Whitehorse lad Cameron Bringsli, 12, is trying out for the Vancouver Whitecaps U15 Pre-Residency program, which just started last year.

He and his family will be moving to Vancouver to pursue his opportunity to eventually play with the big club.

Bringsli, who plays as a centre midfielder, says he’s been preparing for this for a long time.

“I’m ready for the tryout. I’ve been preparing for so long. And I’ve been putting the work in. And when you don’t put the work in, someone else is taking your spot, right?

“I feel great about it. I’ve been training for I think a year and a half. It’s better for me, because I just made a BCSPL (BC Soccer Premier League) team, Mountain United (FC), so the residency head coach will look down at the BCSPL teams and pick the best players out of that group. And I got picked as one of them.”

As for moving to Vancouver Bringsli says he’s ready for that too.” I feel great, honestly. It’s gonna be a big move, I’m gonna miss the Yukon, I’ve had so many good coaches who have helped me through my life of soccer, and I’ve had lots of role models like Joe … to see that I can make it to the level that he’s at.”

Joe Hanson, 17, is already in the Whitecaps organization in their U23 program, one step below the Major League Soccer club’s first team. Hanson’s been playing with the Whitecaps as a striker. He has some advice for Bringsli as the youth starts his career with the Whitecaps.

“You gotta be confident. You gotta believe in yourself. At the highest level, there’s always someone trying to take your spot, like he (Bringsli) touched on. Whether or not you’re doing good, you’re doing bad, you’re doing great, you gotta stay true to yourself, stay positive and believe in yourself, and believe you’re the best player on the field at all times.”

Bringsli has been moving around a lot to pursue his soccer dream.

“I traveled down to Vancouver I think three and a half years ago, for my first day in the Whitecaps Academy, just kind of below the residency. I got picked from like a camp here in the Yukon for prospects, and I kind of went from there, and I was just moving everywhere. Like I was going down there once a month, training for a week, coming back, and I think I did that for a year and a half. And then I moved to Calgary, where I played for the Calgary Blizzard, which is a very high-level club. And I stayed there for a year and a half almost, came back, and tried out for the Mountain United team, and now I’ve got a tryout for the Whitecaps residency team … It’s better to be on the residency team, because you’re closer to becoming a professional player.”

Hanson underwent a similar journey to Bringsli in pursuit of soccer excellence.

“When I was around his age, it was a little more hectic, and kind of all over the place as well. I started off when I was about 10, getting scouted to play for Seattle, called Crossfire, which is a similar level to Whitecaps as well. I played off and on with them in tournaments and stuff, until I was about 13, and when I was turning 13, that was when I decided I was ready to move away from home, and pursue the dream that way. So I moved to Seattle when I was 13, and played there until I was about 15, and then I came back to Canada and played a little bit in Victoria for a BCSPL team like he (Bringsli) is, and then kind of got fed into a Whitecaps trial … September 2019 I think, so I was 15 when I got on trial with Whitecaps, and then did well, performed, and got signed to the U17 team, and then just kind of progressed ever since.”

Both of them attribute their success to a multitude of coaches.

Bringsli says, “I’ve had lots of great people, and I don’t want to miss anyone, but Jake (Hanson) for the TSE Academy (in Whitehorse), like super-helped me, cause I was kind of a decent player, like I was only in grade one, and he just helped me develop my skill and my mastery and everything like that, and helped me become a good player, and have good touches and everything.

“And also along the way I had John MacPhail… Tyler Milton – he’s a great coach … down south, a guy named Craig Angus, who picked me from the prospect camp, and he was teaching me in the academy, told me to go down to Calgary, and now is helping me get into the residency, so he’s helping me along the way down south. And also my one-on-one coach, Sean Alden, who just moved, and also Victor Lavandaros.”

For Hanson, it’s more of a family affair.

“Like him, so many. Just to make it simple, all the coaches in the Yukon, Team Yukon coaches like – Ash Jordan is one of the biggest ones. TSE coaches, and then all of my coaches down south as well. The Whitecaps, and there’s all the youth clubs I played for coming up, and also Sean Fleming,who helped me – he’s a coach out of Edmonton. He’s coaching Team Yukon right now. The biggest one obviously is my family, and my dad especially. He’s been my coach since I was like five years old, so he’s definitely the biggest one by far.”

As far as their goals go, the sky’s the limit. “For me it’s always been to play professional,” says Hanson. “And then just also represent my country at some point, hopefully sooner rather than later with the Canadian national team, but overall just play professionally, and have the longest career that I possibly can.”

What about playing in Europe?

“Oh yeah, definitely,” exclaims Hanson. “Europe is definitely on my radar in the next year or two. I’m planning on playing at least one more year with Whitecaps, and then kinda go from there, maybe search some opportunities in England, or somewhere like that.”

Nor surprisingly, Bringsli shares Hanson’s dreams of turning pro and representing his country.

“I want to go all the way to professional, and like Joe said, Canadian national team, I really want to represent my country, and win some gold. I’m probably going to make it to the residency, hopefully, and look at my options in Europe.

“I just recently went into Leicester summer camp (in Calgary) –that’s a team in the Premier league – they were interested in me. My dad has been communicating with them … keeping in touch just in case. So I have a good chance down there as well.”

Bringsli adds “Best of luck to Joe.”

Hanson echoes that comment, adding, “best of luck to Cam. I hope he does well, and gets in the academy. I’d love to see him around the facility.”

Hanson’s dad Jake, technical director of the Yukon Soccer Association, says the future looks bright for the two young phenoms.

“Well, it’s exciting. The soccer program’s been building for a long time, and we hope we could get to this point where if we did a good job, we’d start to lose these players before they graduated, so we’re starting to see it now. And not just Joe and Cameron. There’s other players that are starting to go outside too. And now these two are kind of pushing a new threshold for us, getting involved with an opportunity with a pro academy, so that’s a new opportunity for the youth players in our territory.”

The younger Hanson has already received a call from an agent, so he may already be on the path to glory in Europe.

“He had his first call last week from an agent from overseas, so I think he kind of just has it on his radar now that he’s in the reserve bubble for the Whitecaps. You never know what can happen, what doors can open, and … he’s just trying to do what he can to prepare himself for the next opportunities,” says the elder Hanson.

The soccer veteran sees a promising future for Bringsli as well.

“It’s exciting. Cam has been with Whitecaps. He was in their system a couple of years ago, and was going down on weekends when he could. So they are familiar with him, and then he spent a little bit of time in Alberta, and from talking to a coach in Alberta, … he thought he was maybe the best player in Alberta his age at the time, so it gives me an indicator that he’s a young player that’s probably one of the best players in Western Canada his age. So now getting into Whitecaps, he’s got an opportunity to be part of a training squad to start, and then they’ll slowly start to narrow it down to their top 18 (from 42 players), but I think Cam has a really good shot at being a key player for them when the team is decided early this coming year.”