Plenty of soccer athletes from across Vancouver Island got their kicks at the Stz’uminus First Annual Soccer Tournament held Canada Day weekend in Ladysmith.
“It was an overwhelming success; we got so much feedback from everybody stating how they’re going to come back next year and how well organized we were,” said Stz’uminus Soccer director Tim Harris.
A total of 22 teams participated in the tournament June 29 to July 1 at several fields throughout the community, and there were plenty of side games played between 30 teams of U5 to U14 children.
Ladysmith was well represented, with three local women’s teams and two men’s teams.
“None of them placed first, second or third, but they played very well. It was pretty tight competition; there were a lot of out-of-town teams that came in that were really good,” Harris said.
Interestingly enough, the top three winners in both the women’s and men’s finals happened to be from the same community.
In first place was the Alert Bay men and women’s soccer teams, while Cowichan’s men’s and women’s teams took second-place spots. In third place was Saanich.
Harris said he was pleased with the amount of support received by neighboring communities and said the committee was very appreciative of the help they received from the Town of Ladysmith and supporting businesses who helped make the tournament a success.
Plans are already in the works for next year’s soccer tournament.
“We’ll come together as a committee leading up to the tournament and see how we can make it bigger and better,” Harris said.