Passports to post-secondary soccer will be up for grabs.
For 19 girls, 17 of them local, that's part of the attraction of competing in the Western Canada Soccer Showcase, April 22-24 in Burnaby. Their team, the PGYSA Showcase Academy, is entered in the prestigious tournament, which attracts college and university coaches from across Canada and the United States.
"It's a big, big event," said Showcase Academy coach Sonny Pawar.
"The girls have been preparing for 10 months now. Some of them are third year in the Showcase Academy and they're going to try and put their best foot forward. There are a number of young ladies who have certainly got the abilities to take soccer to the next level."
The Showcase Academy players are Emily Sexton, Emily Kwitkoski, Sydney Hall, Anna Daburger, Jordan Lamothe, Calyssa deBoer, Sydney Wilson, Jessica Manning, Brooklyn Derksen, Tianna Pius, Jordan Hall, Maddison Emmond, Fiona Raymond, Regan McMillan, Alex Childs, Carly Shaw-MacLaren, Tianna Rossi, Tanya Grob and Kristen Dodds. To practice and play in the Academy program, Grob commutes from outside of Quesnel. Dodds, meanwhile, is from Vernon.
Pawar is helped out by Gaetano Mauro and Paula Van Horlick.
The list of schools that will have representatives at the tournament is impressive. Canadian institutions include UNBC, the University of Victoria, Simon Fraser University, the University of British Columbia, the University of the Fraser Valley, Trinity Western University, Capilano University, Quest University, Thompson Rivers University, the University of Alberta, McGill University, Queens University, Carleton University, Dalhousie University, Mount Royal University, Langara College and Royal Military College.
U.S. schools that will have eyes on site are the University of San Francisco, Yale University, the University of Wyoming, the University of Arizona, the University of Nebraska, the University of California-Riverside, Florida Gulf Coast University, Austin Peay University, the University of Iowa, the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff, South Carolina State University, George Mason University, Providence College, the University of Bridgeport, DePaul University and the University of Miami.
"We're talking about the whole spectrum here," Pawar said. "Everyone's there, scouting. The girls down in Vancouver started this event three years ago and I've been fortunate to go every year since and it has really blossomed into a huge showcase."
Prince George's first game is on Friday, against the Upper Vancouver Island Selects. The Showcase Academy club will also play the Saskatchewan Provincial Team, the TSS Academy and Kelowna PCSL.
