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Paradise U15 Girls team makes history for club

By Mark Squibb

A female U15 soccer team from Paradise is heading to the nationals this Thanksgiving weekend.

It’s the first time a Paradise female soccer team has made it to the countrywide championship.

“It’s an exciting time for us,” said coach Alun Young. “Paradise has one of the biggest soccer clubs in the province now and I think this is a testament to the hard work done over the last few years… The girls have had a phenomenal year. It’s been a really good year soccer wise. They’re a very cohesive team, a very ‘together team.’ They’ve been great to coach. They’re great kids— great players and great people. So, we’re really looking forward to heading up. We’ve got about six weeks of hard work ahead of us to make sure that we’re ready, but I think the girls will do themselves and the province proud.”

The team will be fundraising over the coming weeks, including a silent auction which was set to begin Friday, September 13. Travelling to the tournament is expected to cost about $2,000 per head.

Young has been coaching soccer, among other sports, for twenty-odd years now. He said there are plenty of benefits for youth taking up sports, soccer or otherwise.

“You get the opportunity to be the best that you can be, and you get the opportunity to fail,” said Young. “You get a chance to build your resilience and realize that you can push through hard things. But I think sport is much broader even than that. You can hone your leadership skills, and learn the ability to collaborate and communicate, and learn to work together.”

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