Arctic Winter Games tryouts take place at Yukon U

Test matches for the futsal teams of the Arctic Winter Games 2023 took place at Yukon University on Saturday. The juniors made the start. 15 girls tried out for the team.

The star spoke to junior coaches Tyler Milton and Samantha Samuelson after the game.

Milton said, “For Team Yukon, we do all ages. Me and Sam are the coaches for the junior women’s team, so that’s birth year 2007-2008.”

According to the coaches, the juniors are mostly 14 and 15 years old, in grades 9 and 10.

Samuelson said she thought the tryouts were “great. I was pretty impressed. I think they’ve learned a lot over the past few years and the intensity has been really great.

“They’re playing futsal for the first time this year. They’ve been outside most of the time because the weather was so nice. And then we played on the grass once last week. I think it’s our first time in the gym. That’s it. ” Well.”

Milton added, “The intensity was really good. Many players have clearly played futsal before. They had a handle on the patterns and all the techniques that are a bit different than what you would use here outdoors or in the field house in Whitehorse (the indoor soccer field at the Canada Games Centre). So yes, I was really impressed. I was really happy with that.”

To an outside observer, the tryouts were far more physical than expected.

“I think the intensity was really high,” Milton said. “The girls were excited to play. Sometimes you get a little bit of physicality.”

The coaches explained the process.

Samuelson said: “We’re also training tomorrow morning so we have another assessment tomorrow morning. And then from there we’re going to pick a 12-man training squad that I think we can keep for a month and then our final squad will be nine (players).”

Milton added: “We’re getting three substitutes but unfortunately they’re not part of the traveling squad. We have nine who will eventually travel to the Arctic Winter Games.”

But what about injuries?

“That’s where the proxies come in. The three proxies that we appointed,” explained Milton. “If we got injured on our travel team, they would step in.”

However, once the tournament begins, they will no longer be able to use a substitute player in the event of an injury. Injuries can only be replaced in the run-up to games.

“If someone gets injured at the tournament, we’ve only lost one player,” said Milton.

On the chances of having a strong squad for the games, Samuelson said: “I think they are strong. I dont know; I’ve never been to an Arctic Winter Games because the last one got canceled when we were supposed to go, but I trained this age group last time and I think these guys are already at that level so I think they’re strong .”

Milton added: “I’ve played in two Winter Games myself as a player and I think we have a good, strong group here. I was impressed.”

The 2023 Wood Buffalo Arctic Winter Games will take place from January 29th to February 4th. Futsal begins at Fieldhouse 1 at the Syncrude Sport and Wellness Center in Fort McMurray, Alta. The schedule is to be determined.