Warda takes center stage at Rosary

There was a time when Sydney Warda didn't play soccer - though she really doesn't remember it.

And now that the time is coming when organized soccer is going to leave her life for good, she is enjoying every second of the experience.

Warda is a senior central midfielder for Rosary and one of the key components in the team's plans to have a successful season, who says without any hesitation that, "I can't wait to get the season started."

Warda says she started playing when she was "4 or 5." At that point, the decision to play wasn't hers, but when she got a chance to make a choice, the game she wanted to play revolved around the kicked ball.

"I just remember playing T-ball and it was so boring to me," Warda said. "Soccer was a lot more fun for me and it just kind of happened."

Just as soccer has always been the sport she has wanted to play, midfield has almost always been the place she has lined up.

"From as long as I've played, it's been in the midfield," she said. "I've played a little bit of everywhere, but mainly there. It's usually center-mid because there's not as much running."

Any successful central midfielder will want to be a focal point in the team's lineup, because that's what the position demands. Balls played out of defense invariably work their way to the center of the field and someone needs to distribute the play as the team works further forward.

So it's a good thing when Wards says, "You see a lot of the ball and that's the best part of it. At first, it was just where the coach put me. But the more I played, it became a logical position. I became comfortable because I played there but because it suited me. You do have more control of the game."

There are many ways teams play with four midfielders. Usually, however, there is a central pairing. One plays more forward and the other more defensively. In that sort scheme, Warda is more defensively oriented, according to Rosary coach Kevin Callaghan.

"She has that great vision of the field and composure on the ball," Callaghan said. "The others may be a little more aggressive, and Syd's going to have to be more aggressive this year."

Callaghan said increased movement in midfield and among the forwards will be a component of play this year. The goal is to try to pull the defense apart, and then to exploit the gaps created by playing the ball into space for onrushing attackers.

"We feel that with more movement on the field, we can cause problems for the other team," Callaghan said.

"Work ethic" or "work rate" are words often used with defensive midfielders, and even with attacking central midfielders. No one gets anywhere by being lazy on the field, and that's a good thing, because "lazy" is not a word that anyone uses to describe Warda's play. In fact, her approach to the game is all about "work ethic."

"She came up to me the other day," Callaghan said. "I'd had thoughts of doing a long-distance run to stretch out their legs from the short running we had done. She came up and said 'can we have a long run?' I said 'Are you sure?' And she said 'yeah.' That's the kind of kid she is. She has a mindset that it's her senior year, and it means a lot to her to have a successful year."

Warda said she stopped playing club soccer a year ago, when she decided her career wasn't going to go beyond high school. But her desire to ask questions about the game, to know more about the game or to be involved in the game has not stopped.

"It's not that it was pointless," Warda said. "I miss playing soccer. But it's a lot of work for just doing it without going any farther. I can do that on my own without spending the time and money in club soccer."

Warda's blue collar attitude toward the game meshes nicely with the blue color of her school jersey. And she cares deeply about how the Royals do this year. Last year, Rosary suffered the end of its long Suburban Catholic Conference winning streak and the end of its conference dominance when St. Francis won the league title.

"I would like to take back conference this year," Warda said, "We got embarrassed pretty badly by St. Francis last year and we don't want to have that happen again. We had a lot of new faces last year and we don't have any excuses to not be the best."

Through the struggles of three years, Warda said she and her teammates have never had a serious falling-out. The cause has always remained the same: doing what's best for the program and for each other.

"We've never had a problem with team dynamics and things like that," she said. "Sometimes on the field, things don't work together as they should and you have to work to fix them. But never off the field. We've always tried to work hard and to win, but it's never been the most important thing. I've enjoyed it."

Warda does have a personal goal - literally - this year, and that is to score more. A year ago, she scored once for Rosary.

"My dad is always making fun of me about it," Warda said. "It's embarrassing. I always put the ball over the goal. This year, I want to score goals and not field goals."

But as with her need to be a team leader as a central midfielder and as her need to be someone on which her teammates can rely both on and off the field, Warda takes the responsibility to score more goals pragmatically.

"I know I'm expected to score more," she said. "The number needs to go up, for sure. Next to forward, midfield is where the most goals should be coming from. And with me in there, they've not been. So that's something I need to focus on."

If the issue is one of focus, figure Warda to have it solved in no time. And if the problem can be solved by working hard, then it's probably well on its way to being fixed. And however her final season of competitive play finishes, Warda will literally be in the center of things for Rosary's girls soccer program.