Billy Weaver knew he would be getting a phone call from his varsity soccer coach Erick Pfeifer when he took his girlfriend to see the movie “Elf,” but he had no idea what the call would be about.
“I was at the movies, and I had my phone on vibrate because I knew my coach was going to call,” explained the LOHS senior. “When he called, he told me I had been named Mr. Soccer.”
The Mr. Soccer award is given to the top player in Michigan each year by the Michigan High School Soccer Coaches Association. Weaver garnered more votes than anyone else on the 11-member All State Dream Team.
“I knew I was a contender,” said Weaver, a forward midfielder on the Lake Orion varsity team. “There were a lot of good players up for it, and it was just an honor.”
Weaver first began kicking a soccer ball when he was just six years old, after he started attending a friend’s soccer practices and became interested in the sport.
“I had a best friend in my old neighborhood, and I was playing ice hockey and he was playing soccer at the time,’ he said. “I went to his practice…we ended up switching, and he plays ice hockey now.
“When I was little, I thought (soccer) was more fun (than ice hockey), because I liked being outside,” Weaver said.
Weaver isn’t the only soccer enthusiast in his family; older sister Erica, a 2002 Lake Orion grad, played on the LOHS girls varsity team, and his father Tom runs his own soccer club.
A four-year starter for the LOHS varsity, Weaver has already committed to play soccer for Indiana University next season.
“I chose them because of the tradition of Indiana…I know when I go there they’ll help me fulfill my aspirations to become a professional soccer player,” he said.
Asked who his favorite player is, Weaver didn’t hesitate to respond “David Beckham.”
“I like his free kicks,” he said. “He scores almost every time.”
One could almost say the same about Weaver, who had 53 goals and 27 assists for the Dragons this season, who were under the direction of new coach Pfeifer.
“I love coach Pfeifer, and I’m extremely happy he was the coach this year,” Weaver said. “We couldn’t have accomplished what we did without him.”
Weaver, who also plays on the Olympic Developmental Program’s Midwest Team and for the U-18 Michigan Wolves club team, will continue to play soccer through the winter. He plans to study business at Indiana.