My Soccer

    I started playing organized soccer at the age of 6 in my home town of Fort St. James. I played as a forward and our team always did very well in any tournament we played in. In 2001 I joined a select team that consisted of players from Fort St. James, Vanderhoof, Fraser Lake, and Burns Lake and the play downs to decide who would go to provincials were held in F.S.J. Even with the selection of different towns, our team was no match for the Prince George and Smithers rep teams and we got dominated in every game. We had the same results with the Nechako Lakes team playing in Williams Lake (2002), and in Terrace (2003).

    In 2004, a friend from F.S.J. and I joined the Prince George rep team. I had previously switched from playing striker to playing defense, starting out on the wing but eventually moving to sweeper, the anchor of a defense line. For the first time we had some success in the play downs, winning in Quesnel. This meant that we qualified for the provincials in Terrace where we finished 4th out of 12 teams. In 2005, play downs were in Williams Lake, where we again won, qualifying for provincials in Salmon Arm. We started out strong and with one game left we had to play the other undefeated team. We outplayed them for most of the game, but they had the best goalie in the tournament and we tied 0-0. The winner of the round robin would win provincials, there were no playoffs, so we finished in second place because Delta finished with a better goal difference. This was the closest that we came to winning it all. In 2006, P.G. was to host provincials so we were guaranteed a spot no matter how we played in the play downs. They were held in Quesnel, and our team lost to Williams Lake, a team we had previously never had trouble beating. Our results didn't improve much in provincials, but we got our revenge against Williams Lake beating them to claim 7th place. I would have liked to continue playing in 2007, but the P.G. Soccer Association needed increased dedication from their players and it would have required me to move to Prince George.

    In 2004 I also started playing for my high school team, the F.S.J.S.S. Falcons. It was here that my coach, who had at one time played for the reserve team of English Premier League's Liverpool, moved me from forward to defense. Since our school was so small I played on the senior team as a grade 8, but our team made the provincials in Whistler by beating Fraser Lake and Burns Lake in the Zone Championships. We finished 11th out of 14 teams and only lost 2-1 to the eventual provincial champions. In the 2005-2008 seasons I played on the team, but because of scheduling conflicts with hockey, or simply not qualifying, I never played in another Provincial school championship.