A new year, the same routine for our Youth teams, who will be back in action in around ten days’ time, once the festive period is fully behind them, to resume their competitive activity. January brings a number of interesting and demanding fixtures, providing further opportunities to continue their consistent development.

The Women’s Primavera, who closed out 2025 with a run of excellent results, will begin the new year with the second derby of the season, following the Coppa Italia meeting, on Sunday 11 January at the PUMA House of Football. It will be the only home fixture of the month for Zago’s team, who will then face away trips to Parma, on the same weekend as the First Team, and Roma.

The new year also begins on the road for the Under-18s, who will be in action away to Sassuolo around the Epiphany. Their first home fixture will be against Frosinone, in a month that also includes two all-Lombardy fixtures: an away match against Monza and a home game with Cremonese, which will also mark the opening round of the second half of the season.

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Cremonese, away, will also be the first opponents of 2026 for our Under-17s, whose first home fixture will come on the weekend of 17–18 January against Atalanta. One date to circle towards the end of the month is the derby away to Inter, on the same weekend that, with venues reversed, will see AC Milan v Inter for the Primavera. Shared paths, with the same fixture calendar, await the men’s Under-16s and Under-15s: they begin at home against Padova, in a month that will also feature a double away trip to face Cremonese.

Match Kits, clothing, accessories, gift ideas and much more: visit the AC Milan online Store!

The second Tennessee Young Sportsman Deer Hunt will be held Jan. 10–11, officially wrapping up the 2025–26 deer season. The regular statewide season ends the weekend before, on Sunday, Jan. 4.

Youth ages 6-16 may participate in the Young Sportsman Deer Hunt using a gun, muzzleloader, or archery equipment. Young sportsmen must be accompanied by a non-hunting adult, 21 or older, who must remain in position to take immediate control of the hunting device. The adult must also comply with the fluorescent orange/pink regulations as specified for legal hunters. A single qualifying adult may accompany multiple youth.

Youth ages 6-9 are not required to have a license or hunter’s education certification. Youth ages 10-12 must meet hunter education requirements or have an apprentice license. In addition to the requirements for youth 10-12, youth 13-15 must have a junior hunting license, and 16-year-olds must have the appropriate adult licenses.

The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency recommends that all hunters obtain a 2025-26 Tennessee Hunting and Trapping Guide. The guide lists license requirements, seasons, and bag limits for each of the six deer management units. The guide is available on the TWRA website, the TWRA App, and at locations where hunting and fishing licenses are sold.

The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency is responsible for protecting, managing, and conserving fish and wildlife species for the benefit of Tennesseans and visitors. The Agency also maintains public safety through law enforcement and safety education on waterways.

SPORTS FEEVER by Chris Fee of KROX Radio – chrisjfee@yahoo.com

Happy New Year! Now that 2025 is complete, I hope you have a happy, healthy, and prosperous new year! Make 2026 the best year yet!!!! It was a year of deep lows and big-time highs. The highlight for me was several things – My daughter Macy graduating from college earlier this month. Broadcasting Red Lake County Baseball winning the state title at Target Field, the Red Lake County Boys Basketball team placing third place at state, Broadcasting Fertile-Beltrami and Kittson County Central Football teams playing in the state semi-finals at US Bank stadium. Those were some of the highlights!!!!

Thanks for reading the column again this year!

— — —

SIGNINGS –
Kittson County Central’s Brody and Brock Scalese signed to play football at the University of Northwestern- St. Paul next fall.

Brooklyn Hulst of Roseau signed to play basketball at Bethel University.

— — —

MILESTONES

Red Lake County’s Connor Duden scored the 2,000th point of his career on December 11.

Bemdiji Lumberjack Girls Hockey’s Millie Knott recorded the 100th point of her career last week.

TRF’s Landen Larson recorded the 100th win of his career last week.

Roseau’s Toby Bryan recorded the 50th win of his wrestling career.

TRF’s Elias Motta recorded the 50th win of his wrestling career.

— — —

The Region 8A tournament and post-season competition schedule is below. The first playoff game is a month away with girls hockey starting on February 5!!!!

— — —

Now it is time for the 2025 A to Z New Years list. I have used a few suggestions that I received over the past week. It is a tough list to make, and we miss several people that should. We try to highlight people who have had important impacts on KROX, Crookston, and area athletics. Here is this year’s list –

A – Advertisers – The lifeblood of all media. We thank all the advertisers on KROX Radio and KROXAM.com. Without them, we wouldn’t be able to do what we do. We thank all the advertisers, and the best way for you to thank them is to patronize their businesses or tell them thank you for sponsoring KROX programming!

B – Boll Family – Lucian and Karen Boll have created an impressive genetic pool of tremendous student-athletes, and it seems to only get better with the grandkids! Lucian and Karen’s kids – Christine (Boll) Sogn played basketball and volleyball at UMC, Brian Boll played football at Concordia College in Moorhead, Amy Boll, was a member of the Bemidji State track and field team, Stephanie (Boll) Rupp played volleyball at Concordia, and Jenny (Boll) Christopherson was an all-American University of North Dakota basketball player,
Karen and Lucian’s grandkids (so far) have Ethan Boll playing football at UND, Mollie Rupp played volleyball at University of Minnesota Duluth and is in the transfer portal for next year. Bailey Rupp (Bemidji High School) is one of the top women’s hockey players in the nation, is playing for the United States National Team, and will play at Minnesota Duluth next year. Chloe Boll (Crookston) will play basketball at the University of Minnesota Crookston. There are many more grandkids that will probably be playing college sports in the future too.

C – Crookston Pirate Booster Club and Crookston Fine Arts Booster Club – The two clubs raise money each year to give to the Crookston Pirate athletic teams and the Crookston School District music, arts, and drama departments. The financial impact is well over $40,000 each year and that helps every activity in the Crookston School District, thanks to the many people that donate to one or both of the clubs.

Crookston Baseball Association – There hasn’t been an organization that has done more for their sport than the Crookston Baseball Association over the last five to 10 years. They have helped with facilities at the UMC Baseball field and added scholarships. They have made upgrades to Jim Karn Baseball Field, the highland complex, and at some point in the hopefully near future would like to do a grandstand at Jim Karn Field.  So when you are out at Crookston establishments, make sure you play some pulltabs or electronic pulltabs because the proceeds go to the Baseball Association.

CYBA and Crookston Blue Line Club – for their promotion of youth basketball and hockey while trying to keep it as affordable as possible and giving the kids as many opportunities to play the two great sports.

D – Doctors – Dr. Steve and Lucas Biermaier from Biermaier Chiropractic; and Dr. Collin Fennel, Dr. Erik Kanten, and a few others from RiverView Health volunteer their time and services at Crookston Pirate sporting events. How many high school football teams have an orthopedic surgeon and two chiropractors at home football games? You see Dr. Erik Kanten and Steve Biermaier on the boy’s and girls’ hockey benches is reassuring to parents. The doctors listed give their time, services, and overwhelming peace of mind to the kids, parents, and coaches.

E – Eric Schmidt. He was named the Grand Forks Herald Co-Sportsperson of the Year after coming back to his alma mater to become the Head Coach of the UND Fighting Hawks Football team. All he does is wins and does things the right way and that was evident in the improved team he had on the field this past fall. UND Football is back and it is good to see him back at UND!

F – Frank Fee – He still helps KROX once in a while. He is a member of the Minnesota Broadcasting Hall of Fame and was the one to start KROXAM.com and create the monster it has become. He covered high school sports for over 50 years and served on the Region 8A committee as a school board member, he was a long-time Section 8A Boys Hockey statistician when hockey had one class and has broadcast thousands and thousands of high school sporting events and hundreds and hundreds of state tournament games. He taught me the importance of hard work and doing things the right way.

G – Garrett Fischer – The senior multi-sport athlete is having a great start to the hockey season and just recorded the 100th point of his career and had 14 goals and 12 assists through Christmas.
He is also an outstanding golfer and will be one of the favorites to make it to the State Class AA golf tournament in Jordan in the spring.

H – Hardy. Josh Hardy – Josh is the Head Crookston Pirate Boys Hockey Coach and they are off to one of the best starts in program history with a 7-2-1 on the year and 3-1 in Section 8A play.. They are averaging 4.5 goals per game and have a huge week coming up with games against Park Rapids, Thief River Falls, and East Grand Forks. Not only is Josh a great coach, but he is a great guy, cares about the kids and is a pretty solid dad and has a great wife and family.

I – Injuries – We hate seeing injuries, especially to seniors, and we feel for Ashlyn Bailey, a senior at Crookston High School tore her ACL this fall and has to miss the rest of her sernior year, including competing in the Section 8A Girls Tennis tournament, the girls hockey season and the track and field season. If Ashlyn had not been injured, the Crookston Girls Tennis team probably would have made it back to their third straight state tournament, the girls hockey team would have at least a couple more wins, and the track team will miss out on one of the top sprinters in the section. The good news, Bailey will be playing hockey at the University of Wisconsin River Falls next year.

J – June Shaver – Since her passing in 2014, June’s Legacy Fund has distributed over $1 million to Crookston community organizations, including a lot of money to Crookston High School student athletes and organizations. She is truly a Pirate legend!

K – Kent Christian – Kent is the head Badger/Greenbush-Middle River Gator Softball coach. Since Kent has taken over the program all they have done is win 12 Section 8A Championships in 2000, 2004, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2023, and 2025. They are one of the top programs in the state every year, and they have one of the best playing fields with drainage tile in the state. Kent is an outstanding coach and a great guy! He is also the head boys basketball coach.

L – Listeners and Website visitors – Without the listeners and website visitors, we wouldn’t be able to continue to do what we do. Your continued support of all of KROX’s coverage is appreciated, and we’re looking forward to providing another full year of Crookston and Northwest Minnesota sports coverage in 2024.

M – Mike Gullingsrud – Mike makes the list as the head coach of the State Champion Red Lake County Rebel Baseball team. That is the only reason. He is also an assistant football coach and is one of the top officials in the area and is considered one of the top college officials in the region. Topping it off, he is a great guy too.

N – New Year – As I write this, it just hit 2026 in New York as I watch the ball drop. 2025 had its ups and downs. We made it through another year, and have lost some great people throughout the year. I hope 2026 is the best year ever for you and your loved ones and your teams! Make 2026 the best year yet! It is also USA’s 250th birthday!

O – Overtime – Is there anything better than overtime? The excitement and intensity it brings to the game is the best. Overtime can be thrilling, with teams fighting for every last second to secure a win. The suspense and the adrenaline and all that jazz makes overtime the best. The only thing that tops it is playoff overtime games!!!

P – Philion, Steve Philion – Steve Philion is in his 52nd year of coaching basketball, and his Red Lake County Rebels finished third place at state last season and are ranked third in the state and are 7-0 to start this season.. Steve is not only a great coach, but he has many years of officiating football, baseball, and softball. Not only is he a great coach and solid official, but he is one of the best people you will meet. He also participates in numerous volunteer activities, including work with the Knights of Columbus and the Lions Club, and organizes the Lace Em Up Basketball camp. Additionally, he is involved in various community initiatives around Red Lake Falls. He is a member of the Minnesota Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, and has well over 700 career wins. Hats off to Steve!!

Q – Quotes –

“We didn’t tackle well today, but we made up for it by not blocking.” – Vince Lombardi

“I love the tension. I love when everything’s going wrong.” – Metta World Peace

“I know I am getting better at golf because I am hitting fewer spectators.” – Gerald R. Ford

“The first half was even, the second half was even worse.” – Pat Spillane

“If a tie is like kissing your sister, losing is like kissing your grandmother with her teeth out.” – George Brett

“All hockey players are bilingual. They know English and profanity.” – Gordie Howe

These are my new shoes. They’re good shoes. They won’t make you rich like me, they won’t make you rebound like me, they definitely won’t make you handsome like me. They’ll only make you have shoes like me. That’s it. – Charles Barkey

Booze, broads and bullshit. If you got all that, what else do you need? – Harry Carry

R – Red Lake County Rebel Baseball – They won the 2025 Section 8A Championship by winning two section championship games. They continued to dominate as they won the Minnesota State Class A Baseball Championship at Target Field.
Red Lake County beat Legacy Christian Academy 10-0 in the first round. They beat #1 Parkers Prairie 4-3 in nine innings. The first eight innings were played in St. Cloud, and the ninth inning was played in Alexandria. The Championship, played at Target Field in Minneapolis, had the Rebels beating New Ulm Cathedral 15-7.  RLC leaders at state were – Keegan Schmitz was 8-14, 5 runs, 9 rbi (3 doubles, triple); Collin Taggart – 8-11, 3 rbi, triple; Gunnar Halverson was 5-12, 5 runs, 2 rbi, 2 walk (double); Will Gieseke was 4-13, 4 runs, 2 walk, rbi (double); Ben Gullingsrud was 4-12, 4 runs, 2 rbi (triple) walk, Owen Chervestad was 3-7, 2 run, 3 rbi (double)
Pitching leaders were – Will Gieseke – 13.1 IP, 5 er, 13 K’s, 2 bb (2 wins); Ben Gullingsrud – 8 .1 IP, 3 ER, 3 walks, 1 K
Boe Nelson 1.1 IP. (1 win)

S – Staff – KROX Staff – The KROX staff keeps things moving. It is a typical small business where we all do more than one job, partially because of the website. I have the best staff working at KROX. I am lucky to have dependable, hard-working employees who truly care about KROX and our listeners and are doing the best we can do each day. I thank them and without them, we have nothing.

T – Todd Selk – The Region 8A Executive Director continues the tradition of having outstanding leadership in Region 8A. Not only is he doing great things as Superintendent at Fosston High School, but he is continuing the great things that Region 8A does.

U – Underdogs. I always like cheering for the underdogs and like to see some different teams make it to big games.

V – Vichita Ounchith. The head Warroad Boys Basketball coach. Not only is he a great guy, but he is a great coach and has the Warriors battling again this year, even after he lost a ton of talent from last years team due to graduation.

W—Wins. No matter who we cheer for, it seems like we are always looking for one more win. Spots are fun, frustrating, exhilarating, and depressing—all emotions wrapped into one. No matter what team you cheer for, enjoy the wins. You never know when the next win will come.

X – X-Factor – Crookston Pirate Winter athletic teams X-factors –
Boys Hockey – The first line has been fantastic all season. It will be the second line and third lines that are the X-Factors. Can they continue to improve and find a way to be consistent point-getters and tough on the defense side.
Girls Hockey – I would have to say it is their continued improvement and after two solid games to end the Warroad Hockeytown Classic games with overtime losses to North Shore and Albert Lea, they look like they are making great strides in the right direction.
Boys Basketball – The team needs more consistant scoring besides Reggie Winjum. Reggie will be guarded by a top defender each night, so they need Carter Fee, Joshua Hesby, Nolan Cassavant, Gunnar Groven, Beau Smith, and Nolan Johnson to pick up the scoring the rest of the season. All of them have shown signs, so it is the consistency that will be key.
Girls Basketball – The X-Factor is taking care of the ball. When they take good care of the ball, they have been very good. That is the biggest X Factor.
Wrestling – Being able to get close to filling the lineup will be the X-Factor. The team needs to get healthy and once they do that, they should see some better results.

Y – Youtube. Youtube has allowed KROX and many other entitites and school districts stream all their home sporting events. It really has become one of the great things taken away from the COVID times. It has allowed KROX to broadcast up to three games a night (two on Youtube and one on the radio – or more with doubleheaders). It has never been easier to watch high school sports!

Z – Zebras – What would we do without officials. No matter how good, or bad, they might be, they are an important part of high school, college, and pro athletics. Without them, we have call your own….which we all know would get ugly. We thank them for their commitment to athletics and the willingness to take the yelling and screaming of fans and coaches to make sure we can watch our favorite sports!. Thank all officials for their hard work and dedication to keeping sports going!

— — —

JOKES

A guy says to the bartender, “A glass of your finest Less, please.” 

“Less? Never heard of it.” 

“C’mon, sure you have.” 

“No, really, we don’t stock it. What is it? Some kind of foreign beer?” 

“I’m not sure. It was my doctor who mentioned it. He said I should drink Less.”

— —

Two natural gas company service personnel, a senior training supervisor and a young trainee, were out checking meters in a suburban neighborhood. They parked their truck at the end of an alley and worked their way to the other end.

At the last house, a woman looking out her kitchen window watched the two men as they checked her gas meter. When they finished, the senior supervisor, proud of his physical condition, challenged his younger co-worker to a foot race back to their truck.

As they approached the truck, they realized that the woman from the last house they checked was huffing and puffing right behind them. They stopped and asked her what was wrong.

Gasping for breath, she replied, “When I saw two gas men running as hard as you two were, I figured I’d better run, too!”

— —

A man was walking down the street when he was accosted by a particularlydirty and shabby-looking homeless man who asked him for a couple of dollarsfor dinner.
The man took out his wallet, extracted ten dollars and asked, “If I giveyou this money, will you buy some beer with it instead of dinner?”

“No, I had to stop drinking years ago,” the homeless man replied.

“Will you use it to gamble instead of buying food?” the man asked.
“No, I don’t gamble,” the homeless man said. “I need everything I can getjust to stay alive.”
“Will you spend this on greens fees at a golf course instead of food?” theman asked.
“Are you NUTS!” replied the homeless man. “I haven’t played golf in 20years!”
“Will you spend the money on a woman in the red light district instead offood?” the man asked.
“What disease would I get for ten lousy bucks?” exclaimed the homeless man.
“Well,” said the man, “I’m not going to give you the money. Instead, I’mgoing to take you home for a terrific dinner cooked by my wife.”
The homeless man was astounded. “Won’t your wife be furious with you fordoing that? I know I’m dirty, and I probably smell pretty disgusting.”
The man replied, “That’s okay. It’s important for her to see what a manlooks like after he has given up beer, gambling, golf, and sex.”

— —

How are former Crookston Pirates athletes doing in college or elsewhere?
****LET ME KNOW OF OTHERS TO ADD TO THE LIST. Email me at chrisjfee@yahoo.com

Teagen Lubinski is a freshman playing football at St. Scholastica

Addie Fee is a freshman playing tennis and hockey at Wisconsin-Superior.

Kambelle Freije is a freshman playing hockey at Wisconsin-Eau Claire

Riley Helgeson is a freshman playing football at Northern State.

Emily Bowman is a freshman playing Softball at North Dakota State College of Science.

Halle Winjum is a sophomore playing basketball at Minnesota Crookston.

Blake Melsa is a sophomore playing soccer and baseball at Alexandria Tech

Jackson Reese is a sophomore playing soccer at Alexandria Tech

Matt Contreras is a freshman playing baseball at Concordia College.

Naomi Johnson is a freshman playing soccer at Alexandria Tech

Paul Bittner is an assistant coach on the University of Wisconsin-Superior Men’s Hockey team.

Reese Swanson is a sophomore playing hockey at St. Olaf.

Carter Coauette is a sophomore playing football at Minot State.

Isaac Thomforde is a sophomore playing Tennis at Northwestern College in St. Paul.

Halle Bruggeman is a Junior on the University of Wisconsin-Stout Women’s Rugby team.

Ethan Boll is a Sophomore on the University of North Dakota Football team.

Breanna Kressin is a Junior on the Hockey Cheer Team for THE University of Minnesota Golden Gopher Hockey team.

Jacey Larson is a Junior playing hockey at Dakota College at Bottineau.

Aleah Bienek is a Senior playing hockey at Trine University in Indiana.

Ty Hamre is Senior playing football at Bemidji State University.

Seth Heppner – Head Coach of Men’s and Women’s Golf at Jessup University

Brady Heppner – Head Coach of Women’s Golf at UMC and Assistant Hockey Coach

Crookston School District Coaches
Blake Bergeron is the head Pirate Wrestling Coach.
Jason Cassavant is a Jr. High Baseball Coach and Head American Legion Baseball coach
Amy Boll is the head Pirate Girls Track head coach
Sarah Reese is the Pirate Head Girls Soccer coach
Marley Melbye is an assistant girls golf coach
Connor Morgan is the Pirate Boys Hockey assistant coach
Ben Trostad is the Pirate Boys Hockey assistant coach
Ethan Magsam is the Pirate Boys Hockey assistant coach
Chris Dufault is a youth wrestling Coach

Non-Crookston High School coaching/Admin/etc

Elise Tangquist is the Head Girls Golf Coach at Horace High School in Fargo, ND.

Carmen (Kreibich) Johnson is the head Little Falls Volleyball coach.

Tim Desrosier is an Assistant Coach for Warren-Alvarado-Oslo Pony Boys Basketball

Pat Wolfe is the head wrestling coach for Fosston/Bagley.

Austin Sommerfeld is an Assistant Athletic Director for Strategic Communication at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth.

Collin Reynolds is the head baseball coach for the University of Colorado Buffalo Club Baseball team.

Trent Stahlecker is a School Security Specialist & he works for the Brevard Public Schools, Florida.

Cody Weiland is an assistant wrestling coach at Proctor/Hermantown.

Josh Edlund is the head football coach and phy ed teacher at Flandreau, South Dakota.

Allison Lindsey Axness is Assistant Varsity Volleyball Coach at Champlin Park

Jeff Olson is the Head Wrestling Coach and Head Baseball coach at Delano.

Jake Olson is an Assistant Football Coach and Head Boys Tennis coach at Delano.

Matt Harris is an Assistant Principal/Athletic Director at Saguaro High School in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Marty Bratrud is the Superintendent and High School Principal at Westhope High School.

Gordie Haug is an assistant football coach at the University of North Dakota.

Mike Hastings is the Wisconsin Badgers Men’s head Hockey coach.

Mike Biermaier is the Athletic Director at Grand Forks Schools.

Stephanie (Lindsay) Perreault works with the North Dakota State stats crew for Bison football, volleyball, and basketball in the winter. Stephanie’s husband, Ryan, is the assistant director for Bison media relations.

Jason Bushie is the hockey athletic trainer at Colorado College.

Chris Myrold is the Director and Fitness at Mission Ranch and Fitness in Camel, California.

Kyle Buchmeier is a Tennis Pro at the Reed-Sweatt Family Tennis Center in Minneapolis

Jaren Bailey is serving our country and is currently in the Marines’ Boot Camp.

Ben Andringa is serving our country in the Army and is now a Ranger.

Philip Kujawa class of 2004, from Crookston High School. He is an Army recruiter in Rochester.

Rob Sobolik is the General Manager of the Fargodome

That’s it for this week. Thanks for the comments, and if you have anything to add or share, please e-mail chrisjfee@yahoo.com or call. Thanks for reading and listening to KROX RADIO and kroxam.com..



Tags: sports, Sports Feever

Mass Hockey: One of the most noble things in youth sports, is a coach or volunteer who keeps coaching or volunteering after their own kids have moved on from a particular age or the game. You have that template in your dad. What did it, or does it now, mean to have seen him still in hockey when all his kids were adults, some with kids of their own?

Kelleher: He had that love for all sports, all those sports I mentioned, and he did it for so long with all of us. 

I don’t think he would’ve known what to do if he wasn’t coaching after that. It was such a big part of his life and my mom’s life. 

He used to say, “When I coach these kids, I see you and your brothers’ faces out there.” It was something that was always huge for him. And you talk about communities and hometowns, and Belmont was his community. He was rare and he was uniquely dedicated to his community. 

It was just his way of giving back and doing good by all generations of Belmontonians.

Mass Hockey: Now you’re in this spot of significant influence within the game [Kelleher was named Executive Director in 2017]. Do you have a philosophy or an operating system on how you approach your role?

Kelleher: It goes back to loving the game at the core, remembering, as we’re at the World Juniors, that the international competitions and those things are really enjoyable, but, more, that parents are bringing their kids to rinks all over the country. 

To me, that’s what gets me out of bed or makes me excited to be a part of USA Hockey – the volunteers and all the people who do that. 

And when we’re at the World Juniors, coming up in the Olympics and Paralympics, when I talk about these things, I say these players didn’t just show up at this platform, this event or this place. 

Somebody tied their skates when they were six. Somebody drove them to the rink. A neighbor coached them. All of that stuff is really what makes it so great. There’s that connectivity that everybody who is a part of the game feels. And so it’s cool to be in the role that I get to have, just to try to make sure we never lose sight of that connectivity from the grassroots of Learn to Play to the World Juniors and international hockey.

Mass Hockey: This past calendar year for USA Hockey has been pretty spectacular. A quick look back: breaking 93-year-old droughts at Men’s Worlds, a Rivalry Series sweep for the women, the 4 Nations was a hit and in sled hockey Team USA won the 2025 Para Hockey Cup in early December. What has it been like to be the biggest fan for that international hockey over the past few months?

Kelleher: It certainly is a culmination for all these tremendous athletes, first and foremost. And we’ve had success along the way, certainly on our women’s and sled sides and in the World Juniors we’ve had success. 

And that has been great – coaches, athletes, people behind the scenes, so many of them, and such great depth of programs and people doing things the right way for the betterment of kids and players and athletes – but the thing we’ve really talked about is that on the men’s international side we have to win a world championship and, ultimately, have to win an Olympics and we have to have best-on-best, as well. And we haven’t quite done that. 

The 4 Nations was a great event right up until it wasn’t a great event at the very end. But it was incredible for our game across the country with the excitement and enthusiasm around it. We’ve been pushing the past four or five or six years, really focused on how we win the Men’s World Championship. We made a plan on that. 

John Vanbiesbrouck and I enlisted Billy Guerin to be really the GM of our men’s national team program over the past three years [Guerin, born in Worcester and raised in Wilbraham, is also General Manager of the Minnesota Wild]. That means 4 Nations and Olympics and World Championships in between. As an organization, it was a sticking point, a sore point. We’ve done so much and we’ve won a lot of different things, but we haven’t won at the highest level on the men’s side. 

We made a big step on the men’s worlds, for a little bit of relief, and it was a great year in 2025, the most successful international one in our history, and now we have to do it again. 

We have to ramp it up, and the stage gets bigger and the lights get brighter when you talk about the Olympics and Paralympics. But we feel like we’re positioned in our men’s and women’s and sled programs to do that. 

And our expectation, and I’ve said this many times publicly, is that our plan is to go to Italy and we want to come home with three gold medals. We are capable, and we believe we can do it. And I think sometimes we have to speak it out loud and not be shy to say that’s what we’re going for.

North Korea isn’t quite a traditional footballing powerhouse, but in recent years, the nation’s youth women’s national teams have been nothing if not dominant. 

The Hermit Kingdom. International Pariah. Terrorist State.

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The very name of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or North Korea, evokes sentiments of dystopia, dictatorship, and backwardness. Compared to their cosmopolitan, larger-than-life neighbors to the south, the communist north presents as a gray morass of state-mandated conformity and suppression.

Its mercurial leader, Kim Jong-Un, is as close to an international boogeyman as exists in modern geopolitics, frequently portrayed as an unhinged madman with his finger hovering perilously above the nuclear button. North Korea’s citizens are subjected to an overwhelming onslaught of state propaganda in nearly all facets of life, attempting to convince them that the world is out to get them and that they stand alone against the capitalist monsters at their doorstep.

For more than half a century, soccer has been called, almost past the point of irony, the beautiful game. It emphasizes creative expression, ecstatic play, and the exhilaration of enigmatic moments and personalities above all else. So how in the world has North Korea, which embodies the very converse of these ideals, been so immensely successful in the arena of women’s youth soccer?

Unparalleled Success

It’s exceedingly difficult to brand any youth international team a “powerhouse.” After all, the nature of these teams is that players age out of them. You might get a golden generation here and there that wins big throughout various age groups, but those players invariably graduate to the senior level, where they either sink or swim (in many cases the former). The North Korean women’s youth national teams, on the other hand, have laid down a marker at international competitions in recent years that is not likely to be replicated by any team in the world.

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On November 8, 2025, in Rabat, Morocco, the DPRK’s U-17 women’s side went up against their Dutch counterparts for the world title. The Netherlands rode their luck to get to this stage, scraping by on penalties against the United States and France before eking out a 1-0 win against Mexico in the semifinals. The Dutch were considered a big, physical side that no one in their right mind would want to play against.

The final against North Korea, however, was a forgone conclusion. The young Dutch stood not a snowball’s chance in hell. They’d been drubbed in the group stage by their Asian opponents, arriving at an embarrassing 5-0 scoreline that left little doubt as to which was the better side.

It was over seemingly before it began. The ferocious and fearless North Koreans pounced on every loose ball and ran out to a 3-0 lead before halftime. The goals themselves were amateurish at best, emblematic of a supremely confident squad taking on an overwhelmed opponent who was truly out of its depth. The Dutch conceded via the failure to clear a looping ball, then by turning over deep in their own territory, and finally by playing an underhit backpass, which was gobbled up by North Korea’s Pak Rye-Yong.

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Star 16-year-old striker Yu Jong-hyang took home the Golden Ball award for best player of the tournament, and bagged the Golden Boot for her eight goals in the competition.

Following the match, Dutch coach Olivier Amelink was magnanimous, telling FIFA.com, “I don’t think we could have beaten them. I think the gap between Korea DPR and us is simply too big to compete with them at the moment.”

The tournament in Morocco was the fourth edition of the Women’s U-17 World Cup, won by the DPRK for the second time in as many years. It is the most successful team in the history of the competition, but the fireworks don’t end with that age group. The North Korea Women’s U-20 team has won the World Cup three times, most recently in 2024, with victories over traditional powerhouses the United States, Japan, and Brazil en route.

Pyongyang Academy

The crown jewel of the North Korean sporting establishment is the Pyongyang International Football Academy. Opened in 2012, the academy is a sprawling three-acre modern soccer training facility located just to the southwest of the national team’s home, May Day Stadium, in the heart of Pyongyang.

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The school boasts around 200 players between the ages of 7 and 17. They are identified by a massive, nationwide scouting network that brings the most talented youngsters and their families to the capital to undergo intense schooling and soccer training. This opportunity represents a sort of upward mobility for rural families, as life in the North Korean capital is described as far more pleasant than the far-flung agrarian lifestyle.

This state-level sporting investment can actually be traced back to the late North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il, who, in the 1980s, served as a sort of cultural decision maker in his father’s government. He tried his hand at everything, from filmmaking to music to sports. In 1985, the Kim family announced a program of state investment in women’s soccer, surprising many since the sport had been played exclusively by North Korean men up to that point.

Some assert that the burgeoning world of women’s sports had a lower barrier to entry than men’s sports and would be a field rich with propagandizing victories over Western rivals. This investment led little by little to a formalization of women’s sports in the country, organized under the banner of the central government in Pyongyang, which went on to found various high-level sporting academies that served a singular purpose: to create generations of high-performance athletes to be trotted out as proof of communist exceptionalism.

The Pyongyang Academy and North Korea’s investment in women’s sports can be seen as an early and prominent form of the practice that has been so prevalent in recent years: sportswashing. Currently, it’s a bevy of Persian Gulf oil states using massive investment in sports as a vehicle for rehabilitating their public image. FIFA and its cadre of satellite federations have only been too happy to accept their tainted lucre.

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At least the DPRK is claiming to educate its athletes! The North Korean state assures us that the education their players receive at the Pyongyang Academy is well-rounded. According to the DPRK’s official website, “Football players should be prepared physically and technically. However, they can achieve deserved results only when they are supported by independent judgment and other creative thoughts. A future football ace is among those who can anticipate two or more through the one taught by teachers and get into action promptly.”

Critics will point out the irony of a dictatorial, homogenous regime ostensibly emphasizing the importance of creativity and self-expression. Conversely, the militaristic training and overtly nationalistic environment of the Pyongyang Academy are common explanations for the domination of the North Korean youth teams. How, we wonder, can Western, African, or Middle Eastern teams compete with heavy-handed state control of the entire sporting establishment?

Young players in, for lack of a better term, capitalist countries are actually taught the value of expression and individualism on the pitch; it’s not just lip service. They aren’t, like the North Koreans, subjected to intense physical training that would make GI Jane sick to her stomach. Young Dutch, American, or English women aren’t subject to punishment at the hands of their own government if they fail to perform well in international competition.

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Some will point out that North Korea in international competition plays not only for individual glory or the success of a nation, but as a reflection of their entire communist existence, as a proof of concept of a social and economic organization that most of the rest of the world has eschewed. Is it possible that 16-year-olds have so enthusiastically internalized this struggle?

What’s worse, some outside critics have even levied accusations of gender-based cheating at the North Korean teams, asserting that some of their young women might, in fact, be young men.

It’s important to note that none of these accusations come with much merit. Although rumors circulated following the men’s disastrous 2010 World Cup campaign that various players and coaches had been thrown in re-education camps. These reports are dubious, with none of the major news outlets able to corroborate these sensational detentions. There were confirmed “criticism sessions” carried out at which players and coaches were made to explain publicly the reasons for their failure. But hey, does that really sound much worse than a press conference with British media?

As far as the gender thing is concerned, I don’t think anyone has offered much in the way of evidence other than the young North Korean women having short haircuts.

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This is certainly not meant to exonerate the oftentimes cruel and draconian North Korea regime. The DPRK has a long history of sporting crimes, principally maltreatment of athletes and doping. What seems a bridge too far, however, is devaluing the success of these teams because of the society in which they live, or using their particular way of life as a cheap explanation for their being very, very good at soccer. “Of course they’re good at soccer!” a critic might charge. “Their government will kill them if they’re not!”

It’s hard to watch the DPRK women’s youth teams play and overlay a collective fear of state retribution. Their play is not particularly rigid or drilled, and occasionally includes a type of flair and creativity that wouldn’t look out of place on the beaches of Copacabana. Upon scoring their myriad goals at this year’s U-17 Women’s World Cup, none of the North Korean players’ faces betrayed any sense of relief, but instead highlighted a heightened camaraderie and belief among the team. This is to say, it’s entirely possible that these young women are supremely talented, have a deep, abiding passion for the game of soccer, and just happen to live in a cloistered communist dystopia. Multiple things can be true.

What’s Next?

In the modern geopolitical climate, North Korean players are severely limited in terms of their soccer development.

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Before the pandemic, there was a smattering of male players from the DPRK who managed to make their marks in European club football. Notably, Han Kwang-song played for Cagliari in Serie A and became the first-ever Asian player to appear on the bench for Juventus, but had his European career prematurely shuttered by United Nations sanctions that prevented North Koreans from living and working abroad in response to Pyongyang’s insistence on pursuing its renegade nuclear weapons program.

Photo by Emilio Andreoli/Getty Images

Han reportedly spent two to three years trapped at North Korea’s embassy in China during the COVID-19 pandemic, unable to return to his home country due to travel restrictions. He finally returned to action on the pitch for April 25 Sports Club, a team based in Pyongyang, in 2023.

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This is a possible explanation for why the women’s team has been, as of yet, unable to repeat their youth success at the senior level. Players are limited in terms of moving abroad to foreign clubs because of international work restrictions. They also lack any sort of mechanism for receiving their salaries; any money players earn would be funneled directly to the North Korean state, which, in legalese, would amount to any foreign club funding “state terrorism.”

The litany of international sanctions levied against North Korea has rendered the nation unable to continue its upward trajectory in the world of international soccer. For talented North Korean women like Kim Phyong-hwa and Choe Il-son to make moves to major European or American clubs, the North Korean regime would have to make major diplomatic inroads, submitting to heretofore untenable processes like nuclear weapons and human rights inspections. That is why, as of this writing, each and every player representing North Korea on the men’s and women’s national teams plays their club football domestically.

The team is also limited in terms of opponents. The North Korean federation withdrew from men’s World Cup qualifying for 2022 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and did not return to international competition until 2023. The women’s team similarly retreated from international play until recently. The country also suffers from a lack of willing opponents for FIFA friendly windows, and this past year, the men’s side was forced to play a series of friendlies against lower-division Russian clubs.

This came after the great shame of the North Korean women being banned from participation in the 2015 Women’s World Cup. Multiple DPRK players tested positive for prohibited substances at the 2011 Women’s World Cup after FIFA blanket-tested the entire squad. The North Korean federation came out with an absolute banger of an explanation for the test results, claiming that the banned substance in question was actually a traditional Chinese medicine derived from deer musk, used to treat people who have been struck by lightning. FIFA fined the North Koreans $400,000 and effectively cast them into the international soccer doldrums for an entire generation.

But if the North Korean women continue their success at the senior level at the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil, the team’s immensely talented individual players will be impossible to ignore. It won Group H in the first round of Asian qualifying for the tournament, boasting a plus-26 differential after only three games. The 2026 Women’s Asian Cup actually serves as the final round of qualifying for the federation, with all semifinalists automatically qualifying and quarterfinal teams going into a playoff for the final two spots.

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International tournaments have always served as a springboard to high-profile moves at the club level, and it would come as no great surprise to see some intrepid European or American club seek to entice the regime with an irresistible offer.

What comes next is the purview of political scientists and analysts the world over. Will the DPRK regime decide that sports continue to be a low-cost way to showcase the exceptionality of its communist regime? Or will relations continue to freeze over with the rest of the world, condemning a golden generation of nascent North Korean superstars to stagnate in an unholy footballing purgatory?

The North Korean women will almost certainly line up at the next World Cup in 18 months’ time. It’s a safe bet that no one will want to play them. We can only hope that, from a soccer perspective, its brightest young stars are allowed to shine.

The Hopkinton High School girls basketball was tested by Milford in the championship game of Sunday’s Mary Korbey Invitational Tournament before pulling out a 41-33 win. The Hillers, who routed Medford in Saturday’s first round, take a 5-0 record into the new year.

Sofiah Wightman Kraus, who was named tourney MVP, gets to the basket. PHOTO/JEN DADAGIAN

Julia Chatten assesses her options while dribbling the ball. PHOTO/JEN DADAGIAN

Elena Valis keeps here eye on the basket while shooting a long jumper. PHOTO/JEN DADAGIAN

Murphy Chatten Guerette makes a pass. PHOTO/JEN DADAGIAN

Gabby Simulis looks for an opening. PHOTO/JEN DADAGIAN

Teagan Resteghini, who was named to the all-tournament team, lines up a free throw. PHOTO/JEN DADAGIAN

Abbie Rabinovich looks to convert a layup. PHOTO/JEN DADAGIAN

Coach Mike Greco watches the action. PHOTO/JEN DADAGIAN

The Hillers celebrate with the trophy. PHOTO/JEN DADAGIAN

The team poses for a photo with the trophy. PHOTO/JEN DADAGIAN