Let loose on the biggest fields the Prince George Youth Soccer Association has to offer, the little guys of the PGYSA were in their glory.
After two weeks of non-activity while the fields were closed for a midsummer break, the lush grass carpet at Rotary Soccer Field on Saturday was enticing for Dan Zimmerman and Colton Kitchen, both part of the Prince George Kodiaks under-10 boys team.
What brought the U-10 team to the field was a chance to play together for the first time in a real game, against teams from another city. They were part of the PGYSA's inaugural two-day August Soccer Festival, and loving every minute of it.
"It's a lot more fun playing on a big field, you have a lot more space to run and you can go a lot faster with more running space," said the nine-year-old Zimmerman. "The opponents are tougher because they're all older than us. We're the youngest team. It's fun to play against players who are a bit older than you because it kind of pushes you to play harder and more aggressive."
The 10 players who make up the U-10 Kodiaks practice two times a week in the PGYSA's Future Stars program, but due to their tender age are not part of the traveling rep team system, which starts at the under-13 level.
"It's a little bit tougher than house [league] games because you know a lot of people on the house teams and know their moves and these teams," said Kitchen, 10. "We don't know if they're good or not."
The U-10 boys lost 5-0 to a U-11 boys team from Terrace Saturday morning but rebounded with a win in the afternoon game against the U-12 girls from Terrace.
The August Festival is the offshoot of an idea from the PGYSA technical coaches Joel MacDonald and Rob Lewis to give the rep team players in the north central region another opportunity to showcase their skills. It brought teams from Prince George, Terrace, Williams Lake, and Quesnel. No medals were handed out. The emphasis was on participation, fun and skill development.
The Vancouver Whitecaps were also a driving force behind the event. Dave Irvine, the Whitecaps manager of technical programs, made the trip to Prince George to scout the tournament and help make local coaches aware of new opportunities for youth soccer players.
"I've been speaking with Joel MacDonald about ways in which the Whitecaps can get involved, not only with PGYSA but the region and this is just a good starting point," said Irvine. "There's been so much change with the soccer landscape across B.C. over the last 12 months and we'd like to reach out to the north and start working together a lot closer than we have been in the past."
Similar to European teams, B.C.'s only professional soccer club now has its own youth academy teams, starting at the U-14 level. Irvine met with PGYSA coaches and told them about the Whitecaps academy teams, which have been expanded as full-time programs for male and female players to include the U-14 to U-18 age categories. The regional Whitecaps teams (six for each age group in the Lower Mainland, one for each age group in the Thompson-Okanagan and Vancouver Island) operate outside of the community system. As part of the B.C. Soccer Premier League, players train and compete year-round.
The PGYSA created Future Stars last year to give younger players in the nine-12-year-old age group a chance to play at a higher level than house league and it's right in line with the youth skill development model the Whitecaps are promoting.
"Joel has done a great job trying to implement the club-wide philosophy on playing and really engaging with the coaches to ensure that it is delivered on a daily basis," said Irvine.
"Obviously, the technical director you had here, Sipho Sibiya (now an assistant coach for the Whitecaps women's team), did a great job in laying a lot of that foundation as well."
