The Athabasca U10 soccer team celebrated its first-place shutout season in the Tricounty league with a medal presentation at Athabasca Regional Multiplex on Nov. 6.
Not even a single ball cross the team’s goal line throughout its season as they shutout every one of their opponents on route to an undefeated year. After finishing the season in June, the team reunited last week to celebrate the victory with their hard-earned medals and a party.
Coach Albert Assaf said coaching staff emphasized defence this season and the entire team bought into that idea to achieve their shutout season.
“They molded as a team and they all worked hard. They wanted to make that happen,” Assaf said. “They worked all together and they pulled it off. It was a good time.”
Assaf said the team members forged a good bond with one another despite being very different off the field.
“You’d never think any of them could be friends because of the differences,” Assaf said. “Amazing thing about them (is) when they showed up on the field, they were like best friends.”
The final celebration for the team’s excellent season was delayed, Assaf said, due to trouble getting medals from the Tricounty Soccer Association.
The association cancelled the playoffs for the U10 league this season and denied requests from Assaf to send medals for the team’s regular season performance, which is against the current rules for the association.
Tricounty Soccer Association president Fran Glenn said playoffs were cancelled due to a “lack of interest” from the teams in the league and medals would have been awarded otherwise.
“Medals certainly would have been presented if there had been a playoff. However, it never happened,” Glenn said.
Assaf said he did not want to break a promise he made to the team about a medal celebration and worked with the Athabasca Soccer Association to get their own medals for the team.
“I promised them. I had to make them, with the help of Athabasca Soccer (Association),” Assaf said.
Jack McGregor, one of the players on the team, attributed the group’s success to co-operation.
“We worked together as a team,” he said, adding that it was the best part of the season.
Assaf, who has coached a variety of age groups, said the U10 squad was eager to learn and quite coachable.
He added that he was not sure how the team might fare next year due to player changeover.
“Next year, I’ll get a totally different team that I have to work with. Every year it’s like a lottery.You get what you get and you have to work with it,” Assaf said.
