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Whitehorse native Joe Hanson is the first Yukoner to sign a professional soccer contract.

Hanson, 18, signed a contract with the MLS鈥檚 Vancouver Whitecaps to play with their FC2 team in the new MLS Next Pro league.

MLS Next Pro is a men鈥檚 professional soccer league in the United States and Canada.

It will launch in 2022 with 21 teams 鈥� 20 of which are affiliated with MLS clubs and the independent Rochester New York FC.

The Next Pro league is mostly under-23, but will feature players from the big teams as well.

Hanson said it feels pretty good to sign his first pro contract.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to say a relief to get it done, but it鈥檚 exciting. At the same time it also just feels good to have it done and be a part of professional football.鈥�

Hanson has been waiting for this for a long time.

鈥淵eah, definitely.鈥�

Hanson has taken a long road to get to this point in his soccer journey.

鈥淚t鈥檚 been a long journey, but ... in most recent years, it鈥檚 been really big for me to be at the Whitecaps. This is my third year with the club, so with the Whitecaps I鈥檝e really been able to take my game to the next level and develop as a player. So I think that鈥檚 been extremely helpful for me to get to this point and to be playing at this level now.鈥�

Hanson explained what has enabled him to take that big step.

鈥淚鈥檝e become a more mature player ... mentally, I鈥檝e become stronger and have become more confident in myself and learned to believe in myself more than maybe I used to. When I was younger and a little less mature I would dwell on mistakes more and now I鈥檓 just better mentally and able to handle the adversity of the world of being an athlete.鈥�

Hanson has been keeping busy prior to the start of the inaugural first Next Pro season.

鈥淲e鈥檝e been playing a few pre-season games against the first team, the last month or so and then played against our first MLS Next Pro competition and we played against Seattle鈥檚 reserve team on Saturday last weekend, play against two more CPL teams this weekend and next weekend and then on March 26 we play our first league game in Houston.鈥�

The young soccer phenom said that the pre-season is going pretty good.

鈥淲e鈥檙e still pre-season, so it鈥檚 still a bit of a process to figure out lineups and to really establish our team and to come together. We have quite a few new players and players of different ages, so we鈥檙e working on coming together as a team and really getting to know the system that we鈥檙e going to be playing.鈥�

Hanson has found that playing at this level requires adjusting his game.

鈥淚t鈥檚 definitely very fast and the first thing I notice and the main thing I鈥檝e found to be an adjustment is the little room for error and the number of mistakes you can make is very few at this level.

鈥淚 find if you make a mistake, you pay for it very quickly.鈥�

As for his goals (no pun intended) for the season, 鈥渙bviously, scoring goals is one of my goals, but in general is probably just to increase my role with the team and play a vital role with the team and to be a consistent starter and player ... and also to get some looks from the first team and hopefully get the chance to play with them a little bit more,鈥� explained the young striker.

Hanson thinks his prospects for starting are pretty good.

It鈥檚 a long season and we have games every week, so obviously, I won鈥檛 be able to start every week. Nobody will, because it鈥檚 hard on the body to be playing every week, week in and week out. So obviously, that鈥檚 not quite possible. But I think I鈥檒l be a pretty regular player with the team.鈥�

鈥淭he league we鈥檙e in is for the reserve teams to develop players to get in to the first team, so it鈥檚 more about development at this stage right now.鈥�

Hanson has a few future goals in mind.

鈥淢y goal is to break in with the first team. That鈥檚 high on my list, but I鈥檓 also open to other opportunities, maybe, in Europe. I鈥檝e always wanted to play in Europe. But also to get the chance to play for Canada as well is high on my list.鈥�

According to Hanson, the under-20 Canadian National team is just starting to form, as there is an Under-20 World Cup in Indonesia in 2023 and qualifiers are coming up soon.

鈥淚鈥檓 hoping that I鈥檓 able to maybe get a chance with the under-20 national team this summer,鈥� he stated.

Needless to say, Hanson is impressed with Team Canada鈥檚 success in World Cup qualifying.

鈥淚t鈥檚 amazing,鈥� said Hanson.

鈥淚t鈥檚 huge for the country because it鈥檚 creating more of a soccer culture in the country and a lot of people are starting to get behind that team and really getting interested in soccer, so it鈥檚 great.鈥�

Hanson said it鈥檚 inspiring to see the team have that kind of success.

鈥淥h, very much. Yeah. It鈥檚 huge to see the national team have some success because it almost makes young players like myself take more pride in being a Canadian player, whereas it used to kind of be like 鈥榦h, you鈥檙e from Canada, that鈥檚 not that good鈥�, but now we鈥檙e actually quite a good team.鈥�

鈥淚鈥檝e always wanted to play for Team Canada. I could get my American passport as well, so when I was younger, I used to joke about saying I鈥檇 play for the U.S., because they were better, but now Canada鈥檚 better than the U.S., so it definitely kind of helps,鈥� he added.

Hanson thinks he can be an inspiration to young Yukoners hoping to follow in his footsteps.

鈥淵eah, definitely. That鈥檚 kind of always been my goal 鈥� to be the first professional player from the Yukon and maybe the territories. I鈥檓 not really too sure about that, but I鈥檝e always wanted to be able to do that and it鈥檚 pretty cool to be the first, too, because I feel like there are lots of players that have wanted to and do still want to play professional soccer, so it can (be done), coming from the Yukon. The opportunities that we get are quite a bit less than players in big centres, so I鈥檓 excited to be able to do this, and hopefully inspire a lot more young players coming up, cause now they can see that it鈥檚 actually possible to do it.鈥�