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31 |Thursday, Decem ber 22, 2 0 1 6 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com Kevin Nagel Oakville Beaver Sports Editor knagel@burlingtonpost.com Sports up on, Rambler Court, will have a ceremonial sign designating it as Diana Matheson Way. "It's a way for us to show off our local heroine," said Ward 6 coun cillor Tom Adams. "Diana is some one the youth across Oakville, and across Canada, can look up to. For anyone to reach the top of their sport, it takes an incredible amount of hard work and dedication and Diana shows that off in spades." Matheson was an unlikely can didate to become a key player in helping elevate Canada to an all time high ranking of fourth in the world. Most of the national-team vet erans who have brought Canada its greatest successes were part of the Canadian team at the inaugural under-19 women's world champi onships in Edmonton in 2002. Matheson, 18 at the time, did not make that team, which gained national attention by taking the U.S. to overtime in the final. Yet just a year later -- after her pro vincial-team coach encouraged the national squad to take another look -- she became a fixture on the senior national team, playing 19 games starting at 14. She has gone on to start more than 90 per cent of Canada's games since then, av eraging more than 82 minutes per match. Matheson became a mainstay with relentless determination. She overcame a size disadvantage -- standing just a shade over five feet, and figured the only way to keep her spot on the team was by out working everyone. In the 14 years since, the only HALTON `Connected to your Community " 559 SPEERS RD., #UNIT 3 9 0 5 -8 4 2 -0 7 2 5 TRANSMISSION www.haltontransmission.com By Herb Garbutt Oakville Beaver staff The street that will soon bear the name of one of the country' s best soccer players isn't unlike a lot of Canadian streets. "It's a court so it only gets local traffic, so it's good for street hock ey," says Diana Matheson. Hockey may be king in Canada with the images of -- depending on your age -- Paul Henderson, Gretzky to Lemieux or Crosby's golden goal etched in the memory banks of people across the country. For the growing soccer fan base in Canada, that moment is Matheson, arms stretched wide, an ex pression of pure joy on her face, running toward her teammates af ter scoring the winning goal in the bronze-medal game at the London Olympics in 2012. Matheson has done far more than score one goal, though. She has suited up for the national team 191 times, more than any other player, male or female, except for Christine Sinclair. She has won two Olympic bronze medals and Pan Am gold. She also ranks third all-time for Canada with 20 assists and seventh in goals with 17, the second most among midfielders. Most importantly, she has been part of a group of players that has proven a hockey nation can also compete with the world's best on the soccer pitch. Now, Matheson's contributions are being recognized by her home town. The Oakville street she grew Hometown recognition Diana Matheson returns home from Rio de Janeiro after helping Canada win its second straight bronze medal in Olympic soccer last summer. Diana was greeted at Pearson Inter national Airport by her parents, well wishers and the media. | photo by Riziero Vertolli - Oakville Beaver thing able to keep her off the field was a torn ACL in her left knee and a broken foot in 2014. She battled her way back from those injuries, taking the field for Canada as it hosted the Women's World Cup seven months after undergoing surgery on her knee. "I've been pretty lucky to do this as long as I have," Matheson said. "The Olympics were a huge step forward for us. I came in at the right time with a group of talented players. We've had the right series of coaches to take us to the next level and John Herdman came in and pushed us over the edge." In addition to her accomplish- ments on the field, the former Oakville Soccer Club member has also dedicated herself to ensuring others have opportunities in sports through her work with the Special Olympics, Right to Play and iS4, formed with three of her Cana dian teammates to inspire youths through soccer camps that com bine skills training with teamwork and motivational lessons. Matheson said Adam van Koeverden, himself the recipient of a street in his name in front of the Burloak Canoe Club, started campaigning for a similar honour for his fellow Olympian during a Town of Oakville ceremony to recognize the local athletes who competed in Rio. Adams spoke with Matheson's parents at that event and brought the idea back to council. It was passed unanimously last Monday. "I'm honoured," Matheson said. "My parents' house is really close to that sign, so it will kind of be like a place marker. It will prob ably be more weird for them since they're the ones still living there." Though it is usually the type of honour that comes at the end of a career, the 32-year-old is com mitted to taking a run at another Olympic medal. "I'd like to continue to build on what we've done. I'm lucky to be playing and I'm learning a lot from John on and off the field. A lot of it will depend on staying healthy," Matheson said. "The next four years is such an exciting time with the young players we have." Many of those young teammates watched Canada at the London Olympics, saw Matheson celebrate her overtime goal and dreamed of one day doing it themselves. Adams hopes the street naming will continue to inspire local kids for generations to come. "Years from now, if there's a young kid who doesn't know who Diana is, hopefully it will start a conversation," he said, "and they'll find out about someone who worked incredibly hard and did amazing things." And maybe one day after Matheson gets her Way, it will be young soccer players on the street yelling `Car!' and pulling the nets to the side of the road as their neighbours k First-step quickness ·k Reaction skills MON. DEC FIR S I 1U UCU STO M ER S C H ....... A IN W ID E ! 2 6 6 AM A G E & L EVELS DAYS -k Puck control * Power & acceleration + Explosiveness A k Puckwork implemented 32 le d t v CRASHERS! throughout the program * An excellent studentto-instructor ratio JAN-MAR TIMESLOTS: TIM ES SAVE $140 PROSCAN A Y O)[IN D i1 *Al E E VE » 1 I k 7-9 Rep ·k 10-13 Rep k 8-12 HL k 9-13 Rep FIR S T 50 CU STO M ER S C H A IN W ID E ! 10-12 Rep ·k 13-15 Rep -#10-13 Rep Thurs Thurs Fri Fri Sat Sat Sun 5:00pm 6:00pm 5:30pm 6:30pm 9:00am 10:00am 9:30am $320 +tax $320 +tax $288 +tax $288 +tax $256 +tax $256 +tax $256 +tax 5 5 " RCA 4 K T V #98083 4K · 60Hz · 3 HDMI WWW.WAVEHOCKEY.CA R e g is te r : 9 0 5 - 3 3 6 - 3 4 3 4 x 1 0 o r p r o g ra m s @ w a v e h o c k e y .n e t