Losing a foreign concept to GC girls

For these girls, the word ‘lose’ might as well be in a foreign language. After all, it’s not something they hear very often.

Whether their games are played indoors or out, the Garden City United under-11 girls’ soccer team has been practically unbeatable the past two years.

The team has gone through the last two indoor and outdoor seasons undefeated en route to city championships, and it’s also has captured several tournaments without a loss.

The only blemishes have come at tournaments against teams that were older or made up of all-stars from Canada, the U.S., and other countries.

Even with all this success, coach Kelly Moar says his players aren’t too concerned with wins and losses.

“We’ve never really thought about being dominant or anything,” says Moar. “It just kind of happened. The girls are funny – once the game is over, they don’t even care.”

Talk to the players, many of whom have being playing soccer together for three years or longer, and you’ll quickly realize their main concern is having fun with each other. Many of the players have the skills needed to make the transition from recreational soccer to the more competitive developmental division, but being with their teammates is more important.

“The point of soccer is just to have fun,” says midfielder Olivia Chomicki. “Most of us want to stay together because we’re all friends, but some move to different teams because they want to get better.”

The team’s success is the result of plenty of hard work, says Moar.

“Clearly it’s from the way we practise, and our intense physical training,” he says. “Our kids are in shape. A lot of them run cross-country and track at school.

“Our only rule is to show up at practice and put out an effort. And our only goal is that every single player will score one goal.”

Chomicki says the coaches also talk a lot about how important teamwork is.

“You work with other people, and if you win, you win as a team,” she says. “It’s more fun with a team because you can always count on other people, and you can help other people out.”

Goaltender Kayla Nelson says she isn’t very busy during many of the team’s games, but at least she gets some action during practice.

“Sometimes it’s boring back there,” she says. “It would be nice if the competition was stronger, but I think the coach works us really hard at practice.”

After the upcoming outdoor season at the under-12 level, many of the girls will have major decisions to make, says Moar, as playing at the Premier level will become an option.

Twelve-year-old Kailyn Balfour is making that transition this season. She’s excited about playing for the Northern Lights, but says she’ll miss her teammates.

“It will be a bit different,” she said. “It was a tough decision. I’m going to miss the teamwork and stuff we do at practice.”

Even without Balfour, a key defender, Garden City United is the odds-on favourite to win another city championship this summer. The only question is: will they lose a game?