An exciting opportunity is coming for young athletes in the rural southeast. In anticipation of the upcoming Manitoba Summer Games, tryouts will be held in May for those looking to join one of southern Manitoba’s girls soccer teams.
For the purposes of the Games, the province is divided into six regions: North, East, West, South, and two from Winnipeg. These regional teams consist of athletes ranging from age 10 to 18.
Two teams will represent the southern region, one based in Morden and the other in Niverville. Girls from the area who were born between 2009 and 2012 may try out for the Niverville team on May 14 at 6:45 p.m. in Hespeler Park.
Gerald Negrave, the team’s coach, says that he will be looking for players with a lot of heart.
“We hope to choose players for the team that all bring a love of soccer and a passion for the game,” says Negrave. “They may not necessarily be elite athletes, but they should all show that they can work together as a cohesive unit.”
Negrave has more than 25 years of experience coaching girls soccer at both the high school and community level. As a teacher, he coached at five different schools, leading his teams to Provincials at four of them.
He recalls that one of those teams, the Birtle Falcons, won the championship in 2000.
“It was a proud moment for the girls, as they were an A school with a population of just over 100 students, competing against AAAA schools, some of which had over 1000 students.”
In 2019, Negrave retired from teaching, finishing out his time at the former Niverville Collegiate Institute. During his tenure as a teacher, he received the Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Teaching and was nominated for the Lieutenant Governor’s Community Volunteer Award. The nomination for the second award came, in part, as a result of his efforts to promote soccer programs in towns throughout Manitoba.
“The Games will be a unique, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for anyone chosen to represent their region,” he adds. “We hope girls making the team will have a memorable and fun experience while competing.”
This year’s Manitoba Summer Games are being held in Dauphin from August 11–17. The event brings together hundreds of young athletes from across the province to compete and meet fellow participants. A kind of “mini-Olympics, the Games feature both individual sports and team sports.
