At Soccaskool, we do not care about the results of matches at the Development Team ages. Win, lose or draw, we are always just happy to play. What we really care about is the quality and type of soccer that our teams play. The reason that we record our results on this website and report on our games is so that we can show what our Development Team program looks like as the year goes ahead, and that we are able to offer a playing platform for our teams.

So this weekend, it was great to be involved once again in the Calgary Blizzard pre season tour of The Okanagan. Blizzard are an excellent soccer club who care about their players and their teams. We met some nice people, watched some good soccer and made some new friends in the Penticton sunshine….perfect !

Our U11/12 team played against Blizzard U12 girls and won 8-0. This was a first for us, playing against a girls team, and the boys were a bit too hot to handle with their extra speed and skill, although the girls did not fall short in terms of size and physicality. Next up for the U11/12s was a game with Blizzard U12 boys. Exactly one year ago our brand new U10/11 team were beaten 7-0 and truly outplayed by this strong Blizzard boys team. This time around, a complete reversal as our boys showed how much progress we have made by recording a 6-0 victory. Soccaskool played some very nice, free flowing soccer which was good to watch. Nowadays, our U11/12 Development Team, on its day, is a match for anyone.

Our U10s matched up against the same Blizzard U12 girls team and the difference in size between the two teams was staggering. Apart from one or two players, our U10s are quite a small team. However, we moved the ball very well in this game and demonstrated that size does not always matter, winning the game 7-1. The later game matched us up against Blizzard U10 boys, considered to be their flagship team according to Blizzard Technical Director. They were indeed an excellent team, and we played a great game with them….very tight from start to finish. We lost 3-2 in the end and ran out of gas a little bit, but not before we had made Blizzard very nervous in the closing stages of the game !

Our U9s had an interesting day….which gives us the opportunity to demonstrate that we record all of our results, good and bad. We were matched up against Blizzard U11 girls who were strong, fast, physical and determined. Our U9s have been improving well but this one was going to be a couple of steps too far for them for sure. Our players looked shell shocked by the pace of the opposition, and we were completely dominated from start to finish by them. The final score was a 10-0 loss. We will look forward to matching these teams again next year and seeing if our U9s can improve in the same way as our U11/12s did over the course of a year.

All in all, another good day for our Development Teams. Thank you to Blizzard for some good games, safe trip back to Calgary.
Back to the training ground for a few more weeks for us as we strive for continuous improvement for all of our teams