Julie Bertrand / Independent reporter
The boys U10 team got a very special invitation at the beginning of July. They were invited to participate in a Tier 1 and 2 tournament in Red Deer during the July 9 and 10 weekend.
“Stettler is traditionally a Tier 4 club,” explained U10 soccer coach John Bromwich.
The team had only had six proper full practice sessions before the tournament.
“All these teams we played against were second year U10 sides whereas we were a mix of first and second year U10, with a couple of U8 thrown in for extra complication,” explained Bromwich.
The team played four games and while they lost all four games, they ended up doing better than anybody had expected.
“The first game was a real shell shock to the boys,” said Bromwich. “They had never ever played competitive soccer before.”
The team lost quite heavily, but the players rallied their energy before the second game against the Red Deer Renegades.
They lost that game 5-3.
“Only in the last five minutes did Red Deer get ahead,” said Bromwich. “At one point, we were leading the game in that one.”
The third game was even closer, resulting in a 5-4 loss against an Edmonton team.
“We got that game back to 4-4 at one point,” said Bromwich.
“Edmonton scored on the last kick of the game.”
After playing three demanding games, tiredness set in and the Stettler boys lost 7-3 to an unbeaten Edmonton team.
“Our kids played extremely well, for a group of kids that had only six practice sessions together,” said Bromwich.
“The tournament was an exceptionally good challenge for the kids. “
The U10 is now enjoying a much-deserved break, before indoor soccer season starts.
Adult soccer
The Stettler adult soccer team traveled to Ponoka to play Ponoka 2 on Sunday. They played well but could not score, losing 4-0.