Photo: Kick start: youth descend on Iqaluit for “futsal” tourney

Eighteen teams from across Nunavut descended on Nunavut’s capital last weekend, June 26 to June 28, to play in an under-15 soccer tournament at the Arctic Winter Games arena. The event, which hasn’t been held here for several years, featured divisions for both boys and girls, said Romeyn Stevenson, from the Nunavut Soccer Association. “It was absolutely a success,” Stevenson said. “The level of play was really high.” Above, Arviat, in orange, plays against Rankin Inlet on June 27. Rankin Inlet won the tournament for the boys and Coral Harbour finished on top of the girls division. The youth were actually playing a variation of indoor soccer called “futsal,” Stevenson said, which involves more ball control since you have to obey sideline out-of-bounds areas and can’t kick the ball off the boards. “It’s kind of new in Nunavut,” he said. (PHOTO BY DAVID MURPHY)