Soccer is in Burnaby's DNA, thanks in part to local and Canadian icon Christine Sinclair.
The next generation of footballers recently proved their homegrown talents with a pair of national championship trophies that flew back to Burnaby this past weekend.
Burnaby FC claimed the Canada Soccer under-17 boys' and girls' titles over the Thanksgiving long weekend to cap off their first-ever season as a local club.
Both defeated teams from Alberta in the finals of their respective tournaments held in Moncton, N.B., Oct. 4 to 9.
The boys went undefeated with a 5-0 record, prevailing 2-0 in the championship over Edmonton BTB SC.
The girls were also perfect at 5-0 and needed a shootout kicks to beat Calgary West FC 2-2 (4-3 on penalty kicks) to win it all.
"This is an incredible achievement for our Club in its inaugural season, by a tremendous group of players," said Burnaby FC spokesperson Lee Tregonning in a news release.
"This is down to the hard work over several years of many dedicated and committed people who trusted in the development process and now see the outcome and we are thrilled to be bringing home two trophies."
Both Burnaby FC teams qualified for nationals by winning the provincial club championships back in June.
"I cannot express how proud I am of a team that demonstrated unity, fight, and tenacity today, Oct. 9," said girls' head coach Kat Tomic. "The grit showed in today’s performance proved to everyone watching what it means not to quit and always to keep going."
"We came into the tournament with our own expectations, reminding ourselves to be humble and respectful of every opponent," added boys' head coach Todd May. "Together we were all completely prepared, focused and hungry to win the competition."
Burnaby FC was created earlier this year, merging five local associations for a better sense of community and development programming for up-and-coming athletes.
This included Mountain United FC, Cliff Avenue United FC, Wesburn Football Club, Burnaby Girls Soccer and Burnaby District Metro Teams.
Each team's national tournament results were as follows:
Girls U17
- 2-2, 4-3 on PKs over Calgary West FC (final)
- 8-0 win over Regina QC United
- 1-0 win over CS Dieppe
- 2-1 win over Spatial CS Saint-Herbert
- 5-0 win over Halifax County United SC
Boys U17
- 2-0 win over Edmonton BTB SC (final)
- 3-1 win over Halifax City SC
- 2-1 win over Feildians AA St. John's
- 2-2, 4-2 on PKs over Charlottetown PEI FC
- 8-0 win over Yellowknife YK Galaxy FC
Pro-D Day camps
Burnaby FC is also gearing up to host a pair of Pro-D Day camps for kids and youth.
On both Oct. 20 and Nov. 24, at Burnaby Lake West and Burnaby North Secondary fields respectively, interested players will do activities to improve their skills.
Training will be done in the morning and a mini-World Cup tournament will follow in the afternoon.
The camps take place 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. each day for ages U8 to U13 (2016-2011).
For more information, or to register, you can visit Burnaby FC's website.
