on.