The Estevan Youth and Mini Soccer Association is in need of volunteers if the organization is to operate this year.
The organization held its annual general meeting on Thursday evening at Affinity Credit Union. An interim board of directors was elected, with Stacy Murphy, who is the head coach of the Estevan Comprehensive School (ECS) Elecs senior girls soccer team, taking the role of interim president.
Kevin Mortenson will be the vice-president.
Megan Lingelbach is the secretary, Kurt Schmidt is the treasurer, and the members at large will be Naomi Rossen, Sigfredo Gonzalez, Holly Simpson and Patrick Sullivan.
In a Facebook post after the meeting, Mortenson stressed that without parent volunteers for committees and coaching, this soccer season cannot proceed and the association will be dissolved. They need to have an adequate number of volunteers lined up by April 10.
Coaching clinics and committee support will be provided for the volunteers.
“A lot of people are afraid of stepping up and coaching because they don’t understand the game,” said Mortenson. “Soccer was never really grown into our culture here in Estevan, so a lot of people are scared to step up. They think they’re going to make a fool of themselves.”
But with the younger age groups, Mortenson said the kids are happy as long as they’re playing the game.
The number of coaches needed will be dictated by the number of players they have. Last year they had about 180 players, and Mortenson would like to see it above 200 this year. From there, they would like to see the number of players gradually increase.
At the peak level a few years ago, there would have been well over 500 youth playing soccer in Estevan. And it was still above 400 a few years ago.
The association is looking to have a division for three and four-year-olds to get them interested in the sport, but that will depend on interest among players and volunteers.
Anyone who can volunteer is asked to email [email protected].
The 2017 season is tentatively slated to start on May 8, and will run until June 15. Mortenson said they want to have the season wrapped up before the Estevan Fair and the year-end activities in schools.
“There might be possible makeup dates after the fair,” said Mortenson.
He doesn’t believe the length of the season is a hindrance for youth soccer. They want to have at least a six-week season while they rebuild the organization and the people who will be running it.
