Captain of the Cascades’ men’s soccer team, Trevor Zanatta, spoke with The Cascade about soccer, school, and life after graduation. The 2021–2022 male athlete of the year leads the team in his final year of school.
Can you tell us about how you came to play for the Cascades?
I started playing soccer as a kid for a local club in Coquitlam. My parents have been instrumental and created the right environment for me to succeed on the field. I’ve also had a lot of influences through my grandfather, and especially my uncle [Sergio Zanatta], who played for both the Vancouver Whitecaps and the Canadian national team.
Coach Tom [Lowndes] came to my club [Metro Ford] and ran a training session and was after a few players on our team. He contacted our coach afterwards with who he was interested in. I was impressed with the training session and what Tom had to say. I knew I wanted to play for a coach that would make me a better player. Tom held a lot of confidence in me early on, especially my rookie year, where I got a lot of minutes early on.
You were awarded UFV’s male athlete of the year, tell us about that.
I received the 2021–22 UFV male athlete of the year after a strong end to our season. Last season the squad started slow but we went on a long undefeated streak to make the playoff. We ended up finishing fourth. I had a good season supported by the team and [Coach Tom Lowndes] really drove us to succeed.
What’s it like playing soccer for the Cascades this season?
We have a good group of guys this season. We have a lot of rookies and young players that are trying to fit into the squad, and get used to Canada West, so we are coming from a preseason where we’re training twice a day into the start of the regular season. It’s just part of the process of playing university soccer where you have to meet up with the demands of the level of play and the coach.
I like that [Coach Tom Lowndes] sets the bars high for players and keeps the competitiveness of the squad really high. He is extremely passionate and I think it influences all of us, where we focus so much on competing, winning games and reaching the playoffs every year.
But the guys are really excited about what we can do this season. In my five years, this is probably the most talented squad we’ve had.
How’s the season going?
We play fifteen games in the season and we’re six games in, so just about at the midway mark and I think we’ve had a slow start, but we’ve had slow starts in the past and turned the season around … Looking back on last season we were slow out of the gate but went on an eight game undefeated streak to get in the playoffs, I think with this squad we can finish where we want in the standings.
What’s next for Trevor Zanatta?
I’ve always wanted to play professional soccer since I was a little kid, but I’m not sure I will end up playing professionally.
I’m in my last year of my criminal justice degree and I’m planning on going to law school eventually and that is likely the route I’ll go after soccer. The criminal justice program is very well known and UFV has been awesome for both [soccer and criminology].
Steve is a third-year BFA creative writing/visual arts student who’s been a contributing writer, staff writer and now an editor at The Cascade. He's always found stories and adventures but now has the joy of capturing and reporting them.
