By Stephanie Doln
Brianna Poore is, in many ways, a typical teenager. She’s 17, and she loves hanging out with her friends and snapping photos. She enjoys her favorite TV show, Riverdale, she is a server and hostess at Campbell’s Highland Grille and she is currently learning about planes of the body in her anatomy class.
She also dominates on the soccer field in the center back position and is this month’s Athlete of the Month.
“She’s a fantastic kid,” soccer coach Mike Bishop said. “She has developed into a very solid defender on the roster. She started out on junior varsity. Going into tryouts last season we were looking for one or two girls and she earned it.”
“I started when I was 4, so it’s been 13 years now,” Poore said. “I met my best friend through soccer, so I stuck with it.”
Soccer is also in Poore’s DNA.
“My dad played up until a couple of years ago when he tore his Achilles tendon,” she said.
Poore, one of three team captains, is proud of her team and the work they do.
“We’re seven games in,” she said. “We had a 6-in-0 record until last night when we tied with North Central, but we’ve been doing really well. It’s a really talented team. There’s talent all around the field. It’s cool to be a part of it and a leader of it.”
“She’s always working hard and always busting her hump and always doing the right things,” Bishop said. “Fortune has gone her way the whole time. She’s done awesome with it. She gets everything she earns. She doesn’t make a fuss and goes about her business as hard as she can. If I had a whole team of girls like Bri it would be great. She just plays.”
Poore likes to be someone that everyone on her team can come to. “I want to be someone who can be a voice for others,” she said. “If a teammate needs something, I want them to feel comfortable coming to me. I’m really passionate about soccer, so I like to see that in my teammates as well – giving 100 percent and doing what they’re told.”
And, while she is very much a typical teenager, Poore is never far from a soccer game.
“I’m always with my friends when I’m not playing soccer,” she said. “I’m really into photography, so I like to take pictures and go out to eat. I like to have dance parties too – listening to music. It’s so fun. Especially like with your friends. I have multiple friend groups – sometimes we still play soccer even when we’re not at soccer.”
“She’s worked herself into being captain this year,” Bishop said. “That’s a testament to what type of kid she is. Even when she’s having a bag game the team rallies around her. It’s been great to watch her develop as a kid and as a player for the last three years.”
Poore’s development hasn’t happened only on the soccer field though. With a 3.9 GPA, she does very well for herself in the classroom as well.
“I like to have everything done ahead of time,” she said. “I like to make sure I don’t have a to-do list. I like to get it done as soon as possible. I study as hard as I can, and I have high expectations for myself. I’ve always made good grades. I don’t think of it as a challenge. I just think of it as necessary.”
THE POORE FILE
NAME: Brianna Poore
SPORT: Soccer
POSITION: Center back
YEAR: Senior
HEIGHT: 5 feet 8 inches
AGE: 17
HOBBIES/INTERESTS: Photography and hanging out with friends
FAVORITE MOVIE: The Last Song
FAVORITE TV SHOW: Riverdale
COLLEGE PLANS: Still looking at schools but plans to study nursing to ultimately become a pediatric nurse practitioner
PARENTS: Bobbi and Scott Poore
