From an early age, Cindy Tye displayed athletic abilities far superior to her childhood friends. As a young girl, three, four, and five years old, continually dribbling a soccer ball for better than any of the playmates, even better than youngsters much older than herself. It was obvious, even at that early stage, that she was going to excel at the game if given the chance. She certainly got the chance, and she developed into a star at every level of the sport in which she competed. Cindy and her folks moved to Truro after that, but it wasn’t hard to follow her budding career, thanks to the press clippings that followed her everywhere.

At Truro Junior High School, she was named female athlete of the year and her career was underway in earnest. What makes Cindy’s story so amazing is that, as great as she became as a soccer player, she was equally talented in other sports, helping win provincial championships in ringette, basketball, and softball. She was particularly outstanding in ringette. So it was no surprise when she became her high school’s athlete of the year. But it was in soccer really that she became dominant. At Acadia University, she was instrumental in helping the Axettes win AUS championships and, in 1990, the CIAU national title, climaxing a tremendous season that year for the Valley school. She was an Atlantic conference all-star in each of the five years she played, and an all-Canadian as well as an academic all-Canadian, in her final two years.

Cindy’s achievements in senior soccer were just as impressive. She helped teams win provincial championships no less than 12 times, and she was a key reason why her clubs captured four national silver medals and two national bronze medals. For her, there was also a national win in 1995 when she played with a team out of Edmonton. All-star and MVP awards followed her wherever she played. She became a member of Canada’s national team, climaxed by her participation in the Algarve Cup in Portugal.

It came as no surprise when Cindy began giving back to the game in other capacities, particularly as a coach, including stints with provincial youth teams. George Athanasiou, the long-time executive director of Soccer Nova Scotia, in a submission to the Sport Hall of Fame’s selection committee, said in part, “Cindy is a genuine person who has always exhibited a great love for soccer, great attitude for soccer, and has been an advocate of fair play. Cindy played the game at 100 percent at all times. She was a leader on the soccer pitch and a constant inspiration to players around her. She always had the respect of opposing players and coaches, and conversely, she respected each and every one of the opposing players and coaches.”

Those comments make it clear that Cindy Tye has always been a quality person, as well as a quality athlete and coach. You can’t ask for more than that of anyone.