Playing sports while attending a full-time College program is challenging enough, but if you have to travel 150 kilometres to play a home game, you are a very special athlete.

Two Algonquin College in the Ottawa Valley students have spent the past few months not only learning everything from rock climbing to whitewater kayaking, but also doing what no other Pembroke Campus students have done before—play with the Algonquin Thunder women’s varsity soccer team.

Jen Kozera and Chelsea Larock love soccer and it was that passion for the game that prompted them to try out for the team. The only problem was that the club is based out of Algonquin’s Woodroffe Campus in Ottawa, meaning a drive of at least 90 minutes to join up with their teammates for practices and games.

“We’ve always played soccer and with no opportunity to play on a women’s team in Pembroke, we decided to try out for the Algonquin varsity team”, says Larock. “It has been a great experience and everyone has been so supportive that I would do it again in a heartbeat,” adds Larock.

Both Larock and Kozera have been playing soccer since they were young children. They played against each other in Ottawa, but it wasn’t until this year they became teammates. Having a friend to travel to and from the practices and games made it easier, and the fact they are both in the same College program also helped create a bond between the two students.

The two soccer fanatics met last fall when they began their studies in the Outdoor Adventure program, a high energy program that prepares graduates to work in the adventure tourism sector. Kozera says: “I enrolled in university with the idea of becoming an outdoor education teacher at the high school level, but I didn’t enjoy the program because it was more focused on being a gym teacher. I knew about the Outdoor Adventure program and made the switch with the intent of carrying on my studies at Thomson Rivers University in Kamloops, British Columbia after I complete my Algonquin program,” adds Kozera.

Through an articulation agreement with Thomson Rivers University, graduates of Algonquin’s Outdoor Adventure program can receive advanced standing in the Bachelor of Tourism in Management Degree program, entering directly into the third year of the four year degree program. From the time the articulation was struck five years ago, several Outdoor Adventure graduates from Algonquin College in the Ottawa Valley have pursued their university degree.

To accommodate the women’s school schedule, which included spending two days a week completing practical adventure skills throughout the Ottawa Valley, the Thunder’s coaching staff allowed their two imports to miss some practices. Although the team practiced four nights a week, Kozera and Larock were only required to attend two of those weekly practices. Kozera says: “We can’t say enough about how helpful and supportive the coaching staff and our teachers have been. It wasn’t easy to make our schedules work for both College and soccer, but they did it.”

Through Algonquin’s Students’ Association, the women were also provided with some bus money to help them pay their expenses for travelling. In some cases, it meant week night practices in Ottawa until 11 p.m. followed by a bus ride to Pembroke that arrived in the wee hours of the morning, and then a rude awakening via an alarm clock to make sure they made their morning classes.

Students’ Association Recreation Director, Ron Port, says this isn’t the first time a Pembroke Campus student has played competitively for the College, adding last year an Outdoor Adventure student suited up for the men’s basketball team. “At the end of the day, if they can play and they are willing to accept the travel involved with playing varsity sports for the College, we will do whatever we can to make it happen, “says Port.

“My poor Dad,” says Larock as she recalls how many times she left him without a vehicle so she and Kozera could get back and forth to practice. “The bus schedule didn’t always work for us, so I had to borrow my father’s car leaving him to use public transit in Ottawa to get to and from work.”

Known by their teammates as the “Pembies” or “Pembroke Posse,” the two imports recently helped the Algonquin Thunder place second in the province. They earned silver medals after defeating Humber College 1-0 in a semi-final match, before falling 4-1 to Durham College in the final, a game played in frigid temperatures in Oakville.

Both Kozera and Larock aren’t done with soccer yet. Even though they won’t be playing for Algonquin next season, they plan to continue playing the game either at university or in a competitive women’s league, no matter which community they end up living in.