Players end season on high note
Rankin's U-12 soccer teams celebrates season of successes with a bang
Cody Punter
Northern News Services
Wednesday, July 13, 2016
RANKIN INLET
You could hear the children's laughter coming down the street from Paul Stroeder's house on June 30 afternoon. Although his own offspring have grown up and left home, Stroeder has been coaching the boys U-12 soccer team ever since he first started the program three years ago.
Norman Jr. Kawtak kicks the ball past Ricki Okalik, far left, Owen Clark and Justin Towtongie as coach Paul Stroeder looks on from above. - Cody Punter/NNSL photo |
After the end of another successful season Stroeder had all the boys over for a barbecue and a game in his driveway.
"I just like being around the kids," he said, in between refereeing a game of two-a-side from his deck.
A hockey player at heart, Stroeder became involved in soccer by coaching his daughters when they were younger. Four years after moving to Rankin Inlet he realized there was a need to keep younger children in town busy, and a team was born.
"If you don't give them something to do then they'll get into trouble," he said.
While the focus of the team is to make sure the children have fun, Stroeder definitely puts an emphasis on building skills like fair play, team work, and goal setting. Joni Towtongie has had a child on the team since the beginning. Today, two of her children are players. She said Stroeder has been a good role model to his players.
"He treats them like adults and he respects them," she said. "They look up to him and they're not afraid to ask him for any help."
Towtongie said she has noticed a change in all the boys that have come through the soccer program.
"They've improved so much. They're more independent and even their attitudes have changed with each other," she said.
One of the highlights of the season was being able to travel to Yellowknife for a tournament. Although there is only one team, there are enough players that when they travel, they get divided into two teams. During the tournament in Yellowknife, one of the teams ended up finishing in fourth place.
"Getting to go to Yellowknife is something they will remember," Stroeder said.
Two teams also got the chance to go to Whale Cove for the Nunavut Soccer Association's U-13 tournament.
As young as nine
Given that some of the players on the team from Rankin are as young as nine-years-old, they held their own against the older groups. One of the squads even ended up taking home silver medals.
With the summer break now here, some of the players will who are turning 13 will no longer be able to play for Stroeder next year, including Towtongie's son Justin. Towtongie said he will miss playing for the team but that he would continue to be close with his old teammates.
"I might not see them everyday but they'll still be my friends."
