The Indo Canadian Sikh Association-sponsored team in Prince Rupert Youth Soccer’s (PRYS) girls’ under-12 division receives a lot of goal support.
Namely from Puneet Gill.
“I get two or three a game,” she said bashfully when asked last week.
Not surprisingly, Gill’s team has been on a tear as of late, going undefeated in the last few weeks, and their leading scorer has just earned her way onto another team this summer.
Gill, the PRYS coach’s niece, was the only Prince Rupert athlete to make the under-12 girls’ soccer team for the upcoming B.C. Summer Games.
She joins another lone representative from Kitimat on a team full of Terrace natives.
“Meeting all the different girls [was my favourite part of the tryout weekend],” she said.
“They were really nice to me. I made lots of new friends.”
She’ll earn tallies on the Nanaimo scoresheet too if she keeps her torrid scoring pace up. Gill plays forward on her minor league team and, for the games, she’ll play the same, or try out centre-midfield; a pivotal position that functions as the central passing teammate to serve as an outlet for her wings. She’ll also pressure opposing ball-carriers with the position’s defensive responsibility.
Any plans for spare time off the field in Nanaimo?
“Shopping,” said Gill without pause.
All PRYS coaches received information for the tryout and they in turn passed it on to their players’ parents. As for the red-hot green squad Gill already plays for, the team has quickly come from a random collection of misfits to a functioning, singular, imposing force on the pitch.
“At first they had no [knowledge of] passing or patience, but with time they started passing and playing with patience so it’s going really well right now,” said Indo Canadian coach Gurvinder Randhawa.
“[The games team is] hard, very tough to make,” he added.
“Nope, [I’ve never been to Nanaimo]. It’s going to be fun,” said Gill.
