Successful strikers leave a good impression.
Shelby Browning might not have been playing forward when her Under-12 soccer team out of Greenwood faced off against Chuck Yarborough and his Columbus-Lowndes Recreation Silver team several years ago at a tournament in Tupelo.
Regardless of where Browning was playing, she left her mark on Yarborough, who is now the girls soccer coach at Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science. Yarborough had a feeling he remembered Browning when he learned a player from Greenwood had transferred to MSMS and was going to play soccer. He smiled when he realized Browning wore No. 7 on the U-12 team and was the one who won so many 50-50 balls and played so well against his team.
“There was a girl with an amazing first touch who could finish,” Yarborough said. “That is essentially what she is doing for us now.”
Browning, a junior transfer from Pillow Academy, has picked up where she left Yarborough, scoring seven goals in MSMS’ first three matches. She had hat tricks (three goals) against West Lowndes and West Point and added a goal in a victory against Nettleton before the Thanksgiving break.
For her accomplishments, Browning is The Dispatch’s Prep Player of the Week.
“Winning those 50-50 balls as a rec player in a sign of a competitive athlete,” Yarborough said. “She has clearly developed her skills since then.”
As much as Browning, a 5-foot-3 forward, has improved since her youth soccer days, she admits it was an adjustment leaving Pillow Academy after playing soccer with friends for many years. The experience she had with her teammates at the Class AAA school in Greenwood, which is a member of the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools, made it easier for her to relate and to connect on the soccer field. At MSMS, a school that is made up of juniors and seniors from the state of Mississippi, she had to build that chemistry with a new group of teammates, including some who haven’t played soccer for as many years as she has. But Yarborough said it hasn’t taken Browning long to fit in. In fact, he said she has taken to her new role as a forward and is working well with her teammates to share her knowledge of the game.
“We needed people to step up and fill the void we lost due to graduation,” said Yarborough, whose team lost 72 percent of its goals from the 2013-14 Class AAA team that is a member of the Mississippi High School Activities Association. “Shelby is clearly on the path to doing that.
“We are always going to have a large number of inexperienced players, so it takes a great deal of patience and self confidence (from the more experienced players) to be willing and to give of yourself. She recognizes she is not only assisting the team as a whole, but she is also assisting herself. That is a pretty remarkable trait in a high school kid, and she has that. She gives freely of her time and talent to help make them the best players they can be knowing that that enhances our chances to succeed as a team.”
Browning, who was born in Indianola and raised in Greenwood, has played soccer since she was 4 years old. She said she has been active in the Greenwood Youth Soccer Organization ever since she started playing. After starting as a defender, she said she moved to midfield and is now surprising herself as a high-scoring forward. She said the adjustment has been easier than she expected and that she is having more fun at the position than she anticipated.
“At first I didn’t expect to score as much as I did,” Browning said. “It really was a big shock to me. In the midfield, I did shoot and score, but as a forward I am given more of an opportunity to do so. I really enjoy playing forward. It is like, ‘Wow. I can actually shoot.’ It has helped me improve as a player.”
Browning said she has gained confidence playing forward because she never realized she could do all of the things she has accomplished in three matches. Despite scoring seven goals, Browning knows there is more to playing forward than just scoring. That’s why she is eager to help set up her teammates and help them develop their scoring touches. She said it is an easy thing to do because so many people have helped her become a better soccer player that she wants to share what she has learned.
“I feel like I have the opportunity to give to them,” Browning said. “It is awesome to know I am helping other players as much as they are helping me.”
Browning said she also enjoys the environment at MSMS. She said the fact that the players live together has helped build team chemistry. She said playing a new position and with new players of varying levels of experience has “expanded her thoughts as a player.” Her scoring touch has broadened her ability to impact a game, too, and that is something she hopes she can continue once MSMS returns to action.
“I look forward to leading the team in scoring and being a good striker,” Browning said. “If the team works together, the team will be successful.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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