Although Team Canada didn’t return from the 2022 AMF Futsal Women’s World Cup with a gold medal, Prince Albert’s Kalli Cowles enjoyed every second of her experience representing her country in Colombia.
The former University of Saskatchewan Huskie defender picked up futsal after the completion of her USports career. She credits her coach, Jerson Barandica-Hamilton with getting her into the sport.
“My coach of 6 years, he is really into futsal. He’s trying to create a community and trying to bring futsal to Saskatchewan. He thinks it’s a sport that transfers a lot of qualities to soccer”
Team Canada would make it all the way to the championship game after advancing past Catelonia 3-2 on penalty kicks. But in the championship game against the host Colombia but fell to the host nation 12-0 earning the silver medal in the tournament.
Cowles says the atmosphere of playing against Colombia was something she has never experienced in her career to this point.
“It was insane. I’ve never played in stadiums like that. When we played Colombia, we couldn’t even hear each other speak. The stadium was vibrating, and you couldn’t hear each other. Colombian fans would come early to our game, and we had Colombian schools make Canadian flags and we were celebrities there. Everyone wanted pictures of us.”
Cowles says the experience of representing her country on the international stage was special, but it was even better having her family there to cheer her on and experience it with her.
“I feel like there’s nothing quite like it. I didn’t ever expect to represent Canada. I’m just so grateful that I had the opportunity to. My parents and my sister were able to come down and watch it and experience that with me. They were famous because there were only three Canadians in a stadium full of Colombians. They were getting pictures taken with them, I was really happy I was able to experience that with them.”
sports@paherald.sk.ca
