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Road begins to Canada Games
Inuvik youth try out for soccer teams

Sarah Ladik
Northern News Services
Thursday, June 16, 2016

INUVIK
It's just the beginning of the journey for athletes hoping to make a team headed to Winnipeg for the Canada Games next summer. But already the stakes are high.

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Kolbi Bernhardt takes a shot on net during a drill at the identification camp for the 2017 Canada Games soccer teams June 11 at the East Three Secondary School gym. - Sarah Ladik/NNSL photo

"There's definitely potential for a few players to go through," said Gina Michel, assistant coach of the NWT girls' team, June 11.

"I'd encourage them all to keep working at it. There's no reason they can't all be on a team down the line."

Six young people tried out during the identification camp over the weekend, hoping to get picked to then move on to a selection camp in Yellowknife this fall, from which the final team will be decided. There are two more identification camps taking place this month, one in the capital and another in Hay River.

"It went well," Michel said. "Especially for the numbers we had. All the athletes worked hard to prove themselves."

There was a mix of boys and girls and organizer and coach Colin Pybus said that, had there been more athletes, they would have been split up. As it stood, all the players were from Inuvik, something Pybus said was regrettable.

"It would have been nice to have other communities represented, but it's understandable," he said, citing a lack of funding at this stage for athletes to travel for tryouts from more remote communities.

The final team will be playing outdoor soccer, but players had to try out indoors last weekend. Michel said that while the situation was not ideal, there were many things to be evaluated that did not require a full field.

"We can assess first touch, passing, attacking, all kinds of things," she said, adding that when the players get to the fieldhouse in Yellowknife they can be tested on the remaining aspects. "For the most part, we can break it down enough to assess those skills that will transfer to an outside game."

Players will have found out earlier this week if they made the cut to go to the Yellowknife camp in September, Michel said. Still, that wait could seem like a long one.

Trent Villebrun has a taste for national competition after participating in the North American Indigenous Games.

"I liked how big it was," he said, adding that while the team didn't win a single game, he was impressed by the opening ceremonies. "I really like soccer ... I like to make a name for where I'm from. I think I did good here because I was in the spotlight ... the pressure was on."

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