Americas Champions Cup

October 9 - 11th 2010
Bonsor Recreation Complex
Burnaby B.C.

Over our Thanksgiving weekend, we were treated to twenty-two exciting games of powerchair football. With five top US teams competing with our three top Canadian teams, the action was intense. Representing the US were the Atlanta Synergy, Atlanta Tigers, Minnesota Courage Blizzard, San Jose Steamrollers and Tampa Thunder. Out for Canada were the North Shore Eagles, Vancouver Lightening and the Okanagan Thunderchairs.

The Championship started with a welcome banquet on the Friday night, and continued through to the awards banquet on the Monday night. Games were played all day Sunday and Monday. Regular games or group games were held on Sunday, and then the teams were placed in their spots for the quarter finals, semi finals and championship games for Monday. This was also our first tournament where a training session was held for classifiers, and many of the team members were classified as either PF 1’s or PF 2’s. For future tournaments, classification with be a regular part of the event. It was great to see three of our Canadian referees out on the floor along with two referees from Japan and four from the United States.The referees spent many hours on the Saturday going over the rules and protocol for the games.

The players all experienced the fast pace of the game, and although the Canadian teams did not come out on top, they stepped up their game and the action on the floor kept everyone on their toes. Some teams experienced the hardship of chairs being too fast, tires going flat and being given the yellow card, but this did not take away from the enjoyment of the tournament.

In the end Atlanta Synergy took home the cup, with Tampa coming in second. Our Canadian teams scored some great goals and are looking forward to closing the competitive gap next year, and perhaps bringing the cup to Canada!

Submitted by :
Cathy Cunningham
President , B.C. Power Soccer