At the recently held European Masters Games in Turin Italy, the women’s soccer team representing Canada, Ottawa Women’s United (OWU), took home the gold medal in the women’s +40 category. This event, held every four years, markets itself as the Olympics for the over 30 athlete. This year the soccer achievement had a local connection: OWU’s forward, Kelly McNamara of Almonte.
McNamara’s been with the team for only 1 year, yet still managed a goal against the formidable Australian squad. In fact the Canadian team faced stiff competition in their entire division facing off against the Italians, as well as the Australians. And they did all this during an unprecedented heat wave on extremely hard and unforgiving turf surfaces. Their gold medal match was decided in a shoot-out which they took 4 to 3.
The games ran from July 26th to August 4th and this was the second international games for the OWU, having previously competed in New Zealand. In Italy, the European Masters involved 30 sports: from basketball to football, from badminton to swimming, from golf to archery.
McNamara noted her team benefited from outstanding performances from a great goalie and she encourages more women to get involved in these great opportunities. She and her team are already making plans to compete in Japan in 2021.
