Strathmore Strikers U13 team headed to 2023 Slush Cup

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Strathmore Strikers U13 soccer team has opted out of attending their usual provincial tournament this year, instead heading off to a much larger stage.

According to Team Manager and Treasurer for the Strathmore Soccer Association (SSA) Stefanie Brown, the team is instead going to the Edmonton Minor Soccer Association (EMSA) Slush Cup. 

“We decided to go to this tournament instead of provincials because of the size of the tournament. Just for reference, there are 14 teams in the kids division and they have never played at a tournament with more than six in their division,” she said. “(The kids) are pretty excited to get to go and play on a bigger stage and see different teams that they have never played before.”

The Slush Cup is taking place from March 2-5, which would have introduced a scheduling conflict with the Strikers’ usual provincial tournament. 

Instead, the team will be setting out to compete against an entirely new set of opponents. Taking into account all competing divisions which will be in attendance at the Slush Cup, over 200 teams will be in Edmonton for the weekend. 

This will mark the first time the Strathmore Strikers have attended the Slush Cup, as well as being the first time being at a tournament of its size.

“We actually had to apply and be accepted to the Slush Cup, so you register your team and then you apply for the tier that you are trying for, and then they accept you. We applied and were accepted for the U13 tier,” she explained. “We have been told everyone gets placed into a pool, so Pool A, Pool B or Pool C, and then the top contenders from there go on to the medal rounds.”

To date, the Strathmore Strikers U13 features players who have never been to a tournament before, including some players who did not begin playing soccer until this season.

To remedy this, Brown added the team will be competing in the Calgary Family Day Soccer Tournament in order to get the players acclimated to the tournament format. 

“It is going to be very overwhelming for the majority of our players to go there and have 200 teams playing in a tournament,” she said. “So for our players who have never played in a tournament before, we registered in the Calgary tournament, which is a lot smaller. There are four teams in our division.”

The aim is to give them an idea of what competing in a tournament is like and allow them to experience tournament play.

The Family Day tournament is taking place through the Strathmore Strikers’ home association, the Calgary Minor Soccer Association (CMSA) over the course of the Family Day weekend.

In order to finance their trip to Edmonton for the Slush Cup, the Strikers are aiming to raise $5,000 to cover many of their expenses, including those of their volunteer coaches – Erin Cunningham and Tristen Fraser. 

“The reason we are doing fundraising is mostly because we have two volunteer coaches, neither of them has a child on the team and they have committed to coming out to a tournament in Edmonton,” said Brown. “To not have a child on the team and be willing to give up your own weekend time to come out there, we wanted to support them in coming out.”

The team is selling raffle tickets for an item that was donated to the team, they have a GoFundMe set up, and if local businesses are interested in supporting the team, they can provide a cheque to the SSA.