Seven local competitive soccer teams competed at the 2011 Power Play Cup over the weekend and four returned with medals.
The U12 boys and U16 mixed Northern Strikers won gold in their respective divisions. The U10 girls got silver and the U18s brought back bronze.
U12 coach Wayde Hollingshead, who coaches with Brad Gullason and James Dawkin, said they didn't know what to expect going into the tournament since there are some new players to the team.
"It was a learning experience to see what we have, because we had no idea what kind of players we had because we hadn't been anywhere yet and we can't have anybody come here because we don't have anywhere for them to play," explained Hollingshead.
The U12 boys only had one goal scored against them the entire tournament. Sam Barrette and Gage Adkins protected the Northern Strikers' net.
"I'm very impressed so far," said Hollingshead.
The U16 mixed team took an 8-3 win against the Calgary SWU Stallions, then went on to get a 3-1 victory against the Rangers Athletics, also from Calgary, and then took a 3-1 win against the Sturgeon AC Milan.
"They played the whole tournament as a team. They passed so well between each other," said assistant coach/manager Rhee Simpson, who coached with head coach Sherri Demers.
Many of the U16 Northern Strikers have played together for the last four years.
The U14 girls and U12 girls each finished in fourth place.
This was the first time the Fort St. John Soccer Club has fielded three girls' teams.
"To see one of them place second and the others fourth speaks for itself about the strength of our Girls Kick program," said Amy Adkins, media liaison of the Fort St. John Soccer Club.
The U10 boys, some of which have just moved up from the U8 division, competed in their first out of town tournament at the Power Play Cup. It was also a change from their gym practice to playing in a proper indoor soccer facility.
The boys, who normally played Tier 4, were placed in Tier 1 and faced some of the best soccer teams for that age group from Edmonton and Calgary.
"Even though these boys did not medal and came in last, they never gave up, never hung their heads and always ran 110 per cent," said Adkins.
Since Fort St. John doesn't have an indoor facility, the teams practice in local school gyms, which are much smaller than the arena-style indoor soccer pitches they play in when they travel for competition.
"The boys from last year have played in arena before and knew that they had to be in better shape to get there than what they were the first year they were there," explained Hollingshead.
Many of the teams supplemented their training by conditioning on the Northern Vac Track.
"It would help more if we had more if we had a soccer pitch, but yes I think the track has helped," said Simpson.
This was the first tournament of the indoor season, the teams will be back in Edmonton on March 4 to compete in the Slush Cup, followed by provincials.
