The Muskoka Cottage Classic Soccer Festival is scheduled for this weekend in Huntsville. It’s the wrap up to the Soccer Rep season. However, not all the Huntsville rep teams are scheduled to play, including the U14 boys team that went undefeated in 11 games in the Huronia League.
The Huntsville Soccer Club is hosting four divisions in the Classic: U9, U10, U12 boys, and U12 girls. The club is also expecting nine out-of-town teams from Toronto, Barrie, Innisfil, Peterborough, North Bay and Collingwood to attend, with 190 players and their families taking part in the weekend.
The U14 Huntsville Strikers boys team will not be represented in the local tournament. The team was supposed to host a tournament in mid-summer but it was called off because visitors were having trouble finding accommodation in Huntsville. There were several other events on at the same time, and hotel space was at a premium so the event was cancelled.
The U14 Coach Linda Danby was disappointed because it meant the team was not able to test their abilities against the highly skilled teams outside the Huronia League.
“It would have been nice to know how much we had improved,” said Danby. “We never had a chance to see how strong we were in a competitive situation.”
Jack Lockwood
U14 striker Jack Lockwood, who finished as the top league scorer with 24 goals and 12 assists, was also frustrated by the decision not to reschedule the tournament.
“I wish we could have. I think we should have,” he said. “The rest of the team feels the same way, too.”
Lockwood’s remarkable season was not an accident.
“Jack will take a ball to the field and spend hours just doing skills,” said Danby. “I often see him at Conroy Park when I drive by, spending his free time just enjoying the game, doing something outside of practicing with a team.”
Lockwood played rep hockey at the bantam level last year but soon wants to spend more time developing his soccer skills by playing with an indoor team or league in southern Ontario. He’s also hoping his hard work will lead to a soccer scholarship, or a place on a provincial or national team.
He’s also hopeful that the U16 team, which didn’t have enough players to field a team this year, will re-emerge and give him a spot to play next summer.
These are all growing pains that the Huntsville Soccer Club will be looking at in the off-season as they continue to grow the recreational and competitive teams.
However, this weekend the focus will be on the other teams and they will get a chance to see some of the quality players coming up.
“Kids who want to achieve and learn want to challenge themselves and its natural for those kids that have that natural competitive instinct,” said Danby.
Saturday they get a chance to show their stuff and enjoy the challenge.
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Hoping the Town of Huntsville and the soccer club can start to utilize Conroy Park / McCulley more efficiently by getting a conversation started about having a lighting system installed.