Soccersmith Academy graduates 120 players

SANDPOINT — The fourth annual Soccersmith Academy was held at Travers Park from Aug. 2-6 and 120 players were awarded certificates of completion.

Both field player and goalkeeper training sessions were provided by the coaching staff. Training the goalkeepers were Heather Reifsnyder and Ben Ward. Reifsnyder, a sophomore goalkeeper at the University of Idaho, played for both the Sandpoint Bulldogs and Sandpoint Strikers Soccer Club. Ward, who will be a senior goalkeeper for Lakeland High School, also plays goalkeeper for the Sandpoint Strikers Soccer Club.

The Soccersmith Academy was able to bring back four former Bulldogs and Strikers to work with the field players.

Brian Farber played two years for Oregon State University and two years for North Idaho College. Kayla Ireland played two years for the Community Colleges of Spokane and will now be heading off to play for Ottawa University in Kansas. Becca Sturm begins her sophomore season at Concordia University in Oregon this fall and Lonnie Williams begins his sophomore season at North Idaho College this fall.

The Soccersmith Academy also had two current Bulldogs and Strikers working with the field players; junior, Kyle Van Dyk and freshman, Jake Sleyster.

Former NCAA Division I player and current Sandpoint Striker head coach, Henry Machado, served as one of the field player coaches, as did the Striker U-17-boy's head coach, Jeff Whiteside.

The director of the Soccersmith Academy, Ray Smith, also serves as the director for the Sandpoint Soccer Association, which includes the SSA-Youth League, the Sandpoint Strikers Soccer Club and the Junior Strikers Soccer Club. Prior to arriving in Sandpoint, Smith served as a collegiate head coach for 10 years, as an assistant collegiate coach for two years and as a high school head coach for 10 years. He has also served as an ODP regional level head coach for six years, an ODP state level head coach for two years and as the state director of ODP for Idaho.