SUNDRE – The number of children signed up to play soccer this spring increased substantially following a one-week extension to the registration period.
“After the first deadline, we had 116 registrants,” said Janelle Mikal, Sundre Soccer Club president.
As interest clearly remained in the community, Mikal said the board decided to extend the registration period by one week earlier in March. By the end of the registration process, which is now closed with all 12 teams at capacity, that number had jumped up to 163 – or a 40 per cent increase.
“That’s a really good turnout,” she said.
In the past, the in-house, grassroots soccer group would generally have more than 100 players who would get out on the fields on Tuesdays, she said.
“There was so much interest, we decided to have soccer run Tuesdays as well as Wednesdays,” she said.
Another beneficial ripple effect of the soccer club’s registration surge was the board’s decision to introduce a drop-in league for players ages 16 and up starting at about 7 p.m. following regular games on Wednesdays, she said.
“We were thinking it’s great to have the soccer for the kids, and we have the fields,” she said. “But what about the adults that want to play soccer; Sundre doesn’t have anything for that, so why can’t we have a rec league for adults?”
But plans are moving forward to that end, and coaches as well as volunteers will be able to play free of charge, she said, adding there is going to be a minor fee for anyone else who wants to join in.
However, the start of the season, which had tentatively been set to get underway April 4, has on account of conditions been postponed until April 18, at which point the situation will be reassessed, she said.
“Basically, there’s two feet of snow on the field right now,” she said on March 30. “But we know that Cremona and Olds, they don’t start soccer until May. So, April is kind of just a wish.”
That still leaves all of May and June, with the season’s wind-up barbecue scheduled for June 22, she said.
“We’re also tossing around the idea of having a summer session,” she said. “Some people are gone all summer, but why not offer a July and August session for people that are here and do want sports for their kids?”
After all, she said the club has the fields and supplies, so it’s essentially just a matter of offering those resources to see who might be interested.
“We’re kind of gauging interest in seeing maybe about shaping up a summer session,” she said. “But it seems like right now, with 163 registrants for our normal session, there does seem to be some interest.”
Although optimistic about the possibility of that coming together, Mikal said plans for the summer are not yet confirmed.
“Follow our Facebook page for information about a possible summer league,” she said.
Additionally, she said the board has already been looking further down the road to next year to explore the possibility of joining the Big Country Soccer Association – whose member towns include Bowden, Carstairs, Cremona, Olds, Didsbury, and Three Hills – with the objective of providing older age groups a chance to play some games against other teams.
In the meantime, the club remains a local, non-profit grassroots organization dedicated to catering to the community’s interest in the sport, she said.
“There’s a lot of interest in soccer in Sundre,” she said.
Although no longer under Fun Team Alberta as “the insurance that they wanted to provide us didn’t meet the requirements that the town needed us to have to have that space,” she said the club is now covered through Sports and Fitness Canada.
As a result of this new insurance coverage, she said parents of players ages 12 and under will need to stay for the games.
The club’s largely new board has also been busy updating policies, and Mikal said their mission is to promote soccer participation opportunities with an emphasis on delivering accessible and affordable fun for all.
“We want to grow until we’re able to provide a level of competition equal to each participant’s ability, interest and desire,” she added.
The board is also ecstatic to have been able to fill out all 24 of the necessary coaching positions, she said.
“As a non-profit, we’re not paying coaches; we’re asking parents to step up and they have,” she said. “That’s awesome, to see our community step up like that.”
Now that the new board has largely found its momentum following an initial learning curve, the president expressed enthusiasm for the coming season.
“The weather’s starting to warm up, the snow is hopefully going to melt, and we do see a light at the end of the tunnel,” she said.
