For the Advance
The KRSS Girls Soccer teams hosted the 16th Annual Kootenay Cup Soccer Challenge on April 26 and 27 here in Creston. Teams from Osoyoos, Grand Forks, Nakusp, Castlegar, Cranbrook, Fernie, Sparwood, Invermere, & Kimberley travelled to compete against other Grades 8-12 athletes.
KRSS has been hosting this two day event for almost 20 years and it’s amazing to see how the interest has grown in the last two decades — it’s great to see so many young athletes playing soccer within the East and West Kootenays as soccer programs continue to build in each community…
Congratulations to our KRSS JUNIOR GIRLS for their first place finish in their division and to our Senior KRSS Girls for winning third place.There were close to 300 athletes, parents, coaches and spectators attending the competition over the two days.
Mother Nature dealt a mixed bag of sunshine, showers, breezy conditions and even some thunderstorms which delayed the last two games on Saturday afternoon, however, this did not deter the teams from competing…
There were a lot of closely matched games varying in abilities and skills…it was nice to see familiar faces on the pitch as well as welcome new coaches and teams into the tournament…
The KRSS senior girls are coached by Kat Takeda, Tesse Poznikoff & Drew Weaver and the juniors are coached by Dan McCowan, Abbi Stewart & Alicea Shukin …(photos above are JUNIOR team on left and SENIOR team on the right)…this amazing and dedicated coaching staff makes hosting this event so enjoyable…I am so very proud to have watched both of our teams compete and be as successful as they were…
A Huge shout out to everyone who helped make this event happen (from coaches who volunteer countless hours, KRSS Staff and CUPE members, and to the parents and businesses (DQ, Pealows Independent Grocer, & Save On Foods) who continue to support our young athletes…words cannot express how grateful and thankful we are.
I’ve been an educator, coach of young female and male athletes as well as adult and coed teams, event coordinator and now manager for nearly 30 years in Creston…I was that kid that sat on the pitch with my dad in the 80’s wondering if a female soccer program would come into existence…it brings me joy to see this event grow each year…my father passed in 2017, but I know he would be proud of the growth of soccer in this small community…his presence inspired me to build a program at the high school level and even throughout many years of challenges and uncertainties, determination, perseverance and resiliency prevailed…
Now that my daughter attends KRSS and competes on the Junior team, my investment in continuing this annual tradition has hopefully become my legacy…
Looking forward to hosting again in 2025!
Mel Lankhaar-Rejman
Creston Girls Soccer - KRSS
Kootenay Cup Soccer Challenge Official Results
Seniors:
1st - MBSS (Cranbrook)
2nd - FSS (Fernie)
3rd - KRSS (Creston)
4th - DTSS (Invermere)
5th - NSS (Nakusp)
6th - SSS (Kimberley)
7th - OSS (Osoyoos)
8th - SHSS (Castlegar)
Juniors:
1st - KRSS (Creston)
2nd - DTSS (Invermere)
3rd - LMS (Cranbrook)
4th - GFSS (Grand Forks)
5th - SS (Sparwood)
6th - NSS (Nakusp)
