Get to Know a Grad – Karlee Whitehead

An honors and DECA Nations student at Mt Spokane, longtime club player Karlee Whitehead will be staying close to home this fall as she embarks on the next stage of her life.

A member of the club for nine years, Karlee couldn’t name a favorite club moment saying that she had “too many to count, but I think my top moment would just be the friendships I have gained.”

Some longtime friendships in the club include Corinne Gregory, Cami Hattenburg, Bre Koscielski and Liv Olson. To no surprise, the latter three are also members of her highly successful Mt Spokane Wildcats team, where she earned GSL All-League First Team honors as a defender last fall.

Karlee conveyed that club soccer helped her learn that effort was a key factor in the game, learning to “enjoy the game, but put your highest effort level into it” and that “being lazy isn’t going to get you anywhere, and hard work pays off.”

She added that up and coming players should “find the joy in the game when times are hard.” And that “your team should be your safe space.”

Quick Hits

Favorite road trip traditions:

On the way over to Seattle, only stopping in Cle Elum for gas and vitamin water.

What will you miss most about club soccer?

The people I play with and the coaches I have had

Parent POV – Ty Whitehead

Perhaps the road trip tradition of only stopping in Cle Elum to fuel up derived from the fact that one of her favorite things to do was, according to her father Ty, to sleep on the side of the pass to games.

Among his favorite memories though was “watching her enjoy time with her teammates, road trips and her excitement on the field.”

He added that over the years in the club “she has learned to play many positions” as well as “learned to listen and be reliable; and hard work.”

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