Photo by: Derek Johnson
Cam’s world
4/22/2022 11:50:00 AM | Soccer
If you thought Camellia Xu would rest on the laurels that came her way after another successful fall season for the Montana soccer team, if you thought her ambitions don't extend beyond the sport, then you don't know Camellia Xu.
For most people, it would have been a pretty full year.
She proved to be one of the nation's top goalkeepers as a freshman in her first season as Montana's starter. Her 11 shutouts set a new single-season program record for a program renowned for its standout goalkeepers, a total that tied for fifth nationally.
She six times was named the Big Sky Conference Defensive Player of the Week, which led to Big Sky Goalkeeper of the Year and first-team All-Big Sky honors.
She was voted the Big Sky Tournament MVP after leading Montana to 1-0 wins over Sacramento State and Weber State, then became the first Griz freshman to start in goal in an NCAA tournament match when Montana faced Washington State in November.
And then she rested, right? Not so much.
She was invited to attend the Canadian U-20 Women's Camp in January. Earlier this month she was one of 12 students who represented the University of Montana for five intense days at Model UN in New York. Now she's an advisor to Noah Vanderkar as he tries to win the race for student-body president.
"Cam didn't want to come here just for the soccer experience," says her coach, Chris Citowicki. "She knew she wanted to become a better goalkeeper, compete for titles, make NCAA tournaments, but with her aspirations in life, she needs to build a portfolio outside of soccer as well.
"She doesn't want her resume to only say, 'Cam, good soccer player.' She wants it to say more than that."
Her interest in political science, her major, was a natural extension of being the daughter of Vivian Zhou and Wei Wei Xu, who emigrated from China to Canada in 2001, shortly before Camellia and her sister, Melody, were born.
"My interest in political science comes from my parents, with their upbringing in the People's Republic of China," says Xu, who has an eye on attending law school after the last of her soccer dreams has been pursued.
"It's something we talked about a lot at home, the ideology of politics and socialism and democracy, so I think that piqued my interest."
Last fall she was selected to be part of Montana's delegation to Model UN, a simulation of the UN General Assembly where students perform an ambassador role.
It took place the first week of April, right as the Montana soccer team was wrapping up its offseason training, capped with matches at MSU Billings and Rocky Mountain, which Xu had to miss.
"The fact Montana provides her opportunities where she can be part of student government, part of Model UN, can travel to New York and represent the University there, it's amazing," said Citowicki.
"I'm very happy we were able to provide her the time to go and do that."
Model UN, to which Montana has annually sent a group of students for nearly two decades, took place April 3-7 at the New York Hilton Midtown.
"The University of Montana does such a good job of offering so many off-campus experiences. Model UN just happens to be one of them," Xu said.
"Whenever the opportunity presents itself to better the world and learn how we can work together to make the world a better place, it's something I want to be a part of. When it was presented to me last semester, I was pretty keen on it."
This was no tourist visit disguised by a fancy title. Model UN had nearly 2,000 students from the U.S., Europe, South America, Central America and parts of Asia.
Days started at 8:30 a.m. with resolution and debate work. After a break for lunch, the students worked through the afternoon. After a dinner break, they were back at it until 10:30 p.m., when committee work ended for the day.
"It was a lot," says Xu, who was asked if she had any photos of herself from the event. She doesn't. She was too busy.
Her group within the UM contingent, which represented the country of Georgia, was in General Assembly 2, which deals with the topics of economy, poverty and sustainable development.
That meant plenty of homework and prep work before ever departing for New York.
"That's crucial when you're representing a country in a Model UN situation," Xu said. "Part of being able to work together with everyone is knowing how your country views every point.
"We were lucky enough to get an actual briefing from the Georgia representatives in the UN. It was really cool to get some deeper clarification on certain points on how to best represent it."
Now that she's back on campus, she's turned her focus from global to local. She wants to make the University of Montana a better place.
"I think student government is very important to our school and should be more prominent," she said.
Her soccer schedule won't allow her the time to perform the duties of senator, so she's doing the next best thing. She got behind Vanderkar and is helping behind the scenes.
"He's one of my good friends and I got really invested in what he was doing and the message he was trying to spread and the goals he had," Xu says.
Once the semester ends in early May, Xu will be off to Texas, this trip for soccer purposes. She will play for the San Antonio Athenians Soccer Club, which competes in the United Women's Soccer pro-am league.
Ashley Cathro, a graduate of Burnaby Central Secondary School in British Columbia and a product of Vancouver Whitecaps Girls Elite REX – the same path taken by Xu – played for San Antonio last summer.
She'll play her senior season at Illinois in the fall.
"I saw how much fun she had in San Antonio, and I want to continue my development throughout the summers," said Xu. "It became an option I really wanted to do."
There are no contracts signed, which allows Xu the flexibility to join Canada Soccer should she get another invite from the coaches of the U-20 National Team for this summer's camp.
Canada finished third at the CONCACAF U-20 Women's Championship in the Dominican Republic last month, a result that punched its ticket to the FIFA U-20 World Cup, which will be held in August in Costa Rica.
"This year in particular I wanted to play in the summer because now that the U-20 Canadian National Team has qualified for the World Cup, I want to stay as in tune as possible," she said.
When she attended national team camp in January, it came after a nearly month-long layoff without any soccer-specific training, a combination of the holidays and Canada's COVID restrictions.
It will be a different Xu who shows up this summer should she get the invitation. "If I can get my reps in and stay healthy, I'm hoping to have an even better camp," she said.
In case you're worried Xu is spreading herself too thin, that the falls in Missoula will take a backseat to her other interests, Xu says you can put those concerns aside and rest easily. "Always the priority is going to be Griz Soccer."
For most people, it would have been a pretty full year.
She proved to be one of the nation's top goalkeepers as a freshman in her first season as Montana's starter. Her 11 shutouts set a new single-season program record for a program renowned for its standout goalkeepers, a total that tied for fifth nationally.
She six times was named the Big Sky Conference Defensive Player of the Week, which led to Big Sky Goalkeeper of the Year and first-team All-Big Sky honors.
She was voted the Big Sky Tournament MVP after leading Montana to 1-0 wins over Sacramento State and Weber State, then became the first Griz freshman to start in goal in an NCAA tournament match when Montana faced Washington State in November.
And then she rested, right? Not so much.
She was invited to attend the Canadian U-20 Women's Camp in January. Earlier this month she was one of 12 students who represented the University of Montana for five intense days at Model UN in New York. Now she's an advisor to Noah Vanderkar as he tries to win the race for student-body president.
"Cam didn't want to come here just for the soccer experience," says her coach, Chris Citowicki. "She knew she wanted to become a better goalkeeper, compete for titles, make NCAA tournaments, but with her aspirations in life, she needs to build a portfolio outside of soccer as well.
"She doesn't want her resume to only say, 'Cam, good soccer player.' She wants it to say more than that."
Her interest in political science, her major, was a natural extension of being the daughter of Vivian Zhou and Wei Wei Xu, who emigrated from China to Canada in 2001, shortly before Camellia and her sister, Melody, were born.
"My interest in political science comes from my parents, with their upbringing in the People's Republic of China," says Xu, who has an eye on attending law school after the last of her soccer dreams has been pursued.
"It's something we talked about a lot at home, the ideology of politics and socialism and democracy, so I think that piqued my interest."
Last fall she was selected to be part of Montana's delegation to Model UN, a simulation of the UN General Assembly where students perform an ambassador role.
It took place the first week of April, right as the Montana soccer team was wrapping up its offseason training, capped with matches at MSU Billings and Rocky Mountain, which Xu had to miss.
"The fact Montana provides her opportunities where she can be part of student government, part of Model UN, can travel to New York and represent the University there, it's amazing," said Citowicki.
"I'm very happy we were able to provide her the time to go and do that."
Model UN, to which Montana has annually sent a group of students for nearly two decades, took place April 3-7 at the New York Hilton Midtown.
"The University of Montana does such a good job of offering so many off-campus experiences. Model UN just happens to be one of them," Xu said.
"Whenever the opportunity presents itself to better the world and learn how we can work together to make the world a better place, it's something I want to be a part of. When it was presented to me last semester, I was pretty keen on it."
This was no tourist visit disguised by a fancy title. Model UN had nearly 2,000 students from the U.S., Europe, South America, Central America and parts of Asia.
Days started at 8:30 a.m. with resolution and debate work. After a break for lunch, the students worked through the afternoon. After a dinner break, they were back at it until 10:30 p.m., when committee work ended for the day.
"It was a lot," says Xu, who was asked if she had any photos of herself from the event. She doesn't. She was too busy.
Her group within the UM contingent, which represented the country of Georgia, was in General Assembly 2, which deals with the topics of economy, poverty and sustainable development.
That meant plenty of homework and prep work before ever departing for New York.
"That's crucial when you're representing a country in a Model UN situation," Xu said. "Part of being able to work together with everyone is knowing how your country views every point.
"We were lucky enough to get an actual briefing from the Georgia representatives in the UN. It was really cool to get some deeper clarification on certain points on how to best represent it."
Now that she's back on campus, she's turned her focus from global to local. She wants to make the University of Montana a better place.
"I think student government is very important to our school and should be more prominent," she said.
Her soccer schedule won't allow her the time to perform the duties of senator, so she's doing the next best thing. She got behind Vanderkar and is helping behind the scenes.
"He's one of my good friends and I got really invested in what he was doing and the message he was trying to spread and the goals he had," Xu says.
Once the semester ends in early May, Xu will be off to Texas, this trip for soccer purposes. She will play for the San Antonio Athenians Soccer Club, which competes in the United Women's Soccer pro-am league.
Ashley Cathro, a graduate of Burnaby Central Secondary School in British Columbia and a product of Vancouver Whitecaps Girls Elite REX – the same path taken by Xu – played for San Antonio last summer.
She'll play her senior season at Illinois in the fall.
"I saw how much fun she had in San Antonio, and I want to continue my development throughout the summers," said Xu. "It became an option I really wanted to do."
There are no contracts signed, which allows Xu the flexibility to join Canada Soccer should she get another invite from the coaches of the U-20 National Team for this summer's camp.
Canada finished third at the CONCACAF U-20 Women's Championship in the Dominican Republic last month, a result that punched its ticket to the FIFA U-20 World Cup, which will be held in August in Costa Rica.
"This year in particular I wanted to play in the summer because now that the U-20 Canadian National Team has qualified for the World Cup, I want to stay as in tune as possible," she said.
When she attended national team camp in January, it came after a nearly month-long layoff without any soccer-specific training, a combination of the holidays and Canada's COVID restrictions.
It will be a different Xu who shows up this summer should she get the invitation. "If I can get my reps in and stay healthy, I'm hoping to have an even better camp," she said.
In case you're worried Xu is spreading herself too thin, that the falls in Missoula will take a backseat to her other interests, Xu says you can put those concerns aside and rest easily. "Always the priority is going to be Griz Soccer."
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