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Soccer enrolment hits record high |
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Written by TED CLARKE, Citizen staff
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Tuesday, 13 May 2008 |
A record number of players are kicking in the Prince George Youth Soccer Association, which began its new season on the weekend. Here, three-year-olds Brett Stella, left, Evelyn Ridsdale and Lisa Howard follow the ball during a Sunday game on one of the PGYSA’s mini fields. (David Mah)
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They showed up in record numbers over the weekend at Rotary Soccer Fields for the start of the new season, solidifying soccer’s place as the city’s largest sports organization.
“We were so happy to get outside -- there’s so much preparation involved, like getting ready for Christmas, and then it happens and it doesn’t matter if it’s not done, you just go with it,” said PGYSA chairperson Paula Van Horlick.
“At this point we have 3,147 kids signed up, a PGYSA record. We didn’t quite get to 3,100 last year, which was a record as well.”
The league is still accepting late applications and will place those players on teams if roster space is available.
The three- and-four-year-old age group continues to show rapid expansion in its third season. Starting with 60 players in 2006, there are now 320 players in the PGYSA’s youngest age division.
“That was something Heather (Carter) and Brian (Anderson) started and it just grew from there,” said Van Horlick. “We have 32 teams of 10 and some kids on the waiting list.”
Van Horlick said the league will try to maintain its reputation as a provincial leader in developing on-field officials. On opening day, senior referees were on the field as mentors to new referees, who are in high demand with so many youth teams.
The PGYSA technical team under director Sipho Sibiya will continue to use the tiering system to rank players in the nine- and 10-year-old age group and will spend the next few weeks focusing on those players to make adjustments before rosters are set for the all-star teams. All-star players in the older age groups have been playing indoor soccer together since October at the Northern Sport Centre, which prepared PGYSA teams for their first outdoor tournaments of the season in March. In past years, before construction of the indoor fieldhouse, those teams were picked in April.
In July, Prince George will host the A provincial championships for under-13, under-15 and under-17 girls, as well as under-13 and under-15 boys, and there are no guarantees any PGYSA teams will be among the 20 teams involved. Only zone winners qualify. Four local teams have declared provincial A status -- including the under-13 girls and under-15 boys, who will play against Kamloops teams. Both PGYSA under-18 teams will be involved in zone A playoffs, but their provincial championships will be in Vancouver.
The zone playoffs for A teams will also take place at Rotary Fields, June 13 and 14.
There were some concerns in late April the grass at Rotary would not be ready but it took on a solid green tinge just in time for the trampling of 6,296 soccer feet. The PGYSA has taken some heat over the years for closing its fields during the warm-weather months to allow the grass to thicken when the league takes a two-month break before resuming in September. Van Horlick said the PGYSA is considering changes to its schedules that could result in league games in July and August by next season.
“We go back and forth with this and it gets brought up for discussion every year,” said Van Horlick. “We’ve had some conversations with the technical department to say that (taking July and August off) doesn’t fit with the development model for the younger age groups -- the eight- to 12-year-olds.
“The older age groups have summer jobs that impact their ability to play. In previous years when we played in the summer, with kids going to the lakes or on holidays, we didn’t get the numbers coming out. We’ll have to survey the players to see if it makes logical sense to play in the summer months.”
Van Horlick credited the soccer volunteers for making the league a possibility, pointing to the work of coaches, age group co-ordinators, directors, referees, and equipment handlers as the glue that holds together the organization.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 13 May 2008 )
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