An unstoppable force

As a youngster, while her friends were busy playing with Barbies, Heidi Gray was climbing trees. A self-proclaimed tom-boy and avid soccer player, the 17-year-old still enjoys roughing it up rather than just sitting around.

This year, she is the leading scorer for her King’s West High School soccer team, with three goals per game.

She recently received a full-ride athletic scholarship to the University of Evansville in Indiana.

Even though Gray doesn’t particularly care for school work, she still maintains a 3.4 grade point average.

According to her mother, Carrie, Gray was always a kid that could never get tired of running around.

“She never wanted to sleep as a baby,” Carrie Gray said. “Normal babies will take naps but Heidi was always awake, always looking around. She was just so busy, busy.”

Carrie Gray volunteers for King’s West Elementary School as an art teacher.

She remembers when her daughter played her first soccer game.

“She had a good friend who played soccer,” who eventually persuaded Heidi to join the team.

“The very first game she played, she went out and scored goal after goal.”

But the scoring spree hasn’t stopped for the blonde-haired Port Orchard resident.

This year, she has scored 15 goals and is the captain of her team. She also plays recreational league ball for the FC Royals, a Puyallup-based team.

“She comes out and plays 100 percent every game I have ever seen her play,” said her King’s West soccer coach the past four years, Rick Nohmi.

“It’s a two-way street,” he said. “The other players on her team play off of her and she plays off of them.”

A recent example of Gray’s intensity was the comeback she led against Kentview Christian early this week.

Down 3-0 with 20 minutes to go, Gray scored three of four King’s West goals to lead her team to victory.

“We needed to pick it up or pick up a loss,” said Nohmi after the game.

After Gray scored, Lea Amanda Ellis shot one in the net, and that’s when he saw the team’s momentum turn around.

“Kentview’s kicks got weak and not as accurate. We played in their half of the field,” he said.

With the amount of intensity that Gray commits to her soccer, she is constantly injuring herself. From concussions to sprained ankles to inflamed discs, Gray has seen her share of doctors offices over her four years of high school.

Ever since she received a concussion three weeks ago, she has worn a padded head band to protect her skull.

“It doesn’t hurt at all when it hits my head now,” she said. “I used to see stars.”

Gray is set to graduate in June, and then is off to Indiana. Although she was being courted by soccer coaches from the University of Arizona, Oregon State University, Washington State University and Loyola Marymount, she chose Evansville because of the size of the campus and the environment.

“Everyone in Indiana is so nice,” she said. Everyone’s like “‘Hey y’all,’” Gray said. “I love the coaches also.”

Gray said the Division I soccer program at Evansville is going through a rebuilding period. New coaches have been hired, and they have done extensive recruiting.

She said she is ready for the rigorous play in college. She is used to challenging herself.

“I like challenging myself with things that are more physical then mental,” she said. “I know I can do it. When I have to push myself I know I can do it. I know my mind’s not going to stop me.”

As for her future plans, Gray wants to become a physical therapist.

“It’s really the only thing I know,” she said.

She isn’t really worried about her overall soccer goals after college. She just plans on enjoying the journey.

According to her mother, she has learned so much just travelling around playing soccer. Even if her soccer never turns into a multi-million dollar career, she would have seen so much a long the way.

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