Up-and-coming Sea to Sky soccer players will have a new opportunity this spring for high-level training and competition in the corridor, through the new Quest University Football Academy set to run from March through May.
Male players ages 16 to 18 can try out in the first week of March for the program to be run by Adam Day, men’s head coach at Quest University and technical director of the Squamish Youth Soccer Association, with his UEFA-licensed fellow Quest coach Chris Cerroni from England.
Selected players will hone their skills through intensive sessions three times per week, and will test themselves against opponents in tournaments and exhibition games. Day said the program “will hopefully expand to girls next year, and then trickle down the age groups should the Academy succeed as expected.”
Tryouts are set for March 4 and 5, and interested players need to pre-register with program co-founder and team manager Peter Shrimpton at shrimpco@direct.ca. Sponsors such as Walsh Restorations and Corona Excavations are supporting the program to subsidize the $250 cost per player.
D’Hont takes another Twoonie
Thomsen D’Hont continued his winning ways as the Whistler Nordics held their last Toonie race before the Olympic break last Thursday (Feb. 4). With about 45 racers taking up the challenges in one or two laps (4.5 or eight kilometres) on a course set around the Lost Lake trails starting from the Mons ticket booth, D’Hont skied two laps in 20 minutes, 45 seconds.
The other top racers on the two-lap circuit were: Camille Cheskey, Vesa Suomalainen, Simon Utter and Matt Bodkin (men); Maria Lundgren, Aurelie Germann and Margot Murdoch (women); Nicki Murdoch, Jenya Nordin, Jennifer McTavish and Lauren Doak (girls); Conrad Murdoch, Mike Murdoch, Austin Reith and Owen Reith (boys).
The last two races of the season are scheduled for March 4 and 11. The March 4 event will begin with sign-in at 5:30 p.m. at Cross-Country Connection at the Lost Lake trailhead, with the race set to start at 6:15 p.m. For details, check out www.whistlernordics.com.
