VANCOUVER, BC – It’s not exactly Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but Brett Levis shows a bit of a complex personality on the pitch that, at first glance, is hard to explain.
Never ruffled, the 22-year old shows a certain confidence beyond his years. Like a lion, he surveys the field with a dignified gait of someone in command, staying under control in the midst of frantic action.
But once the ball gravitates to his area of influence, he displays lithe and nimble qualities, almost deer-like in how he possesses the ball while eluding oncoming threats.
If you let Brett tell it, he actually didn’t always have that calm demeanour.
“I remember I was always antsy, running with my head cut off. As I got older, I learned from coaches and my mom,” Levis explains. “They told me to relax and be calm on the ball and you’ll be able to see more, to do more. This way you can see things better, you see things transpire and you’re able to play a little bit different.”
However, it may also be like the age-old chicken-or-the-egg question. Has his poise allowed him to succeed, or does his confidence root from his past experience?
“He was incredibly successful at all the other levels he’s played at and he takes confidence from that,” Whitecaps FC 2 head coach Alan Koch suggests.
The previous feats do make for quite a resume for Levis. At 15, he was named Male Youth of the Year by the Saskatchewan Soccer Association. In high school, he bagged team MVP honours while leading the Centennial Chargers to the provincial championship in 2010.
At the University of Saskatchewan, Levis led his squad on a gradual climb that culminated in a conference championship as a senior.
“In my first year, we didn’t make the playoffs. Second year, we made the playoffs. Third year, we made it to the nationals. Fourth year, we won Canada West,” Levis looks back fondly. “It was unbelievable. So to grow each year, there was a lot of doubt even from within the Saskatchewan community that a team like U of S could beat UBC or Alberta, that we didn’t have it in us. I’m very happy to have been a part of changing that.”
A memory bank of success that you could draw from has definitely aided Levis on his first year in professional soccer with Whitecaps FC 2. This was most evident last May 31 at Thunderbird Stadium.
After dispossessing an opposing player of the ball at centre-pitch, Levis navigated through traffic and slipped by two Arizona United SC defenders before launching an 18-yard left-foot beauty into the net. It was that escape-ability reminiscent of a young buck on full display.
“He’s a naturally skilled player with the ball. He can dribble himself out of very tight situations which not many players can do,” Koch prognosticated a few days prior. “He has a very cultured left foot. We ask him to go with it, when he does that he’s very dangerous. You want him on the ball because when he has the ball, he’s at his feet and good things happen.”
The elusive midfielder has shown he could separate himself from the pack – both in-game and on a broader perspective.
“You can tell that being from Saskatchewan, from a soccer perspective, he’s had to fight to make it. He obviously did very well there,” Koch explains.
There it is. Perhaps, in order to dissect Levis’ game, we have to look into where he’s from. With Whitecaps FC fast becoming western Canada’s team, it also makes sense that Saskatchewan makes up a key ingredient of one of the club’s future stars.
“He’s now a pioneer essentially for his province and he’s very proud of where he comes from. He comes in here and he wears his heart on his sleeve. He’s not just playing for himself, he’s playing for his family and where he comes from too,” Koch said.
With the importance of his background looming large, it was imperative that a look into the land and its people for us to understand the proud Saskatchewanian. Upon a little bit of research on the province, one inevitably would come across the official coat of arms of Saskatchewan.
The shield, in the provincial colours of green and gold, is supported on each side – a royal lion to the left, a white-tailed deer to the right.
It turns out that the complexity of Brett Levis and his calm yet elusive abilities are rooted on the simplicity of the place he represents.
