At Tuesday's Yukon Selects practice, head coach Victor Lavanderos charged his troops with news the squad would face a newly-formed club the following day.

"Very good. Very good team,” he said.

The Selects arrived to a formidable swarm of red jerseys taking the F.H. Collins upper field on Wednesday. That swarm consisted of roughly 40 U8 and U10 Development players.

Lavanderos, who also coaches the U8 club, arranged the training session and game to inspire the young players and encourage the Selects to enjoy the game in the throes of a rigorous training schedule leading up to the 2011 BMO National Championships Challenge Trophy in Brossard, Que., from Oct. 5-10.

Selects players Nick Locke and Kurtis Hills helped Lavanderos run a warm-up training session while keepers George Maratos and Gabriel Stetkiewicz worked with the young shot stoppers before all 40 youth players took on the Yukon's premier men's team.

The development players moved in a cohesive unit, supporting one another and spreading the ball around the park.

The Selects, meanwhile, were overwhelmed from the opening kick-off.

The U8s and U10s took advantage, burying the ball late in the match to force a penalty shootout. Which they won by a wide margin.

"We thought we should have something fun with the kids, show how the adults play soccer, to encourage the kids to keep going,” Lavanderos said following the match.

This is the first year Whitehorse Minor Soccer, through the Yukon Soccer Association, offered the U8 and U10 Development teams.

The programs came together this year simply because the interest was there, Lavanderos said.

"We focus on vision, ball control. Years before we never had that. We're trying to get the kids, when they get to U12, to have better control of the ball and knowledge of the game.

"We have a bunch of kids who are competitive. In the past, I don't remember seeing that at that level, kids who want to push to get the maximum (out of their game). I think that's the reason the teams formed this year.”

The Selects began their program last November with the nationals in mind. The club was knocked out in the quarter-finals of the Honda North and BC Indoor Soccer League 25th Annual Indoor Soccer Tournament in Prince George, B.C., in March. In August, the Selects settled took second in the 2011 Alaska Invitational held in Anchorage.

Lavanderos is hoping good results for the Yukon Selects at nationals will inspire the young players back home.

"It's very important, especially here. We have a list of 26 guys. We can bring just 20. It's the first time we have had such a competitive team come together. That can be very important for the Yukon Selects to keep going in the future.”

Hills agreed. At 17-years-old, Hills is the youngest player on the Selects. It wasn't long ago that he was looking up to the older players.

He remembers watching his older brother, Jeff Hills, a midfielder with the current Selects program, play for the Canada Summer Games team.

"They'd play games against the Yukon Selects, and I'd be out here every day watching because the level they played at I thought was amazing. I always looked forward to playing with them,” said Kurtis, who last year helped coach the U11s and U13s.

"I definitely enjoy being out there, giving back, because it always gives them something to look forward to. I remember being younger too and definitely looking up to the older guys and really wanting to strive to be as good as them.”

U10 coach Dale Cheeseman saw that in his players Wednesday.

"Just seeing the skill of the older players, with the Selects going to nationals, is a good incentive for them to play hard and have fun and push themselves,” Cheeseman said.

"In the past the kids see some of the plays the older players make and during practice they practice them, and then strive to go to nationals. Tonight, a couple of the guys asked, ‘Are we going to nationals too?' and I said, ‘No, not yet.' But they have something to work toward. They all want to go and play.”

That enjoyment of the game shown last night by the young players – whose goal celebrations included sprinting up field with their jerseys pulled over their heads – translated to the Selects, Lavanderos added.

"I think the Yukon Selects had fun!”