Winning the world
Mini championship big hit with Rankin soccer kids
Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Wednesday, November 16, 2016
RANKIN INLET
Ten teams took part in the U12 mini world cup soccer championship in Rankin Inlet earlier this month.
The event saw six boys' teams and four girls' teams compete, with Team Germany claiming the boys' banner and Team South Korea grabbing the girls' banner.
A total of 91 kids participated in the tournament, which saw the country names of the teams randomly assigned.
Paul Stroeder coaches the young players and organized the tournament.
He said he put the teams together based on a number of factors, ranging from skill levels to friendships.
"The tournament was all about just having fun at the start, but when the playoffs began the kids got a lot more competitive," said Stroeder.
"You could literally see the competitiveness coming out of them.
"We had some great young kids from the high school coaching, and we tried to instill in them the idea that everyone got to play as much as possible.
"At the end of the day it was about having fun, and even the kids who didn't win the banner, or get in the final game, had a lot of fun and that's always the most important thing."
Stroeder said the community support for the event was quite strong.
He said big crowds were the norm, and he had some parents helping during the weekend along with the high school students.
"This is my third year with the under-12s.
"I have some boys who have gone on to U15 now, and I've got some in U13.
"I had a lot of Grade 4 boys and girls come out in the U8 bracket when I opened it up to all the kids born in 2007."
Stroeder will be holding the U12 futsal championship in Rankin this coming weekend from Nov. 18-20.
He said he will select the teams again to have them as equally matched as possible for the event.
"I don't put the teams together to have one big stacked house.
"Some of the kids will tell me they're good friends with him or her, so I'll put them on the same team so they can have some fun together.
"After that tournament, we'll start fundraising right away for our goal of sending some of the kids to Yellowknife again this coming April.
"They play in the Junior Super Soccer event during the last weekend of April, one week ahead of the Senior Super Soccer."
Stroeder took 18 boys on two teams in 2016, along with four chaperons, and hopes to equal that in 2017.
He said he matched the two teams evenly so all the kids would have the same chance to compete.
"I had a lot of kids who had never been to Yellowknife to play soccer before, or, for that matter, had never been to visit Winnipeg.
"So just for them to go to Yellowknife and go swimming for the first time - or even go on an elevator for the first time - was a big thing for them.
"You see the smiles on their faces, and that's what it's all about for me at the end of the day.
"They come home and tell their parents and friends all about it, and show everyone their pictures, and it's just amazing."
Stroeder said the Rankin Inlet Soccer Association usually takes a U12 or U13 girls' team to Yellowknife at the same time.
He said it's been a good year, so far, that's been a lot of fun working with the kids.
"I have about 39 kids registered with the U12 program at Simon Alaittuq School alone.
"They're Grade 5 and Grade 6 kids, and then I throw in another five or six from Grade 4.
"I have another 20 kids in the U13 program at Maani Ulujuk Ilinniarvik (MUI), so it's been slowly growing each year.
"It's growing more from the younger kids seeing their older brothers and sisters having a great time playing and fundraising, and they want to be a part of it."
Stroeder said the program aims to try and suit the kids up with new backpacks and outfits each year to make involvement in the sport even that more appealing.
But, he quickly adds, the kids earn everything they get.
"They look like a real soccer team when they go to Yellowknife, and these kids earn that.
"I don't give anything to them for free.
"They work their butts off to go to Yellowknife, so they know they've earned it when they get there.
"We owe a thank you to the local District Education Authority and MUI for letting us use their facilities, or we wouldn't have these great little tournaments for the kids."
