The best 15- to 18-year-old male soccer players in the Sea to Sky Corridor are getting a leg up with the new Quest Academy.
The academy allows the young athletes to train with Quest University coaches Adam Day and Chris Cerroni. And those intensive sessions at the Quest University field are paying great dividends.
"Overall, the boys played with a good tempo and their performances were of a consistent standard," said Day. "They are really starting to adapt to the new system and style of play we promote at Quest, and I really look forward to their continuing development and more successes in future games and tournaments."
In their first tournament three weeks ago, the academy players finished runners-up in the annual South Burnaby Metro Club's top division of U18 Gold, despite having only practiced together a couple of times before the event.
After a couple of subsequent friendly games against the Quest men, this past weekend the squad travelled to Kelowna for the annual Icebreaker tourney.
Besides the best club team from Calgary, five select teams from each of the Kamloops, Kelowna, Vernon, Shuswap and Nelson areas came together at the U17-18 level to vie for the coveted trophy.
After three round-robin games, the local lads were sitting in first place, thanks in large measure to the accurate shooting of the eventual Golden Boot winner for the tourney.
Squamish's Kellie McRae potted five of the squad's six goals in the opening rounds, proving that aggressive and physical play can lead to results on the score-sheet.
Pemberton's Arnold Dan provided the remaining marker with a powerful shot from about 30 yards out to get the scoring started against Calgary.
The semi-final against a determined Nelson squad brought out the very best in the local lads. Playing a tight game of keeping possession, the young men passed the ball around the turf crisply and with authority, setting the stage for many excellent attacking drives to the net.
Only the opposition's stalwart defence prevented more goals than the opportunistic one scored by Pemberton's Hans Schranz to clinch the entry into the coveted final game.
The loss in the semi-final of Squamish's Bryce Hurlbert to an ankle injury to end his stellar runs up the touch-line did not seem to diminish Quest's confidence in eventual victory.
Little was known of the Vernon opposition, which after all had only just squeaked into the final with a pair of shoot-out victories.
But five games in three days was a bit much for even the fit corridor boys, and the second successive tournament would deny the locals the winners' spoils.
A goal against them just before half time deflated them somewhat, and then the same skilled opposition mid-fielder who had scored before let loose a cannon that even Cameron Doherty, the veteran keeper from Squamish, couldn't handle.
Even two players short due to double yellow cards did not deter the academy lads from trying to claw their way back, but to no avail.
"Over the past weeks we have seen a great improvement with the team and this all has to do with their excellent attitude the lads have shown us," said Cerroni.
"Remember that four of them are still only 15, with several others only 16 still, plus many played down at the Silver level this past season, so one really must be very positive about these results against some of the best club and select teams."
While the academy has decided not to enter the team in Squamish's SoccerFest next weekend, some of the squad will be playing with the Quest University Men, which only lost the final last year in a shoot-out.
The Quest Academy has several exhibition games lined up in the coming weeks, and the spring session culminates in a trip to Kamloops for the annual tournament over the Victoria Day long weekend.
