By Nick Bowton

The North American Sand Soccer Championships' website offers no guarantee about weather, women or leisure activities. It advertises the tournament.

But a group of high school boys from Yellowknife, Canada has learned that the annual tournament's best perks are seen on arrival. For the second straight year, St. Patrick's high school in Yellowknife has sent a team to compete in the tournament, which grew to 482 teams this year. And, for the second consecutive year, the boys from Canada are enjoying their trek south.

Keith MacLean, his white tournament jersey in hand, noted some of the area's bright spots while watching the Canadian and United States national teams play an exhibition on Saturday. "The weather. The women. Just sitting on the beach," said MacLean, sitting with his teammates in an otherwise pro-U.S. crowd. "We don't have a beach like this anywhere".

Oh, and one other thing. "Right now, we'd be in school". Instead of preparing for final exams, MacLean and his friends spent the fundraising money they earned in the past year flying south.

Last year, two teams from Yellowknife drove sixteen hours south to Edmonton before flying to Virginia. This year, spending the same amount of money, the school sent one team but flew straight from Yellowknife. The team arrived on Thursday and has since gone to Busch Gardens, spent time walking down "the strip" on Atlantic Avenue, and played some soccer.

Canada's "Ice Kickers", as they're called, won their first game 5-0. They were the only victorious Canadian team of the day as the Canadian National Team lost its exhibition 4-1. But as MacLean and teammate Sasha Tuma explained to some young U.S. fans, they were the real Canadian team. "These are the official Canada national team shirts", Tuma told a young boy, showing him a white one with a red Canadian logo. "We wouldn't have let these guys beat us!"

The Ice Kickers exchanged other conversations with the boys, asking about their games and telling them about the 5-0 victory. And Tuma, when Canada scored on a penalty kick, made it a point to let the crowd it wasn't all U.S..

The guys from Yellowknife left with their vice principal and coach, Duane MacNeil, when the exhibition ended. They had another game to play and plans to make for the night. If Tuma had his way, those plans included getting a tattoo. And, if not, he still had the weather, the beach, and - as another teammate reminded Coach MacNeil after the exhibition - the girls...