The Beginning…

From a very young age, Vanesha loved to watch her older brother play soccer. Being a bit of a tomboy, Vanesha decided that she should to play soccer too. At that time there weren’t many girls’ soccer teams. Her parents first told her, “You can’t play soccer, Vanesha. Soccer is a boy’s sport!” She persisted and finally, when she was about 6 years old, her parents let her try the sport. They quickly discovered that she was good at it!

Vanesha had incredible speed from early on. She could pass up most of the girls on her first team, the Leapin’ Lizards. She played on the Jammers after the Lizards and at age 9 tried out for the Tabagators, where she met Saeed Bonabian. Neusport was much smaller then - there were only a few teams. In grades 7 and 8 she got her first taste of traveling to complete in soccer tournaments. Visiting California was especially exciting for Vanesha because the caliber of competition is much higher there than in Las Vegas. “Traveling was such a great experience” Vanesha says. “Going to tournaments and meeting and mingling with players from different teams was so much fun.” Vanesha’s parents went to every tournament with her.

In 10th grade, Vanesha got to travel with the Tabagators to Europe to play in the Holland Cup and the Norway Cup. “We lost in the championship game of the Holland Cup, but the just the experience there in Holland was amazing. There were teams from Africa and everywhere.” Her experience meeting players from African countries was especially memorable. “I guess they’re not used to seeing an African American playing. I was sitting on the sidelines as one of the teams walked by and every single one of them rubbed my head as they passed me! It was such an amazing experience!” The Tabagators then traveled to Norway for the Norway Cup, of which Vanesha was the star player. “They had all the Norwegian fans and other European fans chanting (in the crowd). It felt like a World Cup game! Everyone was chanting, but you could hear our fans and our parents especially; they were louder!” The Tabagators won the game 2-1, and Vanesha scored both goals. After the game the girls ran screaming around the field holding up the American flag. A Norwegian TV reporter immediately rushed up to interview her on film, but she couldn’t understand him! She was then called up on stage where she was given the Golden Boot Award for being MVP of the game.