However she arrived at it, Olivia Schultz’s excellent technique is making a her a coveted prospect in the 2011 recruiting class.

The Woodbury (MN) SC Inferno forward almost never has a bad touch of the ball. Her close control and ability to receive and distribute nearly flawlessly will be a tremendous asset to her in club soccer and beyond.

Schultz, who moved to Julie Eibensteiner’s Woodbury side this season after playing for Bangu Tsunami (now Minnesota Thunder), said good footskills have been a priority.

“When I was 10 or 11 we had a close friend, Pepe Jon Chavez, who got me started on the basics - the inside foot, the outside foot – and from there I just tried to keep evolving as a player,” Schultz said. “I wanted my technique and skills to be a top priority. Since then I’ve had other coaches who have helped, and this year Julie has done a lot to make my technical abilities faster but keeping the ball under control.”

Schultz plays up for Woodbury, competing on the U17 team although she’s a U16 player. She believes the move has been a big help to her development.

“I made the move for the challenge. I’ve moved a year up and the speed of play is so much better for me now,” she said. “I’m able to improve smaller parts of my game, and it makes my overall play a lot better. It’s a lot more physical and faster. I really like it.

Asked to define “smaller things,” Schultz went back to technique.

“I mean like the accuracy of my shots, the texture of my passes, being able to play in tighter spaces, control of the ball when I’m in smaller spaces, that kind of thing,” she said. “My team definitely likes to possess a lot. I’m learning more about how to keep the ball so I can find forwards’ feet or the outside mids. I still like to take players on but it’s good to be able to work it around them with good passing too.”

Olivia’s mother, Rose Ann Schultz, said Olivia is not necessarily a 24/7 soccer junkie.

“When Olivia comes home the soccer ball goes,” Rose Ann said. “I think that’s what makes her a better player. She plays best when she is happy and balanced and having fun. It helps her to enjoy other things. She never grew up saying ‘I have to be on the Olympic team.' She loves going to school and being social, and she loves to play.”

Don’t get the wrong idea though. Rose Ann still uses “competitive” as the first word in describing Olivia.

“She is type A for sure. She is very focused and competitive, whether it’s in the schoolroom or on the field,” Rose Ann said. “She competes against herself too. She always wants to get better.”

Olivia lives at home with parents Rose Ann and Tom, plus 12-year old sister Vivien, who plays for Minnesota Thunder.

Olivia’s coach at Woodbury SC, Julie Ebensteiner, is also an admirer of her work ethic.

“The environment she’s in now is pretty challenging for her, but she’s someone who will day in and day out work to improve her ability,” Ebensteiner said. “She’s someone who never thinks she doesn’t have something to work on. She’s pretty perfectionist in her makeup and high-achieving in everything she does, both academics and soccer. At times she’s almost too hard on herself.”

Ebensteiner praised Schultz’s clean technique and ability to work with other attackers, noting she’d like her at times to be more selfish. She’s also complimentary of the player’s tactical acumen.

“You can throw her into any system,” Ebensteiner said. “She picks things up very easily.”

Schultz said she has a list of 10 or 15 schools she is beginning to contact as possible college destinations, adding that most are in the west or the east, something perhaps more prominent in her mind as she endures another sub-zero winter in Minnesota.

She will be part of the adidas ESP camp coming up next week in Pomona, California. She has played with the U15 Girls National Team and also the U.S. Youth Soccer Region II ODP squad, competing at Thanksgiving with a squad that included Molly Huber, Jenna O’Dell, Alex Heffron, Amber Paul, Taylor Uhl and Folashade Pratt.