Elmore County’s Cadi Crews is a force on the soccer pitch. She’s the first person in her family to play soccer, but you wouldn’t know that from the way she plays.
ECHS coach Leslie Hines calls her “demure,” and “unassuming” but also one of the hardest workers on the team. Crews embodies speed, grace and power when she plays — and she’s in only the eighth grade.
With 24 goals and 11 assists this season, Crews was responsible for nearly half of Elmore County’s 76 goals this season. Never intimidated by an opponent’s size, age or experience, she led the Panthers to an undefeated season and their first-ever Elite 8. She is the Elmore County Girls Soccer Player of the Year.
“(Playing with older girls) is overall a good thing for me and has challenged me and made me a better player,” Crews said. “I know going into most games that I’m probably one of the youngest on the field. That is hard to accept and they’re probably going to be a lot more aggressive than me. Knowing that, I have to use what I know on the field to get past them and do what I can.”
With her innate abilities Crews manages to do a lot when she’s competing on the pitch.
“(Cadi is) zealous without being over the top,” Hines said. “Her skills, her goals, her assists, her movement on the field, her ball handling shows her ability. She excels at all of it, but she’s not flashy, and that’s what I love about Cadi. She gets the job down and acts like she didn’t just do that. She doesn’t need the accolades. She doesn’t need the attention. She does it because she loves soccer.”
Crews’ skill and passion for the sport truly go hand-in-hand, as if one couldn’t exist in her without the other. It is a rare but striking combination in any athlete but especially one that hasn’t yet seen the inside of a high school.
“With other sports I really had to put the effort in,” Crews said. “And I’m not saying I didn’t have to try (with soccer), but it felt so natural to be dribbling with the ball and shooting and stuff. In other sports, it was harder to adjust to.”
Even with her seven years of experience with soccer, Crews was patient and never frustrated going back through the basics of the game in most practices with her teammates — many of whom had little-to-no experience with soccer.
As far as next season, Crews is excited to get back out on the field with her teammates, make new memories and win more games for Elmore County.