The Estevan Youth Soccer Association is once again in need of some volunteers for the upcoming outdoor season.
The group, which will be at City Wide Spring Registration on March 27, was in peril of missing providing young people the opportunity to play soccer last year but volunteers stepped up.
“There will definitely be a need for volunteers again,” said association president Stacy Murphy. “We had an amazing turnout last year for volunteers. They did the required online course… that SaskSoccer requires you to have. So we had about 30 people come out as coaches and volunteer, which was great. I’m confident we’ll need the same number of volunteers again to come out and help coach.”
The association hopes that happens again this year and have frozen fees for registration at last year’s numbers - $80 plus $25 fundraising fee for kids 11 and under and $90 plus $25 for kids 15 and under.
“Sask Soccer also changed their age classifications so we had to change our age classifications as well,” said Murphy. Age groups are under five, under seven, under nine, under 11, under 13 and under 15.
“Last year we had about 130 kids registered,” Murphy said. “Those younger age groups, there’s always higher registrations, so if we can get more of the under 13 and under-15… registered, that would be great to see so we can create more teams and not just the same two teams playing each other every Tuesday or Thursday, or whatever night they’re scheduled for.”
The association is also seeing if there’s enough interest for a parent and tot program for kids born in 2015, and their Facebook page has been quizzing parents of potential participants.
“Last year we had three year olds playing, so we wanted to see what the feel is for people who just want to have an under-three group, so it would just be three year olds,” Murphy said. “Parents would be out with their kids on the field, and those guys would probably only be out for half an hour, maybe once a week for that. That’s something we’re looking at.”
The online registration should be up by the time City Wide opens. Fields were great last year, Murphy said, with the city doing a very good job of making sure the grass was cut. A volunteer who also works with the city made sure the lines were painted as well.
“There wasn’t too many gopher holes so there wasn’t anybody catching their ankles and twisting them,” she said.
Anyone with questions can contact the association via email at [email protected] or look at ssa-estevanyouth.goalline.ca
