A pair of 16-year-old 100 Mile House soccer players hit the pitch with some of British Columbia’s best at a Whitecaps FC soccer camp in Vancouver.
Reid Davidson and Masen Fernandes play out of Kamloops and were chosen out of the Whitecaps’ Kamloops Academy to participate in a High Potential Player (HPP) Showcase week, March 30 to April 5.
After a few days of drills and exhibitions with dozens of elite players from academies all over the province, including one from Saskatchewan, the boys took part in a three-game tournament, winning two games and losing one.
The Whitecaps FC HPP program is an initiative to identify players that are excelling in their respective regions.
The players, divided among U15, U16, and U17/18 boys and girls, learned to play “the Whitecaps way”, Davidson explains, practising a style of play that emphasizes steady ball control.
“A lot of possession-based [plays] and moving the ball without just sending it long and hoping someone will get it. ”
It felt good to compete alongside some of B.C.’s best players his age, Davidson adds.
“Every guy was capable of moving the ball well and keeping possession all the time. It was a huge honour to be selected from the Kamloops Academy to do this.”
Fernandes says it was some of the quickest soccer the boys have played. At the same time, he adds, it seemed easy out there too in a way because these were a lot of talented guys playing together, including his pal Davidson, whom Fernandes says “played amazing” all week. For his part, Fernandes scored of the team’s two goals in a 2-0 win over Fusion FC, a Lower Mainland club. The ball popped out to him outside the box and he sent it into the net’s top right corner. Fernandes says he’s looking for more goals this season, which started for the boys last weekend in Vernon.
Of the showcase week, Fernandes says the wins, the goal, and the friends he made are what he’ll remember most.
