Many of the close to 100 youth soccer teams that came to Kelowna on the Canada Day weekend were repeat competitors in one of the largest youth soccer tournaments in the province.

There were 95 teams in several different divisions at the sixth annual Kelowna Canada Day Youth Soccer Tournament, held last weekend at the Rutland sports fields and the Mission soccer fields.

“Things went well again this year,” said tournament director Bruce Corrie. “Everybody who comes to our tournament says this is the best tournament they go to. We’ve had teams coming here every year and they say they will keep coming back.”

The Canada Day tournament features teams from the house level right up to select soccer teams as recreational sides and competitive teams meet up against teams that have similar skill sets.

Having the house level teams is something that sets the tournament apart, said Corrie.

“There are very few tournaments you can take a house league team to and not get beat badly,” said Corrie. “That’s part of the success. The level of competition is equal in each of the divisions. For soccer in general it’s good. It gives teams who wouldn’t normally go to a tournament the chance to play in a high level event. Even the select teams get to see competition they normally wouldn’t see.”

That competition comes from teams in Alberta who love to come to Kelowna for the annual Canada Day event. Select soccer teams spend much of their seasons playing around B.C. and in Washington State. But the arrival of high level teams from Alberta allows them a chance to see how they fare against top teams from the neighboring province.

Overall the quality of the tournament comes down to several things, said Corrie.

“I think it’s because of the good competition, because the fields are in such good shape, we have really good referees around here compared to some other districts and it’s in Kelowna,” he said.

Many teams also use the event as a warm up for soccer provincials which are taking place this weekend.

Here are the top finishing sides from Rutland (RYSA), Okanagan Mission (OMYSA), Central Okanagan (COYSA) Kelowna United (KU), West Kelowna (WYSA) and Thompson Okanagan FC (TOFC) in each division at last weekend’s event:

Girls

U12 Group 1

1. KU Red

2. RYSA Extreme

3. KYSA Cyclones

 

U12 Group 2

1. KSYSA Lightnings

2. OMYSA Cheetahs

3. RYSA Chaos

 

U14 Group 1

1. KU Red

2. TOFC U13

3. KU White

 

U14 Group 2

3. RYSA Rutland Attitude

 

U14 Group 3

4. KU Strikers

5. KU Kaos

 

U16 Group  1

4. OMYSA Legends

 

U16 Group 2

3. RYSA Moore Greenery

 

U18 Group 1

1. WYSA Campionesse FC

 

Boys

U11 Group 1

3. KU Blue

 

U11 Group 2

1. KU Red

 

U12 Group 1

2. WYSA Spitfires

3. KU Team B

 

U12 Group 2

1. COYSA Bulldogs

3. OMYSA Titan Force

 

U13 Group 1

3. KU Team A

 

U14 Group 1

3. RYSA Predators

5. WYSA U14 Tier 1

6. OMYSA Hawks

 

U16 Group 1

3. KU U16

 

U16 Group 2

5. RYSA Spirit

Kelowna Capital News