Tyler Junior College

At 10:04 a.m. Tuesday, inside Coach Wagstaff's office, Mason became the first person to sign a national letter of intent to play women's soccer at Tyler Junior College.

By JOE BUIE
Tyler Morning Telegraph
Staff Writer

TJC announced the addition of its 11th intercollegiate sport one month ago, but Apaches head soccer coach Steve Clements was busy making recruiting connections before that.

 

"Kayla has come highly recommended to us by a number of local coaches," said Clements, currently the interim women's coach. "We've seen her play in a couple of contests at Whitehouse. She's a good athlete, and I think it's a good first signing for Tyler Junior College, a local athlete, and I think that's a positive for our school and our program."

Mason signed her scholarship in front of media members, three TJC vice presidents and new president Dr. Michael Metke, prompting TJC athletic director Dr. Tim Drain to say this would be the fastest processing of a national letter of intent because "everybody you need to sign it is here."

"It's very overwhelming, but I'm so excited," Mason said. "It's such a good program and I'm glad I'm back in soccer and I'm just ready for it to start."

Mason, who grew up training in the Olympic Development Program in Dallas and Denton, did not play soccer as a sophomore so she could concentrate on basketball. However, when it came time to map out her immediate future in athletics, the choice was easy.

"My future in soccer is (much) better and brighter than basketball," she said.

"That's pretty much what made the decision, because I had offers in basketball. I just love soccer so much more, and TJC is an awesome program."

Mason plays sweeper for the Whitehouse LadyCats, who are currently involved in the Class 4A soccer playoffs. Mason roams the back part of the field, because she's all about defense - even in basketball, where she was voted the District 12-4A Defensive Player of the Year as a senior.

"Defense is definitely my favorite," said Kayla, who was joined at the signing by her parents, Mike and Jill Mason. "I'm not a big scorer in either sport. I don't want to score. I know that sounds kind of weird, but defense wins ballgames and that's been my motto since I was little."

Clements, known for coaching stingy defense with the TJC men's team, is pulling double duty along with assistants Will Sowell and Chris Handy.

"Right now we're in the process of formulating the schedule and getting our recruiting done," said Clements, who added that the Apache Ladies have about 13 commitments and 10 games so far on the 2008 schedule.

"We're working on the schedule every day. That's been probably as big a battle as we've had just because a lot of people had full schedules at this point," Clements said.

The recruiting connections the TJC coaches have are serving the program well.

Clements said the University of Maryland is helping with a potential signee, and TJC has already picked up a commitment from the state of Florida.

Smoke Signals: TJC will have an open tryout for its women's soccer program on Saturday from 3-5:30 p.m. at Pat Hartley Field. Clements said a Women's Premier Soccer League team from Dallas will run the tryout. Contact Clements at  903-510-2687 for more details.