The Squamish gold division U15 boys' team is the top of the North Shore League standings and has gone undefeated all season.
"They've worked hard to get where they are," said Andy King, who has been coaching the team for five years. The team has worked its way up through four divisions, and now sits on top of the castle.
"We play good soccer, particularly for our age."
The team has 29 points, but the second place team (South Burnaby Metro Club) is right behind them with 28 points.The team has had some players come and go during the five years King has been with it, but many of the boys have been playing together for years. And the payoff has been great.
"I don't live my life 'I want it now,'" King said. "You've got to work hard. You've got to work damn hard."
He said the team progressed to the top a year or two earlier than he expected and gold division is as high as soccer gets in Squamish.
"They do deserve it. I take my hat off to them."
The defence has had extra help from assistant coach Paul Greening this season.
"This year the defence is playing excellently," King said. "Paul is doing a good job there.
"I've always had a good midfield," he said about forwards Dylan Ackerman (the team captain), Vincent Colica and Jared Bir.
"Dylan this year is playing for the high school. He's good enough."
The challenge to get to the top is greater for Squamish than it for teams in bigger cities. The pool of players to draw from is much smaller. King said he gets about 16 or 17 players at tryouts and he picks 14 or 15 players, while other North Shore and Lower Mainland teams can pick from over 100 players. Yet Squamish is at the top.
"That's colossal for such a small town," King said. "Squamish can be proud of the boys."
The team has players who have in past years been selected to train at the North Shore Development Centre. Players must be selected to train and this year only Jack Cubbon, who is 12, is training there. Cubbon plays for the U15 boys' team, and he trains with the U13 provincial squad as well. He has soccer five days a week.
"He loves it as well," King said.
This Saturday (Feb. 5) the team faces one of the toughest challenges of the season. It will face its second-place rivals South Burnaby Metro Club at Brennan Park at 1 p.m.
"If we win, we pull away from them, if they win, they sneak in front of us," King said.
But being at the top is not the only thing the team has to look forward to. In April, the team is going to play an exhibition tour in Manchester, England to expose the players to the international cultural aspects of team sport. The trip will include playing exhibition games against professional club youth teams, watching top-level matches, and visiting training facilities and soccer museums.
"That's the home of the modern game," said King, who hails from that part of the world. "I didn't even know they played soccer in Canada.
"This trip to England, everybody is talking about it now."
