Nia and Amira Walcott of Beltsville named to Trinidad and Tobago U-17 team.
After discovering that she was selected for the Trinidad and Tobago U-17 Women's National Soccer Team, Elizabeth Seton High School junior Nia Walcott said she was left in a quandary.
Walcott, a Beltsville resident, will be in the early stages of her senior year when Trinidad and Tobago hosts the U-17 Women's World Cup Sept. 5-25.
She is hesitant to miss her schoolwork and part of the season at Seton, where she will be one of 11 seniors on the team. But her parents, Keith and Kathy Ann Walcott, and Seton coach Mellanie Nai have encouraged her to play in the World Cup.
"It's my last chance to be part of the high-school team and to win a [Washington Catholic Athletic Conference] title," said Walcott, whose younger sister, Amira Walcott, a sophomore at Eleanor Roosevelt High School, also made the Trinidad and Tobago National Team.
"I really don't want to miss any of my senior year and my teammates. We've worked so hard these last three years. We're focused on winning the WCAC championship and it's going to be tough to miss three weeks of school and get caught up."
Although Walcott could miss as many as six Seton games this fall, Nai said participating in the World Cup would be something special.
"We've never had an athlete like her at Seton, and this type of situation is so rare that I think it would really be great for her to experience something like that," Nai said. "I know that she's really focused on next season, but you never know what can happen.
This is a really close-knit group of seniors and it will be tough for her to be away from them. But this really is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. She could get excused absences, and I think she could easily make up the work that she missed."
The national team is open to first- and second-generation Trinidad and Tobagans. The sisters' mother was born in Trindad and Tobago, and their father was born in Guyana. Nia played midfield for the Roadrunners last fall and was named to the Gazette-Star and WCAC first teams.
She also plays center midfield for the Freestate United club team that Nai coaches, while Amira Walcott plays for the Freestate Fury U-16 team.
"I had never been to Trinidad until the tryouts," said Nia Walcott. "I thought the competition was really good. There were a lot of talented players there to try out. I wasn't sure that I would get selected for the team. But when they called me [on March 22] and told me that I had made the team, I was very excited.
Of course, now it's a tough decision on whether to stay here in the fall or go over there for three weeks. My parents really want me to go, but I don't know if I want to miss that much school and all of my teammates for three weeks."