When Senior Super Soccer was cancelled due to the measles outbreak in Yellowknife earlier this month, it left many teams scrambling, especially those who were preparing to travel to play in the territorial tournament from May 8 to 11.
In the South Slave region, folks there were able to turn the negative into a big positive to make sure the players had something to play for.
South Slave Super Duper Soccer was the unofficial title of the last-minute affair at Diamond Jenness Secondary School and it happened May 10 and 11, the weekend following the scheduled event in the capital.
Peter Beaton was one of the organizers who helped pull the whole thing off and he said it turned out better than everyone expected.
"We got the news that everything was called off on the Tuesday before the tournament and we understood why they had to do that," he said. "We were just excited to be able to hold something for the kids and give them a chance to play because they all worked hard to be ready for Yellowknife."
The tournament featured teams from Fort Smith, Hay River and K'atl'odeeche First Nation all hitting the floor for action in the U13, U15 and U18 age categories.
Even though it wasn't the Super Soccer they had been planning for, Beaton said it was just as good and there was plenty of good action.
"This was their Super Soccer," he said. "I feel bad for the graduating kids because they didn't get to play in their last one before heading off to university, but this was a way to kind of make up for that and at least give them one last chance to play together as a team."
There has been some rumbling about a possible make-up date at the end of the month, but Beaton said his students probably wouldn't be playing.
"I heard those rumours as well, but our kids are focused on track and field now and we have final exams coming up," he said. "There just wouldn't be any time for us to be involved."
The NWT Track and Field Championships are the last big event of the school sports calendar and will get underway at Diamond Jenness Track on June 4.
