Soccer, like life, started in a much different place for Christian Kaiswatum.

And like the transformation in his life, his change in soccer turned out to be so much for the better.

The latter happened several years ago, while Kaiswatum was playing minor soccer. His team needed a goalkeeper, and the U12 player was tossed into net, a rather unwilling volunteer.

“I made a few saves and won the game for the team, so from there I wanted to stay in goal,” The FC Edmonton rookie goalkeeper said, smiling at the memory.

Not so fond are the 18-year-old’s earliest recollections of life.

For his first half dozen years, Kaiswatum lived in one of the toughest parts of downtown Edmonton. His mother was a prostitute, his father was abusive. Both used drugs.

“There was always police coming in, leaving the house, checking on things,” he said. “I saw things that no little kid should see, but it just helped me grow as an individual.”

Today, his is an inspiring story. Only 18, Kaiswatum is the youngest player on the Eddies, on the roster at a position that has a steeper learning curve than anywhere else on the pitch.

Kaiswatum’s path to this point began when he was six and taken into a foster home near Whyte Avenue. The family’s two sons, both much older than their new foster brother, would take Kaiswatum to the park to kick around the ball.

“I always tell them if it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t be where I am today, and that’s completely true,” the five-foot-ten keeper said. “I owe a lot of it to them and my mom.”

From the moment he discovered soccer, Kaiswatum was in love with the sport and wanted nothing more than to play all the time. His background informed a dogged pursuit of this dream that saw Kaiswatum go from minor soccer to the FCE Academy to representing Canada at the 2013 FIFA U17 World Cup to last fall when the teenager signed his first contract.

“I look at a person like Christian who has come through a tougher situation growing up, and I relate him to the young El Salvadorian player, the young Honduran player,” said Eddies assistant coach and FCE Academy head coach Jeff Paulus. “This sport is their livelihood, this sport has actually changed their lives around, which is why they give everything to it.

“I (travelled with the Canadian U17 team) on a project, and I saw the El Salvadorian players and the Guatemalans, and how much the game meant to them and the difference in their attitudes towards the game than some of our own Canadian kids. So when I look at Christian, I look at that situation. I think it’s everything, which is why he gives everything.”

Presently fourth on the depth chart for the Eddies, who have a goalkeeper glut that pretty much any team in the NASL would envy, Kaiswatum will have to be patient awaiting his time.

That shouldn’t be a problem for someone with his perspective. There’s life, and then there’s the game. One is good, the other is beautiful.

“I look forward every day to just coming out, touching a ball, just playing,” said Kaiswatum. “That’s really what I love to do.”