Four RRC Rebels named to MCAC All-Conference team
Taylor Allen, BEAT REPORTER
Anderson Pereira (right) was one of the four Rebels selected for the MCAC All-Conference team. SUPPLIED / Anderson Pereira
Two Red River College soccer players earned all-star status this season.
Anderson Pereira and Paige Procter will both take silver medals and Manitoba Colleges Athletic Conference All-Conference awards away from their final year at RRC.
Pereira has been selected to the all-conference team in both of his seasons at RRC. He felt honoured to have been named to the team for the second time in his college career, but said it wasn’t his main goal for the season.
“My goal was to win the championship. It’s always nice to get acknowledged for your hard work but the main goal was winning,” said Pereira.
Pereira is from Santa Vitória do Palmar, Brazil. He received a scholarship from the Brazilian government, and he chose to come to Canada to study business.
He had no intention to play soccer when he arrived in Winnipeg in 2014. Pereira didn’t know the college had a soccer team.
“I wasn’t expecting to play soccer at all. I actually play more soccer here than I played in Brazil,” said Pereira.
Pereira hadn’t played soccer for seven years before he came to Winnipeg. He stopped playing when he was 15-years-old.
“I had a groin injury and I tried to come back before it healed, so it got worse. Then I got busy with school and others things and just didn’t have the time to play,” said Pereira.
Playing soccer at RRC has made his transition to living in a new country easier. Pereira’s teammates showed him around the city and helped him learn how to speak English.
“I have made friends from playing soccer here at Red River that will be my brothers for life,” says Pereira.
