Dear Editor,

With the most amazing weather this fall, what a wonderful start to our soccer year for our youth to increase their ball skills. Now it’s time to put away the studded boots and say goodbye to the green grass until spring.

Whistler Youth Soccer Club is very fortunate to have the support of parents, grandparents and aunts and uncles. I would like to thank them all for choosing to let their kids play soccer, and for their encouraging support on the sidelines and their impromptu games, that the kids love so much, at the end of practices.

To our 75 committed volunteer coaches, a field full of roses to you for leading by example and your enthusiasm to inspire our kids. What a joy it is to watch our 19 gifted referees learn their craft and increase their knowledge from inside of the game — I thank them for their passion and dedication to the club.

Our club has been very well served by our talented Technical Director, Mark Freeman. We are grateful to you for passing on your expertise to both our players and our coaches in such a positive way.

We truly appreciate the skilled municipality ‘greens’ staff — how lucky we are to have such quality fields in our valley. We are ever grateful for the generosity of the WB Foundation and the RMOW for their continued support and allowing us to provide extended programming and additional coaching education.

Thanks also to our sister clubs, Pemberton and Squamish Youth Soccer Associations, for providing competition and league play.

There have been many great games played at home and away, with a record number of teams having the opportunity to travel to tournaments — with incredible success. Having received many compliments from other team parents and coaches whilst away, we are very proud to say that Whistler was well represented, both on and off the fields.

With the success of our inaugural gala dinner event this past Saturday night, thank you to Tourism Whistler for hosting us and we extend a goal full of gratitude to the many sponsors that generously donated their goods and services to a cause close to everybody’s heart, our children. Having all members and families under one roof, with over 550 attendees, it was a great night to celebrate the success of our club together.

To our co-founders and N0. 1 Jersey holders, Andrée Janyk and Bob Calladine, we appreciate your vision in bringing the beautiful game to Whistler and applaud your continued support of the club.

The WYSC continues to grow and I would like to personally thank our dynamic group of board members and administrator Mitch Forster, who are all fiercely passionate about the club and strive to keep the kids front and centre of every decision.

Lastly, to our 410 strong cohort of youth players — what a joy to see the way you play the beautiful game — in the Sea to Sky corridor and all over B.C. we can hear the Avalanche roar.

PJ O’Heany

President

Whistler Youth Soccer Club