Visitors Get A Kick Out of New Soccer Facility

By Kelly Sharp

   Kitimat U-13 (blue uniforms) compete at PGYSA Indoor Facility

A ten-hour road trip through blizzard conditions did not dampen the enthusiasm of the Kitimat soccer teams. The opportunity to play soccer at the new Prince George Youth Soccer Association indoor facility was motivation enough for the girls of the Riverlodge Recreation Centre Futsal program. Four Kitimat  girls soccer teams, aged 9 to 17 years, made the trek to Prince George for the second annual youth soccer Futsal Challenge,  the first youth soccer tournament in the PGYSA new indoor home.

“You should have seen the girls,” coach of the Kitimat Riverlodge program Leanda Ward-Cox said. “As soon as they saw the artificial grass they wanted to take off their shoes and run onto the surface.”

“If only we could get a facility like this in Kitimat,” manager of the Riverlodge program Nikki Ribeiro said.

Ward-Cox and Ribeiro said the Prince George Futsal tournament is the highlight to the Kitimat soccer teams’ indoor season.  Since being invited to bring their elite girls soccer teams to Prince George three summers ago, the Kitimat coach and manager have nothing but praise for the support from the Prince George Youth Soccer Association.

“It’s amazing and the people are so down to earth, because they are here for the right reasons,” Ribeiro said.

Tournament results were secondary to the Kitimat girls gaining valuable experience in the game of Futsal on a surface that is so close to the real thing.

“You are getting more touches on the ball, learning the foot control, you have to get the marking down pat on the smaller field,” Ward-Cox said.

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