Deer Park High School: Soccer great Olivia Moore follows in family footsteps, aims to be kind to all around her

Olivia “Livvy” Moore’s soccer resume is impeccable: record-setting career as a four-year starter at Deer Park High School, capped by first-team All-State and co-Player of the Year honors for the 2021 Class 1A state champion Stags, and a future next fall with the Oregon Ducks women’s team.

But soccer isn’t all that makes her special.

“What makes me who I am?” she said as she pondered a recent question. “I think that it’s how I always try to be kind to others, and how much I love doing things with my family and friends.”

Moore is the youngest of four siblings, all of whom played sports. Her brother played college baseball and one of her sisters is currently playing soccer at Seattle Pacific University. Her parents, she said, emphasized the importance of teamwork and empathy for others in their children’s development.

Moore played basketball and volleyball through middle school, but gave up those sports when she entered high school, choosing to focus on soccer. And focus she did.

“I never played anything that fulfilled me as much as soccer has,” she said. “I’ve played since I was 3 or 4 years old. I tried to quit once because I wanted to do gymnastics, but my parents said no. It’s a good thing they did.”

In the high school offseason, Moore has competed with the Spokane Sounders club team, which gave her the opportunity to showcase her skills at premier level tournaments and led to exposure that most small-school athletes don’t have.

Deer Park coach Sean O’Neal coached all three sisters, including during Moore’s freshman year when all three girls were on the team. He has nothing but good things to say about them.

“I’ve coached and also taught all three girls (at Deer Park Elementary),” he said. “They’re a great family with solid values. Livvy is special because she’s able to balance her athletic skills with her academic commitment, and she’s always willing to help in the community at soccer camps for younger girls.

“She has an incredible work ethic and attitude, and has had high expectations for herself and her teammates. She’s been a great role model, and her personality is infectious.”

Moore says she has loved her experience at Deer Park.

“Going to a small school, I can name almost every kid in my grade because I’ve been gone to school with most of them for 12 years. Growing and maturing with them has been a really fun experience, and I’ve looked forward to school every day.

“Especially in my years in high school, I’ve grown more confident in myself, broken out of my shell, and been more willing to experience new things. Even as a mentor at the Spokane Soccer Academy, I was kind of shy at the beginning.”

Moore hopes to be accepted into the Product Design program at Oregon. On the way to a 3.98 GPA at Deer Park, she has taken a wood shop course for two years and earned credits in three college-in-the-classroom university courses.

“I love seeing something in my head and then watching it become real,” she said.

And come to think of it, that sums up her soccer career as well.