More than 400 energetic youth players bound on indoor fields and courts around the city this week to kick-off the Whitehorse FC indoor soccer and futsal season.

Some who have never played before and ranging in age from six to 17, the young athletes participated in drafts for the recreational league in order for the coaches to make fair teams for the season.

Yukon Soccer Association executive director John MacPhail said these teams will be playing throughout the winter until March 11 at the Canada Games Centre.

The league will also be hosting the Toonie Tournament Dec. 8-9 both at the CGC and Yukon College where the minor soccer teams as well as visiting teams from outside Whitehorse will play indoor action.

But Whitehorse FC is not the only league playing in a busy Whitehorse soccer season this winter.

There is also another branch of Whitehorse FC, the premier league, for enhanced skill development and the opportunity to travel for competitive tournaments against teams across the country, MacPhail said.

Friday nights are when the older kids get to play with the Yukon Soccer Metro League for adults, which is also running a new Yukon Futsal Metro League.

In conjunction with the Yukon Selects FC, the new futsal league will start Nov. 4 playing games every Saturday from 5:00-9:00 p.m.

Then there is the Arctic Winter Games, which are quickly approaching for futsal and there are five different teams that will be organized and run by Sport Yukon completely separate from the leagues, MacPhail said.

“Arctic Winter Games is huge, huge, huge for these kids in this territory,” he said. “It’s one of the bigger events. Kids want to get to the Arctic Winter Games.”

Yukon Soccer will be holding futsal trials for the five teams Dec. 2-3 at Vanier Catholic Secondary School.

The five teams representing the Yukon will consist of intermediate girls (born 2000 or later), junior boys and girls (born 2002 or later) and juvenile boys and girls (born 2004 or later).

In the 2016 Arctic Winter Games held in Nuuk, Greenland, all five Yukon futsal teams made it to the medal round bringing home three medals.

Both the juvenile and junior boy’s teams won the bronze medal and the intermediate girl’s team took home the silver medal falling 1-0 in the gold-medal game.

The Yukon Selects club is also hard at work putting together a men’s futsal team for the Futsal Canadian Championship in April. The team will also compete in the new metro futsal league.

The group held their first tryout Oct. 21 and will be be holding another one Oct. 28 from 5:00-7:00 p.m. at Vanier, welcome to those who were not able to make it to the first tryout.

For the youth playing soccer for the first time on the CGC turf, representing the Yukon may be something they’re kicking towards also.