After a successful youth career with the Yorkton United Football Club and a hard year on the UBCO practice roster, Brandon McCallum's efforts have paid off with a spot on the UBCO Heat's 2012-13 roster for its upcoming soccer season.
Wearing #20 and playing left back, McCallum has had to deal with adjusting to the university game as well as changing positions from his usually midfield/wing area in Yorkton to the defensive backline for the Heat as well as a year on the practice roster.
But after an extra year of hard work and training, McCallum broke through and etched his place on the UBCO team despite an increase in level of competition according to McCallum. The UBCO Heat are planning to jump from the second tier of university sports to the CIS and the Canada West conference in 2014, making them one of the best second division teams in BC and making this year's squad even tougher to make with an influx of new players and a team that gets progressively better as it makes the jump year by year. McCallum said the jump from youth soccer to the university program was a huge step up and that he was slightly overwhelmed in year one and that after a year of training with the team as a redshirt he knew what he was getting into heading into training camp.
McCallum added that "I was more relaxed, composed and confident for this season, and it paid off." McCallum also mentioned that the three week preseason for August was a grueling one, with four two a day training sessions really putting a grind and toll onto the body, making the work he put in the gym/track and on the pitch back in Yorkton pay off.
The UBCO Heat mainly plays teams from Vancouver and Vancouver Island with a few teams from northern B.C. and its interior and has a two game a weekend schedule which will likely create a fair amount of playing time for everyone on the roster. The UBCO Heat finished third in the league last year and manager Dante Zanatta expects them to win the league this year according to McCallum. McCallum's debut in collegiate soccer will kick off with two home openers in Kelowna this weekend as the Heat take on Kwantlen University Polytechnic and Douglas College from Vancouver in Saturday/Sunday fixtures to kick of the 2012/13 campaign.
