The 2012 Women's Professional Soccer Draft, held on Friday, could have been the culmination of a neat little Canadian sports story. Sydney Leroux, a 21-year-old striker at UCLA, was born in Surrey, B.C. and played for the Whitecaps' team in the W-League for several years. Even earlier in her life, as a 13-year-old playing co-ed baseball, she found herself coming up against a boy named Brett Lawrie.
Lawrie, as you may know, is now a rising major-league star with the Toronto Blue Jays, while Leroux was selected #1 overall in Friday's WPS Draft. And wouldn't you know it, the two young, Canadian-born athletes are engaged to be married. As I said, potentially a very neat little Canadian sports story.(1)
There's one hitch, though: Years ago, Leroux chose to represent the U.S. in international competition.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
Now, just reading those words, you've already formed your opinion about the situation. Perhaps you're blinded with rage that yet another Canadian-born player is showcasing their talents for another country. Perhaps you think the Canadian national team is well-stocked, and if Leroux doesn't appreciate what the nation has to offer, then forget her. Perhaps it doesn't bug you at all, you wish her well and to you, this actually is a good Canadian sports story.
What should be remembered, as is the case with all defectors, is that each player's case is individualized. Leroux isn't "the next" anybody -- though it's difficult not to draw some parallels between her and Teal Bunbury, the Ontario-born Sporting Kansas City striker who went fourth overall in the 2010 MLS SuperDraft.
The key difference, of course, is that while Bunbury dithered and obfuscated his national-team intentions during the draft process, Leroux made the switch to the U.S. years ago, at age 15. She'd represented Canadian youth teams on a few occasions prior, but has since made 36 appearances for the American U-20 team. For years, no one has been under any delusions about Leroux coming back to the Canadian team -- even if she potentially, theoretically could.
Having never legitimately been on the Canadian national team's radar -- given her early defection south -- Leroux doesn't really stir up the same negative passions that some other defectors (Hargreaves, JDG2, Bunbury, the Bosnian goalkeeper) do. The latter bunch all looked as though they could represent Canada, and their decision not to do so was crushing, whereas the statute of limitations on the dream of Leroux suiting up for Big Red has long since expired.
Now, let's be clear, I'd definitely prefer it if a player talented enough to be taken first overall in the WPS Draft was suiting up for the land of her birth, rather than our regional rivals. And considering that Christine Sinclair won't be around forever, Big Red is certainly going to need some solutions when it comes to filling the opposing net as the years go on.
But am I angry that Leroux went first overall? Not any angrier than I'd be if she went second, third or 10th. Which is to say not angry, just... disappointed. Then again, that's my dispassionate writing voice speaking, as I sit at a laptop in the snowy off-season.
Get back to me in three years' time, when the top players in the world are competing in the sport's biggest tournament on Canadian soil. Get back to me, and the thousands of Canadian fans in the stands, if and when we see -- with our very own eyes -- Leroux trot out onto the pitch in an American jersey.
I may have a very different reaction for you then.
(1) Addendum: For what it's worth (nothing within the realm of the soccer discussion, really), there are suggestions that Leroux and Lawrie are no longer an item. I'll allow you all a moment to grieve, if you'd like, at the thought of this being true.