Six players from Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows have been named to Team B.C.
On Friday, B.C. Soccer announced its rosters for the second phase of its Provincial Development Program, with 160 boys and girls from across the province chosen to participate in high-performance training activities. which include on and off field training and match play.
On the boys under-14 team, Eugene Martens of Pitt Meadows and Timothy Solinger of Maple Ridge both made the cuts.
The U15 team features Nate Trampleasure of Pitt Meadows and Felipe Vieira of Maple Ridge.
Maple Ridge’s Ola Ajibike found a spot on the U16 boys team, and Katelyn Erhardsen of Ridge will play for the U16 girls.
All of the local players play with clubs other than the local West Coast Auto Group Football Club.
The program started yesterday, and culminates with participation in the Portland Timbers Cup on May 24-26 weekend at U13 to U16 age groups.
“We have been able to expand the rosters to 20 players in the first two phases to provide an even more in-depth talent identification of potential high performance players,” said Michael Findlay, director of soccer development BC Soccer.
“The program will once again provide these players with the opportunity to train and participate within an advanced high performance environment with the goal of developing themselves for the next level of play through our development partners the Vancouver Whitecaps FC and our Canadian National Youth Teams Programming.”
The final phase of the program, July 1-28 for U13 to U14 male and females and July 1-21 for U15 to U16 male and females is the culmination of the program and main competition platform.
Players will be tested in two competition formats headlined by the CSA Regional competitions and National Championships. In the final phase 18 players will be selected to each team.