2022-11-09
BRIDGEWATER – Seven members of the South Shore United Football Club were members of their respective Team Nova Scotia at the Atlantic championships played in New Brunswick and Newfoundland this past summer.
Kylie Buchanan, Jada Buchanan, Jane van Kessel, Nadia McPhee and Rebecca McDow competed in Moncton for the Atlantics, while Lily Levy and Olivia Landry competed in Newfoundland for the U14 team.
Teams did come together for two or three practises prior to heading to the Atlantics, but all of the girls agreed that it was a bit, "nerve wracking and scary, to be with all new players that you don't know and with all new coaches, after having the same ones for years."
All seven girls are currently members of the U15 AAA SSUFC team this season and have played the sports since they were very young.
Local coach Dean McDow was proud of the girls' accomplishments and commented they are all leaders on the field and deserved a spot on the provincial team.
The u15 team finished fourth in their tournament, while the u14 team finished second overall.
They all agreed that their best memories of the tournament was the team bonding, they described some of what they learned, starting with the U15 players. Their team came in fourth place in the competition.
Kylie Buchanan said "it was fun playing with people at her level and she learned many new things."
Sister Jada said that she learned "to stay positive and have more fun."
McDow, was the youngest player on the team at the time, at the age of 13. She said it was great to see how other people played.
Van Kessel said she "learned how to better play with people that she didn't know."
McPhee said she learned a lot just by observing and playing with the different players from across the province.
The local girls on the U14 side, helped their team finish second in the competition.
Levy noted how the coaching can be different and "learned how to stay positive."
Landry echoed that sentiment. "I learned hot to always stay positive."
They also all agreed that it was great to compete with players that are all playing at the same, high level and all said they learned a lot from the experience playing on a provincial team.