An Okotoks boys soccer team is reaping the rewards of forward thinking on the pitch.
The Okotoks U14 Strikers boast a perfect 7-0 record in the Calgary Minor Soccer Association’s (CMSA) Tier IV/V division, an impressive mark for the team with a powerful offence boasting a division high 46-goals.
“We score a lot of goals,” quipped head coach Jeff Dyck. “I would say our biggest strength is we tend to move the ball a lot better than a lot of other teams and we cross the ball better than probably any team in the league.”
Okotoks midfielders Grayson Dyck on the right and Frankie Corbett on the left provide quality
distribution with adept crossing to make life easier for clinical striker Nicholas Wielgus inside the box.
“Our midfield is probably the best part of the team because they have good crosses and passes back and forth,” said Wielgus.
Wielgus provides most of the scoring, but he’s far from on an island at the top of the Okotoks formation as the Strikers attack from many levels.
“We have ridiculous speed with Frankie (Corbett) and David (Bowers) in the middle,” said Dyck, who was singing the praises of the youthful Bowers. “He’s got a ton of speed and he’s actually 12 playing up for us and he may be one of the fastest guys in the league.”
Dyck, a veteran of nine seasons on the sidelines, has guided the Strikers for three seasons.
“Their ball movement is the biggest thing, their getting used to juggling,” Dyck said of the team’s improvements on the pitch. “A close second is their ability to just kick the ball. They score a lot of goals that way.”
The Strikers coach said the vision and the ability of many of his players to anticipate play has also propelled their offensive prowess.
“Especially my son Grayson, Nicholas and Frankie and Jordan Russell they’re developing really good abilities to know where the ball is going to be and kick the ball out of the air,” Dyck said.
The only blemish on Okotoks’ perfect season is a loss in the President’s Cup tournament on May 19.
See Strikers on page 33
“Teams all over Calgary and the Foothills Division all play for the President’s Cup. It’s for all divisions, but we only played teams in our tier,” said Grayson, a creative midfielder for the Strikers. “We got the silver, we played the CMCA Memorial Mavericks and they beat us 7-4. That’s our only loss on the year.”
Grayson, a Grade 8 student at JPII, has been practicing the beautiful game for nine seasons and said this version of the Okotoks Strikers features a nice blend of long time members and newcomers.
“Some of us have played for quite a while together, others just joined,” he said. “So we just play together and we turn out pretty good.”
Wielgus is in his second season under the guidance of coach Dyck. The 13-year-old said the training sessions are a big reason for the club’s success.
“Our coach is doing really well coaching us,” Wielgus said. “We’ve been practicing passing, trapping the ball with your head and chest and working out, doing running and sprints.”
The Strikers are in first place in Group B of the Tier IV/V standings and will consequently move up to Group A where they will compete in playoffs. The CMSA playoffs are not elimination-based, instead the team with the best record and highest number of points walks away as league champion.
The Strikers are entering the Tier V/IV provincials, July 2-6, but will first have to defeat their foothills counterpart Springbank Scorpions in order to advance.
