Lethbridge Polytechnic Kodiaks men’s and women’s futsal teams will kick off their Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference season this weekend with a pair of games against Medicine Hat College Rattlers.
Both Kodiaks teams are made up of players from the outdoor soccer season, as they have to adapt from playing on a large field to a smaller gymnasium. There’s five players a side on the court at one time, including a goalkeeper. A smaller, harder ball is used in the fast-paced game – which focuses on ball handling technique and possession.
The women are coming off a silver-medal finish at the ACAC Championship in 2024, where they were edged by top-ranked SAIT Trojans in the championship match.
Kodiaks assistant coach Kayla Beers says the team has lost some veterans from last year, as well as the outdoor season, but new recruits have stepped in to fill the void.
“We did lose some players from outdoor just due to academics or they may have gone home or finished their semester, things like that,” notes Beers. “We have a lot of new recruits this year, more new recruits than vets. The vets we do have, have been helpful. They’re always more than happy to guide our new recruits, which is great for the coaching staff.”
While Beers and head coach Sean Carey will be relying on veteran leadership, they’ll also be looking at the newcomers for contributions.
“Some of the new girls seem to have a really good soccer IQ in the sense they understand the game well,” adds Beers. “They understand how to get into position properly. Futsal is new to them, but they seem to be grasping it quickly.”
Beers said the goal for the Kodiaks is to make it to the ACAC Championship, which will be hosted by Lakeland College in Lloydminster in March. The road to the championship begins this weekend.
“I think things are looking good, we’re excited,” says Beers. “We’re hosting our opening games this weekend against our Highway 3 rival Medicine Hat. The season has come up quick. We came back from Christmas break, trained for two weeks and now we’re right into games.”
“The following weekend we go to Medicine Hat and two weekends after that we’re hosting South Regionals with the South Division teams coming in to play in our gym, both boys and girls. It will be a ton of futsal action, so it will be a good test of where we’re at.”
Meanwhile, the men finished last season, just missing out on the ACAC Championship tournament.
Like the women, the men are made up of players from the outdoor season, says men’s assistant coach Mike Racz.
“There’s players that maybe excel a little bit more and players that may struggle a bit more compared to outdoor, just because of the nature of the game,” says Racz. “The more creative players are the ones who are able to excel because they create space.”
Kodiak men, also under the guidance of Carey, have a mix of veteran players and new recruits.
“We brought in this year quite a few local young players I think have had an impact on our team,” adds Racz. “Having said that, there are some older players who have a little bit more experience with this type of game.”
Like the women, the men’s goal is to advance to the ACAC Championship. However, it won’t be an easy task, notes Racz, as they open their season at home against the Rattlers, who were silver medallists last season.
“This weekend will be a really good test for us because we struggled with Medicine Hat in outdoor,” says Racz. “We finished above them in the regular season in outdoor, but they had our number both times we played them, so this is a good test for us to show we can compete with them because I don’t think we competed with them in the two outdoor games.
