Local youth soccer league 132 strong

Ken Johnston

One could argue it is the most popular sport in the world and probably the second most, only to hockey, in Canada.
That is very apparent in Rainy River every Monday and Wednesday at Riverview School when 132 kids take to the field to participate in the Rainy River Recreational Youth Soccer club.
Rebecca Tolen said she never expected to get the huge turnout they did last year when they started the spring soccer nights. “We had 108 last year. I thought we might have 20 kids.”
The large number ment that she and coorganizer Monique Gall had to quickly ask some parents to help her manage the kids which are coming from as far as Stratton in the east, Morson in the north and Baudette in the west. Tolen said the help from parents has been phenomenal. Jennelle Lowes, Julie Tiboni, Richard Short, Richard Boisvert, Kathleen Nault, Monique Gall, Lisa Holmes, Dean Peters, Ken Jasper, Ken Cunningham and several high school students have all volunteered their time to help out.
There are two time slots every Monday and Wednesday and the kids are divided up into four age groups. They are 4/5, 6-8, 9-11 and 12-14. Every practise involves a half hour of working on skills development with the little kids learning to dribble, pass and shoot and the older kids work on game plans as well as ball handling skills. “It is amazing to see them actually thinking about what they are doing rather than running and kicking the ball,” said Tolen.
After the first half hour the kids get to scrimmage. Since the league is recreational they don’t really compete with anyone else with the exception of a tournament they will be going to in Emo this Saturday. However, Tolen said the teams are quite competitive and keep track of the score, etc.
The local club will wrap things up on June 14th after having played since May 1st.
“I think this will really benefit the high school teams later on,” said Tolen.
Tolen noted that in addition to the help with coaching that the local Legion, KGB Sports and Guy Arpin all deserve a pat on the back for helping in other ways. The Legion recently donated money to buy all the kids jerseys and nets, KGB sold them the shirts and balls for just about cost and Arpin assembled the nets and lined the fields.