By ROGER BROUGH
After serving a two-year mission in Japan, BYU soccer player Scott Heaton wasn’t sure if he would be able to make an immediate contribution to the team.
Heaton is one of 10 returned missionaries on this year’s squad who all played for the team in 2008 before embarking on missions. Those players are Heaton (Japan), Colby Bauer (Oregon), Will Burton (Mexico), Easton Folster (Argentina), Jonathan Junca (Chile), Garrett Losee (Puerto Rico), Mike Moreno (San Diego), Derek Taylor (New Jersey), McKay Corbett (Canada) and Jace Green (Portugal).
“One mental thing I had to struggle with when I came back was that I thought because I was a returned missionary, I wasn’t going to have a chance to start and to get a lot of minutes,” Heaton said. “Once I realized it didn’t necessarily have to hold me back, that I could perform at the same level as the other guys on the team, even though I’d just come off of a mission, I got over that mental block and started playing a lot better.”
Heaton, a native of Provo, has been a key element to the 4-5-1 offense employed by head coach Chris Watkins, delivering accurate crosses from the wing behind the defense enabling various scoring opportunities for the Cougars.
“One thing I’ve been able to do is play the ball behind the defense,” Heaton said. “It’s really dangerous when we can play a ball from the outside, to a forward running onto it behind the defense, so even if the defense tries to get a touch on it to clear the ball, it can even lead to an own goal.”
Despite the difficulty in balancing a daily dose of class, work and soccer, Heaton has maintained his schedule through his mission experience and soccer training.
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“I think the mission teaches you a lot of self-discipline and a lot of self-control,” Heaton said. “When you’re trying to get better at a sport, skill or just getting along with your teammates or whatever, I think a lot of self-discipline comes into that and being able to control your emotions and how you feel, and I learned a lot of that on my mission.”
McKay Corbett, a sophomore from Orem and teammate, agreed with Heaton that a mission experience helps build that essential element of confidence.
“My mission has shown me to have more confidence, and showed me to be aware of my weaknesses,” Corbett said. “Taking criticism and applying it to my game and becoming better has given me more confidence. I’ve gotten out of shape, and lost a lot of my touch, but it’s been coming back thanks to conditioning and I’ll be to where I was before I left on my mission soon.”
The team is looking for its second win of the PDL season and up next is a game against the league-leading Orange County Blue Star, a team BYU tied 1-1 in May in California. Game time is 8 p.m. on Friday at South Field and will be broadcast live on BYUtv.
