The Hope Secondary Mustang boys had their second annual tournament, at the soggy end of September — and the Fraser-Cascade School District 78 elementary schools followed up on the same field a few days later, for their second annual soccer jamboree.
There was one big difference: “The weather was perfect. It was beautiful,” said organizer Bruce Becker, principal of Silver Creek Elementary. “Last year, it rained the whole time.
“We hadn’t planned to have our tournament after the boys but the lines they left were useful.”
Teams played nine-a-side, with smaller nets and fields. At least three girls were required to be on the field for each team during the 40-minute games.
“We had four schools take part last year,” said Becker. “This year, Kent brought two teams and Boston Bar brought a team.”
Coquihalla, Silver Creek and Harrison elementary schools also brought one squad each. The selection process was pretty simple.
“We asked for volunteers,” said Becker. “It was mostly grade fives and sixes, though Boston Bar brought some grade sevens, to fill out the team. They only had nine players, so they had no subs, while the rest had about 15 players each.”
Games got underway before 10 a.m. and wrapped up at 1 p.m., with high school students taking on the refereeing duties.
“Each team played three games, in a round robin format,” said Becker. “It was more of a jamboree than a tournament, so there was no winner declared.
“There were no blowouts,” Becker added. “They were all close, though one of the Kent teams went undefeated.