SPARTANS SOCCER JOINS AIA FOR PARAGUAY TOUR

Women’s Soccer
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
(Paraguay Trip)

Spartans Soccer Athletes and Coaches Join AIA for Paraguay Tour

LANGLEY, British Columbia – Six current and former soccer players and two coaches from Trinity Western University will be a part of the Athletes In Action Paraguay Women’s Soccer Tour from May 27 to June 10, 2008. Current Spartans Lauren Chartrand (Powell River, B.C.), Kayleen Davidson (Maple Ridge, B.C.), Kayla Dilling (Winnipeg), Becca Ferguson (Calgary) and Heather Stevenson (Newport, Calif.), as well as graduated senior and 2008 Complete Champion recipient Erin-Marie Higgins (Surrey, B.C.) will join with other players on the AIA team from Canada and the USA. Spartans women’s soccer head coach Graham Roxburgh and women’s volleyball assistant coach Ryan Adams are along as coaches.

“It is an exciting opportunity for the players from TWU and myself to be joining some quality players from across North America to play against some very good teams,” says Roxburgh. “However, the purpose of the tour is far more exciting as we will get an opportunity to not only reach out to people in various communities in Paraguay, but to build some ongoing relationships for AIA in Paraguay. It is our goal to demonstrate and to share the love of God with the teams, coaches and kids that we interact with. What a privilege to do this through a sport that we love.”

The team will play eight matches against different levels of competition, including two games with the Paraguay National Select U17 team, which qualified for the U-17 World Cup in New Zealand this October. Of course as Coach Roxburgh said, the tour is about much more than just the matches, as the players and coaches will run clinics and camps for churches and other organizations in efforts to reach out into the communities surrounding Asuncion, the capital and largest city in Paraguay. They will donate 30 bags full of sports gear and equipment to various groups as they do missions work in these neighborhoods.

Coach Roxburgh and Adams will also be conducting a one day seminar for coaches, sponsored by the Ministry of Sport in Paraguay, where they’ll discuss topics like leadership building in sport, developing coaching techniques and building winning programs. While men’s soccer is a huge part of Latin American culture, women’s soccer is still a developing sport, so the tour serves as an excellent tool to help build the sport while also helping those in need.

This is the fourth year Athletes in Action has done this tour, and the third year that TWU athletes have gone on the trip.

-TW-

Last Updated: 2009-09-03
Author: Scott Stewart
Email: ssstew@twu.ca