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BUFC back at it

Local soccer program ‘kicks off’ in the Battlefords

Jul 8, 2020 | 5:02 PM

The Battlefords United Football Club (BUFC) began their training this week, as part of the local soccer organization’s return to the sport this summer.

The soccer season will not feature games against other communities this summer, and – at least for the time being – will not feature games locally either. Instead, the focus will be on skill development and training.

That said, head coach and competitive co-coordinator with BUFC, Kat Huxley does remain hopeful there could be the possibility for something more interactive moving forward.

“Within our training sessions we’ll progress from social distancing and having no contact to hopefully eventually, by the end of the summer, being able to scrimmage within our teams that we have training,” she said.

In addition to not holding games to begin the schedule, Huxley said there have also been many other changes to the regular minor soccer programming this year, implemented out of necessity due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

“We make sure we’re doing contact tracing, that we have hand sanitizer, that our kids are social distancing and that we’re reiterating those things throughout the whole practice,” she said. “We use cones for markers to make sure everyone stays spaced out and we have posters up talking about social distancing, and symptoms of COVID and that sort of thing.”

Huxley said the changes make for some additional work for the coaches both before, during and after practices. However, she was quick to point out that extra work is worth it, because it allows the kids and youth to return to the field and the game they love.

“It’s a pretty exciting because a lot of the kids I haven’t seen in over three months. They miss the field, they miss being back at practice; and seeing their teammates and seeing me and their other coaches,” she said. “It’s awesome having a bunch of the kids back training.

In addition to the current BUFC season, Battlefords Youth Soccer remain hopeful to also host some clinics for the younger age groups by the time August rolls around. Those additional camps would be geared towards league players and players who are just looking for one-day clinics put on by Battlefords Youth Soccer.

BUFC season registration remains open. To learn more, click here.

Martin.Martinson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: MartyMartyPxP1

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