A familiar face brought a unique challenge to some of Athabasca’s best soccer players last Saturday.
Athabasca resident Jon LeMessurier currently plays for S.S. Lazio in the Edmonton District Soccer Association. It’s the second highest level of soccer in the city, so naturally the players are highly skilled.
LeMessurier, who lives in Athabasca and commutes to Edmonton to play with the team, encouraged his mates to make the trip north and play an exhibition game (or ‘friendly’) against an ‘all-star’ team of local soccer players. Having played many years in the Athabasca soccer organization, he was confident that some of his old friends and teammates could give his new team a challenge.
Despite losing 6-0 to the Edmonton squad, they did just that.
“I thought they showed great,” he said. “They hustled the whole game.”
Also impressed with the efforts of the Athabasca team was S.S. Lazio coach Frank Rodrigues.
“There are definitely some skilled players in Athabasca who could keep a spot in Edmonton,” he said.
Though the game was a friendly one, competitive juices did flow and tempers did flare from time to time. That was no surprise to the coach of the Athabasca team (and Jon’s father) Brian LeMessurier, though.
“I think our team found it more physical than they expected. At the premiership level it’s always very physical and emotional,” he said.
“There’s always pride at stake.”
The elder LeMessurier has coached soccer for many years, and had coached all of the players on his ‘all-star’ squad before. Though they fell short of beating the Edmonton club, the coach was quite impressed with their effort and how competitive they proved to be.
“They did really well against a three-time provincial championship team,” said the coach. “Early on in the game we out chanced them. Next time our players will do better because they won’t be intimidated by a team of that calibre.”
While the game was a great opportunity for some Athabasca players to test their skills, it also served as a valuable learning opportunity for the town’s younger soccer players, some of whom came out to watch the game.
That’s something Jon had in mind when he pushed for the game to happen. Watching such skilled players can only help to develop one’s own skills, and he was happy to be able to give back to the organization that he started out with.
Rodrigues was also happy to make a contribution to Athabasca soccer.
“It’s fun for us to come up and support local soccer, and show them what Edmonton soccer is all about.”
As for Jon himself, he has been playing with S.S. Lazio since last year, and has improved by leaps and bounds simply by playing alongside such skilled players.
When he was younger, he made the leap to playing in Edmonton leagues because he knew he needed to be challenged more if he was going to become an elite player. That gamble has clearly paid off, and since joining Lazio he has only gotten better.
“You learn a lot more playing with guys who are more talented than you,” he said. “All of the guys here are great, they’ve taught me a lot. There are some really great footballers here.”
Jon fits right in amongst them, according to Rodrigues.
“He’s definitely one of our strong players,” said the coach.
“I use him quite a bit on the wings. He’s a good, skilled player and he usually makes good decisions with the ball.”
Though he might be understandably biased, Brian LeMessurier agrees that his son keeps up with the rest of the skilled Lazio players.
“He fits right in,” he said.
For a local soccer player who has reached a high level in the game, it was a chance to give back, challenge himself and reflect all at once.
