Coquitlam siblings Ben and Lacey Kindel both pull on Team Canada jerseys and compete internationally for the first time this week.
It would be a little easier on their family if they weren’t doing it 7,000 kilometres apart.
Dad Steve Kindel is with Ben, 17, in Edmonton for the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, the Under-18 hockey tournament. Canada begins action Monday night at Rogers Place, taking on the Swiss. The eight-team event has its final on Saturday.
Lacey, 14, has mom Sara Maglio with her in Alajuela, Costa Rica, for the Concacaf Under-15 soccer championship. Canada opened the tournament Monday with a 1-0 win over Puerto Rico, and Lacey was a second-half substitute. That eight-team tournament decides its champion on Sunday.
The parents are both former Vancouver Whitecaps standouts. Steve and Sara met when they were playing with their respective SFU teams. They both suited up internationally for Canada, with Steve totalling 28 caps over three levels and Sara playing in the 1999 Women’s World Cup.
They each remain firmly entrenched in youth soccer in the province as well, with Steve, 47, as senior technical director of the North Vancouver Football Club, and Sara, 46, as executive director of the Coquitlam Metro-Ford Soccer Club.
“It’s very surreal for us, with the coincidence of the timing of the tournaments,” Sara said late last week, before departing for Costa Rica. “We wish that we could both be there (for each tournament), but we’re going to divide and conquer.
“We’re obviously really proud of both of them. But both the kids and Steve and I are all pretty grounded. This is an important moment for each of them, but they both want to do so much more, too. This is hopefully one step on their way to everything they want to do.”