The Marine Harvest Upper Island Riptide's preparations for the 2016 British Columbia Soccer Associations Provincial A-Cup went off without a hitch.
Three Riptide teams (the U14 boys, the U15 girls and the U16 girls) went over to the mainland to compete to be crowned Provincial Champions in Burnaby July 7-10, 2016, and all three teams came back home with medals for their efforts.
The U14 boys took first place, the U15 girls took second place, and the U16 girls took third place.
The teams spent the past 10-weeks in the Riptide Spring Soccer Academy training together three times weekly. The players have all benefited from a relaxed yet demanding training environment that provided an increased number of touches on the ball and improved their technical level of play.
The final 6-weeks or preparation were more focused on well-rounded team development, providing the teams with technical training, tactical training, sports psychology, physical training and goalkeeper training.Each of the teams played several preparatory games, and even had the opportunity to participate in a one day multi-disciplinary workshop.
A highlight of the training for many, the workshop allowed the players to come together one final time to cover sports psychology, fitness testing, provincial tournament planning and to gain inspiration from a local extreme athlete and motivational speaker, Rob Fontain.
The Riptide Organization secured the Fortius Center for the accommodations and meals during the tournament. This world class high performance facility is commonly used by the Canadian Women's National Soccer Teams for training and development. Use of the centre will help players to make the most of their experience by allowing them to stay on site and walk to and from games as a team.
Technical Director Shel Brodsgaard stated that “Win, lose or draw we are pleased with the progress all of the players have demonstrated this past 10 weeks. The teams are tight. The training sessions are lively and competitive. The academy program has been a real asset for us leading into the provincials- improvement has been observed at all levels with respect to the individual players and teams.”
The Marine Harvest Riptide continue to strive to provide their community with positive opportunities to grow, learn, train and develop, and were very excited for the opportunity to succeed both on and off the field at the 2016 British Columbia Soccer Associations Provincial A-Cup held in Burnaby from July 7-10, 2016.