Alberta brings home bronze

Times Reporter

 

For the first time in four or five years the Alberta Under 14 soccer team, with two Strathmore residents, won a medal at the National Championships held in Sherbrooke Quebec in July. Unlike most of the other teams who spent the better part of a year practicing, the Alberta U14 team only had a handful of days to practice together, which made their bronze medal victory even sweeter. Another success which added to a heightened sense of victory was Alberta beat Quebec to win the bronze, something that hasn’t been done in five years. 

Troy Schneider and Leighton Johnson, both 14, were picked as a part of the Alberta U14 team. 

Both boys play for the NSD Rangers Tier I U14 team in Calgary and both said it was “exciting” to spend the time in Quebec competing. They were in Sherbrooke for a week, playing a total of five games.

“It was so hot there and because they only played one game a day, their coach didn’t want them getting dehydrated so basically they went from their game to their hotel and then stayed there,” said Lori Johnson, Leighton’s mom.

It was a round robin style for the week and the top teams were picked by the amount of points they accumulated. 

There were 16 players and two goalies who went to represent Alberta, five from Edmonton and 13 from Calgary. 

“All the Calgary players came from three teams in Calgary, so we all kind of knew each other,” said Leighton. 

The Alberta Soccer Association, ASA, sends out scouts to scout out the top players from league play, once the scouts pick the top players in Calgary and Edmonton (18 from each city) they had a tryout in Red Deer with those 36 players from which they picked the final ASA team.

At Nationals for the Boys Under 14 age group there are Scouts from NTC (National Training Centre) Canada, the US, Colleges etc.  It is from there that they pick some of the top players to be involved in NTC all over the country.  The Alberta section is the part our boys may have a chance to be part of if they get scouted for it.

This was Schneider’s first time playing with the Alberta soccer team and it was Johnsons’ third time.  

“All the other players were really good,” said Johnson. 

“They were bigger, Ontario was really big,” said Schneider. Neither factor intimidated either boy as they both gave it their all. One point of discontent was their loss to British Columbia. 

“(We) should have been able to beat B.C if we played better,” said Schneider. B.C won gold, and Alberta’s loss to them meant losing the silver medal. 

Johnson would like to play for the Arsenal team in England someday. For Schneider it “doesn’t matter as long as I get to go up.”

The boys only have a week or two off of soccer between seasons. Both boys play indoor soccer as well. Their team won gold for the indoor U14 Provincials in March. In the last game of their regular outdoor league, played last weeken, the boys finished undefeated. They are sitting at 18 wins and 0 loses and have only three goals against them this whole season. The NSD Ranger U14 team goes to Provincials next weekend in Lethbridge.