Strength in the Face of Adversity – Our Communities

Kate Paukovic is a 17-year-old student who will soon be entering twelfth grade at Dakota Collegiate.

Kate really enjoys sports, but there is one activity that she enjoys most of all.

“I like to play soccer, volleyball and basketball (but) my favorite sport is soccer. It’s the sport I’ve been playing the longest and I honestly can’t imagine my life without it,” she said.

Kate said she appreciates the camaraderie and competitive nature of team sports.

“The girls I played soccer, volleyball and basketball with all have a similar mindset. They strive to do their best and that motivates me to keep improving,” she said.

Kate plays soccer for 1v1 Futbol Dreams Academy and was supposed to play club volleyball for Shock Volleyball this past winter, but unfortunately she tore her ACL during the school volleyball season, which put her out of action for nine months.

Kate plays as a defensive midfielder on the football field.

“I love getting the ball back in the middle and starting our attacking transition,” she said.

She credits her early soccer coaches, Rob Gale (currently interim head coach of the NWSL’s Portland Thorns) and Steve Dreger, as instilling her love for the game, and she can’t praise her current coach, Nano Romero, enough.

“(He) has helped me develop the technical part of my game and, more importantly, the tactical aspect,” she said. “He has given me the opportunity to take on a leadership role as captain of our team (and he) has given me skills and experiences that are invaluable to me, one of which is the opportunity to play against the Argentina under-17 national team.

“He also coached my team to become provincial and national champions in 2022. These opportunities have contributed greatly to fulfilling one of my goals of playing at the college level.”

Kate lives in Island Lakes with her father Tony, mother Jan and older sister Jill.

“I want to thank my parents for their constant support over the years and for giving me the opportunity to play at the highest level that I can,” she said. “I wouldn’t be where I am today without them.”

If Kate achieves her goal of playing college soccer, it seems like she won’t have any trouble with the college life that is being a student-athlete.

“School went well for me this past year,” she said. “Academically, I was averaging in the mid-90s.

My favorite subject is pre-calculus. I like the structure of the course and the challenge it gives me.”

Kate had this advice for other athletes:

“Be a coachable player. Go out on top and play for your team instead of yourself. And remember that adversity is not adversity, but an opportunity to show strength, courage, perseverance and resilience.”

Troy Westwood
Westwood’s sporting heroes

Former Winnipeg Blue Bombers kicker Troy Westwood writes about Winnipeg’s unsung sporting heroes every two weeks for the Canstar Community News weekly.

Read the full biography