Seven Prince Albert Celtics soccer teams made the trip to Saskatoon over the weekend for the Lakewood ‘Just Kick it Cup’. The U15 boys and girls won gold, while the U13 girls and U11 boys won silver. The U9 boys and girls finished tops in their group, while the U11 girls played extremely well playing in an older age group.
“It was a big tournament, and we had great results,” technical director Dragan Ivkovic said. “This was the first outdoor tournament after three years, so it was good to see kids playing outdoor. You can really measure how they play outside on a big field, and I am more than happy with the results.”
Starting the season on a high like this is a great way to make each team feel good about their chances of being successful for the rest of the season. In the early stages of the outdoor year, Ivkovic only sees the Celtics program getting better and better as the season progresses.
“The results just prove that we are on the right track,” he said. “Our players gained a lot of confidence after the weekend. I am especially happy with our U9 teams. We were able to build pretty big groups with both the boys and girls. We had three teams of U9 boys and girls playing. For the size of Prince Albert, that’s huge.”
Ivkovic says the number of kids registering to play soccer this year has been encouraging. To be able to put together three full teams like the U9 boys and girls, it’s a nice thing to see when the popularity of the sport continues to grow.
“PAYSA had a large number of kids register for outdoor soccer this year. We had close to 1,100 kids play soccer this year, which is absolutely amazing. We’re the biggest soccer club in the province, and maybe the largest sports club in the Saskatchewan. It’s just been amazing to see the number of kids coming to play.”
@kyle_kosowan•sports@paherald.sk.ca
