ASRA U16 Nationals Album Page 1




Canadian U16 National Soccer Championships - Edmonton, Alberta. October 3 - 8, 2001

Setting the Stage

A National Soccer Championship is a very prestigious tournament. As Referee In Chief, Kevin Jones quite
correctly pointed out at the pre-tournament referees' meeting, it is an honour and privilege to be invited to
officiate in such a competition.

This is how the week began for the officials - the traditional meeting that sets the standards for the days
ahead. A certain amount of excitement could be detected in the meeting room at Commonwealth
Stadium, as the officials gathered to get down to the business of the U16 National Club Championships.

Out of province officials were introduced, tournament rules were reviewed, jokes were made, but at the
end of the meeting everybody was focussed on the task at hand.

Orest Konowalchuk (Manitoba), and Fabrizio Romano (Alberta).

Playing Conditions

We were promised at the meeting that the weather was to warm up
for the weekend. Being Alberta however, there is always an element
of risk in predicting the weather beyond the next five minutes. The
competition opened on a sunny but gusty Wednesday, and by
the second day the temperature was struggling to reach 7 degrees
in the light rain.

Many of the players wore mitts, some wore toques in an effort to
stay warm. Most of the officials also wore more layers than normal,
in order to combat the 'brain freeze' that can take your mind off the
game. Fortunately, the games each day (except finals) were scheduled
to start at noon, so the overnight low temperatures had a few hours
to disappear before kick-off.

By the end of the second day though, the conditions began to improve,
and we saw temperatures close to 20 degrees before the weekend
was over. The finals on Monday were played under slightly cooler
conditions, but all in all, for this time of year in Alberta, it was perfect
soccer weather.

Orest Konowalchuk (Manitoba), on the left,
and Fabrizio Romano (Alberta) - Nice shirts!

Great Soccer, Great Crews

One of the most interesting aspects of officiating in a National
Competition is the opportunity to work with different people than
the regular local crowd. Several officials are usually invited from
'out of province', and they are always of the highest standard.
This year was no exception, and we welcomed Gary Docherty
from British Columbia, along with Gord Quinlan from
Saskatchewan and Orest Konowalchuk from Manitoba. Anyone
who worked with these gents had a great experience and
hopefully learned a thing or two. I think most people would agree
that Orest brought the sharpest looking referee shirts, and he
even brought spares so that his crews would all match!
What a guy!

The competition on the field was intense, and although there
were some one-sided games in the round robin, the final day
produced some very close games.

The boys' gold medal went to North Delta Selects from B.C. who
defeated Alberta's Edmonton Internazionale 3 - 1.

The girls' gold medal went to Dynamo De Quebec who defeated
Ontario's Mississauga Dixie Fury 2 - 1 in 'golden goal' overtime.

All results are available through the link on our main page.

Kin Lui working in his seventh Naionalsin his seventhNationals. in his seventhNationals.

Charlene Douglas in the girls' gold medal game.

Action from the girls'
gold medal game.
Quebec v Ontario.
Who's kicking who?

Kin Lui working
in his seventh
Nationals.

Charlene Douglas,
in the girls' gold
medal game.

Dave Gantar shows
the way in the girls'
gold medal game.

Quote of the week?

Coach 1:" Pass back to
the keeper. Isn't that a
penalty kick?"

Coach 2:" No, only if it is
in the six yard box!"

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