Four East Kootenay teenagers are heading to South America in April to play for Team Canada in a soccer tournament.

Keion Sandberg and Nathan Lockhart from Cranbrook, Caden McMurray from Radium Hot Springs and Orien Domin from Sparwood are humbled and proud to have been selected and invited to a national football (soccer) team, representing Canada, in Lima, Peru this coming April. The tournament is called the IFA7 COPA AMERICA – Raising Stars – 2024.

The IFA7 COPA AMERICA – Raising Stars is one of the most prestigious single -event sporting competitions in the continent for seven-aside football and is contested by the BU18 teams from Member Associations of IFA7.

“The 2024 competition will host eight nations from the American continent and will provide us with the ability to showcase our Canadian talent,” said Daniel Balcorta, Canada Soccer Federation President.

“We are a group of four athletes from B.C. who have been invited to attend this event alongside athletes from Alberta. We are thankful that all of us ‘B.C. Boys’ know each other well and play together in various forms of football and are close teammates and friends representing all corners of the East Kootenay,” the players stated in a public fundraising request.

Each athlete is asked to provide $5,500 USD toward their portion of the expenses for this competition. This money will go towards uniforms, jerseys, flights, accommodation, food, and coaching expenses.

The players will be away from Canada for 10 days, in hope of playing some exhibition games upon their arrival to Peru prior to the start of the tournament taking place April 17-21.

“We are reaching out to local businesses in our respective communities asking for your support to assist us in reaching our financial goal, so we can attend this prestigious event. The event will be broadcast live so all our Canadian supporters will be able to cheer us on. We will proudly mention your name and business in upcoming media releases as well as any interviews that we are able to do. The Canadian team manager will be releasing information via news outlets as well,” the players noted

“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for us that has the potential to expose us to scouts and agents that may connect us to future soccer opportunities.”

Should you wish to support the boys, here is their contact information:

Lead image: (l to r) Caden McMurray, Keion Sandberg, Nathan Lockhart and Orien Domin – members of IFA7 Team Canada. Photo submitted

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