Levi Moss prepares to take a shot / Photographer: Chris Waage
Since he moved to Orcas in 2015, Levi Moss has played a large part in Viking athletics. As a starting forward in Vikings soccer and a leader in the Orcas sailing team, Moss has shown to anyone who has watched him play that he is fearless, determined, and ready to win.
Because his mom is a dancer, Levi Moss started his athletic career as a dancer. At age three, Moss was already on the road to being an outstanding athlete. When he turned five, Moss began to play soccer; two years later he quit dancing and played basketball and soccer. When he was ten, Moss had to make a decision between soccer and basketball. Due to his love of the sport and his determination to improve, Moss decided to stick to soccer.
Before moving to Orcas, Moss played soccer in Maple Valley, Washington. Opposed to Orcas, Maple Valley gives its athletes the opportunity to play year-round soccer with practice at least two times a week and games every weekend. However, Moss is still impressed with how Orcas students have adapted and become amazing athletes. “They have gotten really good by using the resources they have to train really hard and be at the level that they are now.”
In previous years, the Vikings have set a school record of 26 goals during one season. As a starting striker for the Vikings, Moss has a season total of 21 goals. He hopes that the team can make it to playoffs, where he hopes to break the school record. He has doubts, though. “Playoffs are against teams with rock solid defenses that will be difficult for our team to penetrate.” In the end, though, Moss just wants to help his team make a strong run to state, regardless if he breaks school records or not.
Moss claims that the closest game this season has been against Providence. He recalls the intensity during the shootout after neither team could score in a 10 minute overtime. Both teams made their penalty shots until the opposing goalie made a save and the Vikings were down by one. The team pulled it together to come out three shots later with a win.
Not only does Moss play soccer for the Vikings, he also sails on the club team in the spring. Last year, he and his teammates made it to nationals in Norfolk, Virginia. Moss started sailing as a freshman in high school, abandoning his previous plan to join the two person track team in the spring. “Joining the sailing team was definitely one of the best decisions I made that year,” Moss says. Now, Moss sails every spring.
Moss’ one piece of advice for other aspiring Viking athletes is to never stop training. “There is no off-season. You can rest and recover when you’re exhausted or sore or tired, but every day that you don’t spend out on the field or the court, someone else is. And that someone is getting better,” said Moss.