This past weekend was a unique opportunity, for both the players and talent evaluators.
Ponoka played host to the Zone 4 selection camp at the Lewis Estates fields to determine the rosters for the boys and girls squads that will represent central Alberta at the Alberta Summer Games in Grande Prairie running July 17 to 22.
More than 80 players — about 50 boys and 37 girls — participated in the two day tryout with kids coming from Rocky Mountain House and stretching to Innisfail then over to Stettler and up to Camrose.
“We like to come to Ponoka for these kind of events, since it’s central to the region and they have two really good fields,” explained Tammy Olson, executive director of the Central Alberta Soccer Association (CASA).
She added the cooperation CASA gets from Ponoka Minor Soccer really makes it easy to arrange these type of weekends, which also saw about six player evaluators getting some good looks at the young soccer talent in the region.
“It was all about getting the players into game action on both days and having that one more look for the evaluators, since it’s rather difficult to see everyone and assess them in one session,” Olson noted.
The two Zone 4 teams will be named later this week with practices to be scheduled by the respective coaches over the next couple of months leading up to the Games.