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Taking ’em to the top

Soccer coach Doug Sweetapple kick-starts the sport in Clyde River

Doug Sweetapple ends an after-school soccer practice with a whistle blast. The signal generates a collective groan from eight rosy-cheeked girls who don’t want to stop playing.

The girls leave the gym at Clyde River’s Quluaq School, and the next team, a group of boys, rushes in. By day’s end, the Grade 6 teacher has spent six hours enthusiastically encouraging, instructing and maybe even teasing four soccer teams.

"If you had a Doug Sweetapple in every community you’d have a territory of better soccer players," says Travis Hoffe, secretary-treasurer of the Nunavut Soccer Association in Iqaluit and a soccer coach himself. "I’m not saying tomorrow, but in years to come. The main thing is to have coaches with that kind of commitment."

Sweetapple’s commitment has paid off. His 14-and-under boys’ team turned in several notable performances last season, and his 14-and-under goal-hungry girls impressed just about everyone — including Sweetapple — this past November, by winning the territorial championship title and qualifying for the 2002 Arctic Winter Games.

Like many communities, Clyde River had just two regular extracurricular activities before Sweetapple, 55, came along two years ago: watching television and listening to music. There was no soccer team, no coach and just one soccer ball.

But the coach attributes the region’s success in soccer to a winning group of kids. "I’m lucky to have such a dedicated group of athletes. It’s amazing how far they’ve come" Sweetapple says.

Eleanor Arnakak, 14, joined the team to stay active, travel to tournaments and meet new people. In March, she’ll don a yellow and blue Team Nunavut jersey during the Arctic games.

"Playing soccer is the best," Arnakak says breathlessly over the phone. "I can’t wait to go to Greenland."

Playing soccer in Clyde River has advantages: the $5 registration fee is affordable for most parents, Sport Nunavut picks up a large portion of travel costs to tournaments and, unlike larger cities with other distractions, missed practices are rarely a problem.

When he arrived in the community, Sweetapple held after-school tryouts. Regardless of skill level, students who attended regularly were eligible to play on a team. The number of eligible players doubled in the second year. Today, passing and dribbling drills are the least of his concerns.

"Whenever the gym is free, the students want in. So much so there was recently a meeting held at the request of other sport groups complaining that soccer players are in the gym all the time. That’s how keen they are," he says with a chuckle. "If I told the soccer kids ‘We’re going to practise every day,’ they’d be in the gym waiting."

A nationally certified coach, Sweetapple’s 35-year coaching career includes hockey, broomball, basketball and volleyball. He is a regional director for the Nunavut Soccer Association and teaches top level senior men’s soccer during summers home in Newfoundland each year.

To ensure the sport carries on if he were to one day leave Clyde River, Sweetapple is holding coaching certification clinics.

"Like most communities, team sports go up and down. We now have six or seven local volunteers here in Clyde River who are really active. Soccer will continue in the community long after I’m gone," he predicts.

One of those volunteer coaches is Martin Iqaqrialu. The 20-year-old is the coach of the junior girls AWG team heading to Greenland. A man of few words, Iqaqrialu laughs when asked if he’ll take over when Sweetapple is gone.

"Of course. I love soccer," he says.

Sweetapple credits his players with teaching him patience and a basic Inuktitut vocabulary. He considers coaching a natural extension of teaching in the classroom.

"I’ve learned there is no point in getting upset. Just adapt, and things work out," he says.

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