Strathmore Soccer player to head to Schwan’s USA CUP

Times Contributor 

 

For beginning a little late in the game, Alexander Kristensen (16) is doing extremely well.

Kristensen discovered his passion for soccer four years ago at the age of twelve and ever since has been improving his skill level.

Kristensen currently plays on a U16 Tier II team from Calgary’s National Sports Development Soccer Club (NSDSC) and practices with the Tier I team. Kristensen’s Tier II team recently qualified for Schwan’s USA CUP International Youth Soccer Tournament, which will be taking place in Blaine, Minnesota from July 6-21. The tournament is considered to be America’s greatest international youth soccer tournament, bringing in over 900 teams from across the world.

“It’s probably the biggest tournament we’ll ever play in, probably one of the biggest moments in our lives at the moment, so we’re probably going to be very nervous going into the tournament and hopefully that doesn’t affect our playing, but it’s a big possibility,” said Kristensen.

After playing together for over two years, Kristensen describes his team as “almost like a family.”

“There’s very few players that have left the team and very few players who have joined the team. The team has been together for almost two years now, we’ve moved up to top of our table in Tier II, we’ve gone undefeated for the past few years.”

Pinpointing any obstacles in view that could prevent the team’s success, Kristensen succinctly stated “very well trained Europeans.”

“That’s why I’ve been making sure I’ve been training especially hard because I had a very late start compared to other players at my level, the other players on my team having been playing since the age of five.”

Individually, Kristensen said he and his team are extremely nervous, but are trying to remain confident. 

“I am getting more and more confident as I continue my training. I can see myself improving quickly.”

Kristensen has been increasing his level of running to prepare for the Schwan CUP, running anywhere from five to ten kilometres a day.

“I have two training sessions a day, I play on two teams, sometimes they intermingle, two a day, and on top of that, if I have time when I get home I go out again as well.”

“I myself am really looking forward to it especially because there’s going to be scouts there, and it’s really important that I perform at my top level, my peak performance.”

Kristensen hopes to continue furthering his passion of soccer, which he describes as “developing”.

“My dream would be to play pro, but playing in college or university, that would be the first step, that would be amazing. My passion for soccer keeps getting stronger and stronger, there’s not one point where I want to look away from soccer, I always feel like I want to improve and I’m always working to improve.”

In addition to training with two teams and training individually, Kristensen has been volunteering for the third year running Just for Kicks which takes place at Holy Cross Collegiate and is organized by Jenni and Michael Annicchiarico.

“Two summers ago, my teacher started up a kid’s soccer camp, just for the fun of it and to increase the level of soccer in Strathmore and she asked me because she knew how much I loved the sport, to help her out, I thought that would be so much fun because I love kids and I love soccer.”

There are two camps which are a week-long. The first camp is for Grades 2-4 and the second camp is for Grades 5-8. The first camp began on July 2 and the next camp will begin July 9. 

“It’s fun the kids love it and have a lot of fun, we have a lot of fun helping out the kids and it’s just a good time for everybody.”

Each day of camp will target significant skill areas including dribbling, heading, shooting and passing. Come the end of the camp on Friday, the camp partakes in a giant water fight.

Kristensen said it is too late for kids to register for this year as the t-shirts have already been made, but the camp is anticipated to happen again the following summer.