CREMONA - Although registration numbers may be down in Cremona, players and coaches are enthusiastic and ready to hit the soccer pitch.
Now if only the weather would warm up and the snow would melt, practices and games could begin.
In Cremona, Jon Olfert, president of the Cremona Soccer Club, said that having enough players to field teams particularly at the older age groups is not easy.
"Being a small community (one of the smallest in our league) makes this a constant challenge, but this year has seemed especially difficult," he said. "We will be joining with Carstairs to put in a U-15 team for our boys and shipping some of our older players to other towns because we just don't have the numbers to field a team."
Olfert said soccer has a tough time competing with baseball, club basketball and roller hockey despite being fairly inexpensive.
"In terms of appeal, soccer is an extremely cost effective sport," he said. "Equipment is inexpensive and registration is very cheap compared to other sports. It also has one of the lowest barriers to entry in terms of skill. If a kid can run, they can play soccer!"
Olfert said they will accept registrations right up until the last game of the season.
"The trick is we declare our teams this week, so if we don't have enough registrations to put a team together, we won't be able to accept a registration later. We declared teams on April 7 so that was the practical deadline."
Right now, the Cremona association has 51 players with most of those being nine and under, said Olfert.
"As of today, we plan to declare a U-9, U-11 and possibly a U-13 team," he said. "We will also have U-7 and U-5 programs. The U-9, U-7 and U-5 groups are 'grassroots' soccer, meaning they play in Cremona or against neighbouring towns in non-ranked games. At U-11, teams begin to play district games. U-13 becomes full sided games with rankings and provincials. All of our teams are ranked tier IV and play within the Big Country Soccer Association."
Olfert said the club has been having indoor practice nights on Wednesdays to get the kids running around and kicking the ball.
"The season is set to start in late April and goes through May and the first weeks of June," he said. "Teams will have one practice and one game each week."
For more information, check out the Cremona Soccer Club Facebook page.
