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Soccer players turning to local leagues.
There once was a time when Cape Breton was represented in all provincial soccer leagues, but that isn’t the case this year.
The island is represented in three of six divisions in the Nova Scotia Soccer League, including the under-13 girls double-A division, the under-15 boys doubleA division, and the under-15 girls triple-A division.
Cape Breton won’t have teams in the under-13 boys as well as under-17 boys and girls divisions.
Ken MacLean, president of Soccer Cape Breton, said although the organization has 50 per cent less teams in the provincial league, it’s really a minuscule difference in the number of players available to play at that level.
“You need a critical mass of having 15 players to put a team in the league and last year we had a couple of teams with only 15 players and if you lose one player it means you don’t have a team,” said MacLean. “Sometimes it looks like we lost half our teams, but because of maybe just a couple of players in the difference, we are fielding three less teams.”
Soccer Cape Breton has mixed feelings about the decrease in provincial teams.
“Of course you want your players to play at the highest level possible, but a lot of those players are still playing in local leagues, they’re just playing locally instead of in the Nova Scotia league,” said MacLean. “In the tier one clubs, we expect to go from just over 100 players to perhaps 60 or 70 players.”
Registration numbers for each of the local associations were not available at press time as some associations are still registering players until the end of the month.
“I would expect a slight drop (in registration numbers) and that’s just because of demographics,” said MacLean. “I can say that Cape Breton is still exceeding the national average for player participant rates. Last year we had roughly 2,100 players and the island had a participation rate of 13.99 per cent of all players ages 5-19.”
MacLean believes having representation in provincial leagues is important.
“To get better you have to play against better teams, it’s not good winning 10-0 games locally and thinking you’re going to get better, so you need the highest competition,” said MacLean.
The Nova Scotia Soccer League season is well underway across the province.
In the under-13 girls division, Cape Breton (1-2-3) currently sits fifth in the nine-team league. Meanwhile, in the under-15 girls division, FC has a record of 2-2 with games in hand, while the under-15 boys are second in the league with a 3-2-2 record.
“They play at a good level and they are learning,” said MacLean. “It’s not always about winning, with player development models there is less focus in the country about winning, it’s more about developing the players for their futures for university and college playing careers and potential national teams.”
Local soccer fans will have an opportunity to see the Cape Breton FC under-13 team in action this weekend when they host Suburban FC today at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 10 a.m. at the Cape Breton Health Recreation Complex in Sydney.
For full Cape Breton FC schedules, visit www.nssl.goalline.ca.