September 17, 2008played their final year in the youth soccer league.
They've been on a Beaver Valley team for 12 years
and won six championship titles.
The shoes hanging on the telephone wires at Tomahawk Park in Thornbury aren't just muddy old soccer shoes.
They're trophies, thrown to their proud pedestals by the under 18 Beaver Valley soccer champs.
It's a tradition started by the soccer boys in their final year playing youth soccer in Beaver Valley.
Shane Raymer, 18, Matt Paterson, 17, Shawn Roberts, 18, and Nathan Shaw, 18, joined the Beaver Valley Under 7 soccer team when they were six. Their friends Doug Collins and Gerbe Botden joined at the same time. Collins is now at Fanshawe College, and Botden moved to Ottawa to go to Carleton University.
The boys remember playing soccer at recess in kindergarten and pre-school. It seemed natural to join the Beaver Valley U-7 team 12 years ago.
Raymer remembers "dancing around and picking grass" for the first year, but something about soccer stuck with him, and he continued to play.
"Eventually it grows into something you want to keep doing," said Raymer.
Next year, he's joining the new adult soccer league in Thornbury, a competitive team in Collingwood, the high school team at GBSS and he hopes to be the assistant coach for one of the youth teams. Last year he was the head coach for an under 15 team. He is also trying to get a scout from Laurentian to watch him play - he's hoping for a scholarship.
Roberts plans to play soccer on the GBSS team as well. Paterson is going to focus on Rugby this year, and Shaw is working full-time.
After a dozen years, with six championship wins, there's no shortage of soccer stories.
Like the time Paterson had to run six laps because he picked up Botden and dunked his head in a puddle. Or Raymers's famous red cards in the finals.
Shaw, when he wasn't scoring on his own net was hitting the post or the crossbar, earning him the nickname "crossbar." One day, coach Rob Ferris told the team they had to run six laps unless Shaw could score from mid-field. If he scored, the team only had to run two laps. True to his name, he hit the crossbar. Coach Rob made them run four laps.
The boys are proud of their team's aggressive group.
"Remember the Chatsworth game!" one of them interjects.
Raymer explains that for one game they played in Chatsworth the host club brought in an extra referee for the Beaver Valley game.
They boys remember several people for their dedication to youth soccer.
"Without them, nothing would have happened," said Raymer.
Thanks to Peter and Mary Lou Hibbard, organizers for youth soccer in Beaver Valley.
To Don Stevens - "He made sure we had a league to play in," said Paterson.
To their parents - "They always came out to cheer us on, and gave us snacks at half time when we were younger," said Shaw.
"Even when we started driving ourselves, they still came to the games," said Paterson.
The boys proudly announce that their team always had the best crowd turn out.
And to Coach Rob Ferris - He started a job in Mississauga, explained Raymer, but he still drove to Thornbury twice a week for practice and a game. "He did a lot for us," they all add almost in unison. "We didn't start winning until he started coaching us."
Now the 12 years are up, the boys are moving on to other things.
"It was fun while it lasted," said Raymer.
"We put Thornbury on every single trophy from U-13 to U-18," adds Paterson.
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