Thirteen Battlefords area soccer players to head to NAIG

“They’re really excited, especially [about] going to Toronto,” Kelly Villeneuve said, who is the BYSI executive director and will serve as an assistant coach for the U-16 male team. “Most of them are 14, 15-years-old and they really haven’t even been out of Saskatchewan for some.”

Villeneuve is pleased so many local athletes, not only from BYSI but from the area, have the chance to compete on such a big stage. He credits the leadership amongst local Indigenous communities for thier vast representation.

“You look at the reserves around here, like Little Pine and Moosomin and Sweet Grass, all of them really focus a lot of their dollars going into youth programs,” he said. “They really focus on youth activity [and] youth sports.”

To prepare, teams are not only holding practice sessions, including one next week in Prince Albert, but will eventually head to Saskatoon to play a few exhibition games and bond with one another.

“They did it last games, in 2014, when it was in Regina, and they just felt they needed more time to be a part of a team and be around each other more,” Villeneuve said. “We don’t want to give them culture shock in that kind of an atmosphere, especially with young kids.”

The teams fly out a couple days in advance of the games, which begin July 16.

Soccer teams will stay at McMaster University in Hamilton, roughly 70 kilometres south-west of Toronto. The facilities to be used are those which were newly built for the Pan Am Games in 2015.

In the past, the province has done very well at NAIG, finishing first overall in six of the eight competitions. They have also won the most medals by far over the course of the games, with nearly 1,900. The second-most is Alberta with just 1,056.

Soccer, in particular, has a good track record.

“Soccer is a strong sport for us for sure,” Villeneuve said. “We’ve medalled in the past and we hope to do that again.”

At the 2014 games, Saskatchewan won three medals in soccer. The U-18 male team took home gold, and silver was around the necks of the U-16 male and U-18 female teams.

There is little to think that can’t be equalled or even improved upon at these games.

Fourteen sports in total will be on display at NAIG, which kicks off with opening ceremonies on July 16. Soccer competition begins July 17 and runs until the 22.

nathan.kanter@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @NathanKanter11

by Nathan Kanter

Thirteen Battlefords area soccer players to head to NAIG

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