After careful consideration and 27 months Len McNamara has found a new job.
The former athletic director at the University of Northern British Columbia is the new executive director of the Prince George Youth Soccer Association.
"I was looking for a position to fit with my background in sports management and it felt like a really good fit," said McNamara, adding he wanted to remain in Prince George.
McNamara said coming in now will give him a couple of months to familiarize himself with the association before any major decisions have to be made.
In addition to his previous employment at UNBC, McNamara spent 25 years, on and off, with the Prince George Spruce Kings organization and was at the helm when the team moved from the Rocky Mountain Hockey League to the British Columbia Hockey League.
McNamara said he was excited to work with Joel MacDonald, the technical director the PGYSA hired a year ago.
"It allows us to be more than a recreational program and gives players who want to commit and pursue excellence in the sport a place to do that," he said about the hiring of MacDonald. "I think we have a person who can see the big vision there."
When he was at UNBC, McNamara began the process to get the institution into the Canadian Interuniversity Sport, which the school will join in the fall of 2012. McNamara said one of his goals in his new position is to increase the presence of the PGYSA in the community.
"We have to recognize what we have," he said. "Most people tend to see us as 2,500 to 3,000 kids playing soccer, but we're so much more with parents and grandparents. We haven't tapped all of our resources in the community."
McNamara said he'd like the PGYSA to get involved in the community outside of soccer by offering their resources.
The UNBC inclusion into the CIS should also attract more youth into the beautiful game, he said, because it's the highest level of amateur soccer a person can play.
"Young kids look up to and aspire to us [adults] playing a higher level," said McNamara. "Now that we have CIS [in Prince George] there's no reason not to champion that."
McNamara replaces Linda Herman in the position.
