Leayne Young-Geiger (left) and Ali Duxbury battle for the ball at the Field House on Sunday.

Skill development was the focus over the weekend at the Moose Jaw Field House as the second annual Umbero Christmas Cup took to the pitch for a three-game series between local players.

Kids playing in the Under-14 and Under-16 boys and girls divisions were split up into Team Canada and the United States for three games on Friday, Saturday and Sunday in the event put on by JJ Soccer.  Canada ended up taking the title with a 6-4 win in the final game on Sunday after ties on Friday and Saturday, but it wasn't the wins and losses that mattered.

“The way this turned out was fantastic,” said Jason Jones with JJ Soccer, event organizer.  “I was happy with the level of play, considering the fact that all these players are local players and that they were able to come together, we had one training session with them and play these three games like that.”

All the players that took part are playing soccer over the winter months, but this just allowed them to get some expert instruction in a competitive atmosphere with the three-game series.  “We want to make sure that it's fun and there's not too much pressure on winning, so to have this kind of opportunity where they can come in, they can play against their friends, but still be competitive,” explained Jones.

“It's been a lot of fun and I couldn't have asked for anything better.”

The players were working on using the whole field during the games and it definitely showed during the last game as Canada built up a big first half lead only to have the United States use their skill to find a way back into the game.  “We were working on a lot of width, trying to get the ball out wide and get serves back into the box, so the level is coming,” said Jones.

“I just wish I had more time with them because now they'll go back to their local leagues and their Storm teams, and if you could just keep a group like this and train them together, it would be fantastic.  Some of the things that we addressed, we seen a little bit more than we seen last year, so you know that development is happening, but if we could just keep them together for a longer time that would be great.”

While the second year of the event was another success for Jones and JJ Soccer, he says that he will be looking at some changes for next year's event, “We're definitely going to look at the timing.  Maybe right after the New Year, we could have that weekend just before school starts, maybe that will get us some more local kids.  We'll definitely look at the timing and even expand it to one more team, to get three teams involved it would be good.”

Click here for more information on JJ Soccer and the programs that they offer, including their district training centre.