LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON - Nearly 50 students from the Deh Cho region will be travelling the long road to Grande Prairie, Alta., for the annual Rock Around the Clock soccer tournament, scheduled for April 29 to May 1.

Jordanna snider: Soccer player off to Grande Prairie tournament. - NNSL file photo

Four teams, comprised of students from both Fort Liard and Fort Simpson schools, will be making the trip, including a boys and girls team in each the U12 and U16 age categories.

Two U19 boys teams - one from Fort Liard and one from Fort Simpson - will also be competing in the tournament.

Shane Thompson, coach of the Fort Simpson's U19 boys team, said his squad is looking to improve on last year's second place finish.

"We've been going since September," he said, adding this tournament will be his team's fifth of the year.

Thompson said the U19 team is strong this year, but the competition level at the tournament will be high.

"We're going against some really good teams down there, so it's going to be good soccer," he said.

Val Gendron, a teacher at Bompas Elementary School in Fort Simpson, helps coach the U12 and U16 girls teams. She said U16 team is trying to better its third place finish from a year ago. However, she said the team will have a challenge, as the age category they competed in last year was raised from U14.

Her U16 team has also been practising since last September, but her U12 team has only been together for the past six weeks. They have been making up for it though, by practising four times a week, she said.

The students have also been fundraising hard by throwing community loonie auctions, bottle drives and bake sales. Gendron said they have raised approximately $12,000 in the past three weeks.

While the tournament allows the students to compete and to be active, Gendron said it also gives them a chance to experience something new.

For instance, the Fort Simpson and Fort Liard players will very quickly have to learn how to play together.

"We've always encouraged kids from the smaller communities to participate with us because we realize they have difficulties fielding a team because of the numbers," she said, adding a student from Jean Marie River may also join the Deh Cho contingent.

"It's all about the kids experiencing new (things,) which develops them as well-rounded people and good members in the community. They are representing our community, so we have expectations of them that their behaviour is appropriate and that their manners are polite," she said.

Jordanna Snider, 11, is a defender on the U12 girls team.

She is excited to play in the tournament, but she is also eager to set out for the trip to Grande Prairie, which will mark the first time she has travelled to another community with a sports team.

"I get to see a couple of my friends there," she said.

Jordanna said she is hopeful her team can win the tournament.

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