A pair of Salmon Arm soccer players will be competing on the world stage as they travel to Auckland, New Zealand for the World Masters Games in April.
Kevin Harrison and Nigel Clack are members of the Okanagan Kickers soccer team who will be competing in the 55+ division at the masters games.
The Kickers will face teams from Italy, New Zealand and Australia, as well as fellow Canadians in their seven-team pool.
Clack estimated at least 100 soccer teams across all age classes would be playing in the tournament.
An eighth team dropped out of the pool making the schedule for the Kickers tighter and more demanding.
“Now we’re playing at least six games in seven days which is a tiny bit daunting for some more mature players like ourselves,” said Harrison with a laugh.
The Kickers’ 20-man roster is mostly from Kelowna but also has players from Vernon, Salmon Arm, Victoria and Ontario.
Some members of the team have been playing together since last May. Over Thanksgiving, the team won a 50+ tournament in Penticton.
Last weekend, the team met for a training session and then played an exhibition game in Vernon against a younger team.
Clack said the team’s need for better conditioning was apparent after losing to the younger team.
This will be Harrison’s first trip to the games and Clack’s third, having competed in the games when they were hosted in Edmonton in 2005 and Torino Italy in 2013.
“Edmonton was the first one I went to and I didn’t really know what to expect, because I hadn’t been before. The atmosphere was great, because you’ve got all these teams. It’s better when you’ve got the teams from these other countries. You get this camaraderie and you get to hear about what the sports are like in their countries,” Clack said.
Clack said the social element of the games makes the opportunity a unique experience.
“It was quite an experience its great to see there are so many mature people getting exercise. That’s what I loved about it,” he said. “I thought I was just going to a tournament but it turned out to be much more than that.”
Along with the social aspect, Clack emphasized the stiff competition with the top four teams in the 55+ division after the round robin moving on to play for medals.
“In a small way it’s our professional scene, it’s our Olympics,” Clack said.
“It’s like our World Cup,” Harrison added.
The World Masters’ Games are close to the Olympics in scale, with approximately 25,000 athletes competing in 28 different sports and opening ceremonies held at Eden Park, the stadium used by the All Blacks rugby team.
Clack and Harrison fly to New Zealand on April 19 and are hoping to return to Salmon Arm with World Masters Games medals around their necks.