Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, July 19, 1994 TAG: 9407200059
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Or he'll cradle a grounder at shortstop, then boot the baseball into the seats.
Who could blame him for a spot of confusion? Caya, a rising junior at William Byrd High School, is the Terriers' starting shortstop when he's not tending the net for the Roanoke Star Under-15 White boys' soccer team.
``In both of them you've got to use your hands, you've got to be quick. They've got a lot in common,'' Caya said of his two favorite sports. ``If I'm practicing for shortstop, then I'm getting better in goal, too.''
Caya will be tested between the posts for the next three weeks as he accompanies the Roanoke team on its annual European tour. The Star will play in the Vildbjerg Cup tournament and the giant Dana Cup tournament in Denmark.
It will be the latest challenge in Caya's seven years of goalkeeping, and Roanoke Star coach Danny Beamer would be surprised if Caya crumbles.
``He's extra-quick, very tough,'' said Beamer, who thinks Caya has the potential to play soccer for a Division I college. ``Technically, he has real soft hands, he catches everything.''
Including bouncers to short for the Terriers' baseball team. Because baseball and soccer are played during the spring at Byrd, Caya has to choose. That's the only bad thing, he says, about his soccer-baseball career.
He admits most other high school athletes don't combine soccer and baseball, although he's aware of at least one - former Cave Spring star Dee Dalton, now playing in the St.Louis farm system.
The prestigious Dana Cup may be as close as Caya gets to pro soccer for a while.
``Hopefully, [the other teams] will be real good so I can get a lot of good playing in,'' Caya said.
by CNB