One of Yorkton's top young athletes earned major provincial recognition recently as Sacred Heart Saints and Yorkton United Football Club standout Rita Fetsch won Saskat-chewan Soccer's Youth Player of the Year award, capping off a year where she helped lead Sacred Heart to a long awaited girls' 2A Saskatchewan High School Provincial title as well as lifitng the YUFC to another strong club season this winter during the indoor schedule.
Fetsch didn't just win the prestigious award, she beat out some very impressive company as Humboldt's Joel Zimroz currently trains for the Vancouver Whitecaps of Major League Soccer as part of the Whitecaps Academy system. However to those around Yorkton's footy scene Fetsch being recognized comes as no surprise as she has racked up quite the resume along with her teammates, with Fetsch being one of the most deadly scorers and playmakers in the province the Saints and YUFC girls programs have been consistently in the finals of almost all tournaments over the past years since Fetsch hit the high school ranks.
In the past year Fetsch has helped guide her clubs to gold medals in both the Regina and Saskatoon Division Two Indoor tournaments, a gold medal in the Saskatoon Premier Division tournament, a Provincial Outdoor Division Two title and a high school Provincial championship that was won on the Saints home pitch after losing in last year's finals.
That type of success helped Fetsch win Player of the Year in Yorkton naturally, where Fetsch was on the day she was named Saskatchewan Youth Player of the Year, attending Yorkton's banquet after a camp hosted by Desiree Scott that day in Yorkton. Fetsch knew she was nominated for the award, but opted to attend Yorkton's year end banquet as the events were held over the same evening.
In the end Fetsch was congratulated by the University of Regina's head coach of the women's program to congratulate her on an award she was surprised to win.
"He said 'Congratulations on winning the Player of the Year award' and I thought that he was talking about the one that I won for Yorkton at the Yorkton banquet," said Fetsch. "Then he said that he was there and I knew he wasn't there (in Yorkton) so I asked him what he was talking about and he told me that I won the one for Saskatchewan as well."
"I definitely wasn't expecting it," Fetsch mentioned on winning what is her highest individual honour tlo date in her quickly skyrocketing career on the pitch. "I knew I was nominated but I can't say that I was expecting to win it. It was a nice surprise."
Fetsch has long bloodlines in the game as the Fetsch family are a local staple on YUFC teams, with brothers and sisters starring for the Saints as well as for the local club, in fact Rita has been coached by her mom for the Saints over the past few years where the two have enjoyed plenty of winning, ending their mother-daughter coach/player partnership this season with the ultimate storybook ending in winning the provincial title on the pitch where Fetsch has played most of her life at Sacred Heart. Rita credited her mom and family for her recent success, as well as showing her team first attitude and leadership in thanking her friends/teammates who have played with her in Yorkton forever.
"My mom is definitely an inspiration. She's taught me most of what I know about soccer and it has been special having her coach me," said Fetsch. "I also have to credit the girls that I play with. You don't put the ball in the net all by yourself and you don't work the ball down the field alone. You win as a team and you lose as a team so I have to give a lot of credit to them.
"I've been lucky enough to have the opportunity to play with a lot of quality teammates who are very talented girls in Yorkton such as Kendra Varjassy, Kristen Jonassen, Lauren Maier and Allison Berge just to name a few," said Fetsch who pointed out in a team game like soccer having talented support is pivotal. "When you have those kind of people on your team it's a lot easier to succeed and we have had a lot of success together.
As for her plans after graduating, Fetsch naturally has both Saskatchewan programs looking to land the best recruit and young player in the province. As of now, she is weighing her options before making a decision.
"Both the U of R and the U of S have contacted me and invited me for training camps," said Fetsch, who mentioned she met with the Regina school already to visit the campus, "I just went to the U of R to do a meet and greet and train with the girls and sort out some academic stuff as well."
While she has met with the U of R and trained with team, the U of S has just entered the picture according to Fetsch who has had quite the whirlwind April.
"I also just got an email from the U of S saying that they were also interested in me so I'm just trying to make decisions at this point."
