Athabasca’s undefeated Big Maxx U14 boys are primed for provincial competition from July 26–28 in Edmonton.
The soccer team won the league championship last year but did not go undefeated. This year, the boys have booked 58 goals for and five against, with a 13-0 record so far.
Coached by Alex Denonville and assisted by Adrian Krawec and team manager Janice Day, the U14s just came off of a double-header against Tofield June 23. The Athabasca team won 4-1 and 5-2.
Denonville would not divulge any team secrets, but said Big Maxx’s success is built on possession, passing and use of space.
Other disciplinary concepts such as no swearing and no making fun of the other team create a sense of respect for each player and for everything surrounding the game.
“I treat it as an opportunity to teach basic life skills: respecting the rules, respecting your fellow players, respecting your coaches, respecting the referees and the other team as well,” said Denonville.
He said many of last year’s players returned this year, and some “outstanding” new talent has come up from U12.
“What really helped us was we had a lot of players from last year stay in that (U14) age group,” said Denonville. “I was able to form the core and basically keep the talent we had last year, and the knowledge and the skills they had been working on last year, and build upon that.”
Denonville had his team on the field for one to two practices a week through the regular season but is upping it to three starting this week.
The success of his team would not be possible without the steadfast support of the parents, said Denonville.
“If you’re winning, then you win gracefully; if you’re losing, then you lose gracefully. It’s all about the respect — respecting the game — and I think that’s a really important part of coaching,” he said.
