Despite two difficult years of pandemic disruption, our team remains optimistic about the future of soccer in our community. At the time of writing (mid-May), the following statistics were available:
- The overall number of registrants is 320 (down from 500+ in 2015 but up from the previous two years):
- 115 youth soccer players (ages 9-18) formed 9 teams
- 205 mini soccer players (ages 3-8) formed 21 teams
- We have close to 80 volunteers involved in this program:
- 20 youth soccer coaches
- 40 mini soccer coaches
- several HGI grade-9 students as assistant coaches
- 5 team managers
- 2 directors, 4 conveners and 1 retired equipment manager
Manitoba Soccer Association has imposed new regulations on our organization in order to remain sanctioned. Unlike other communities that decided not to comply or cancel their soccer programs, Whyte Ridge strongly believes in the community-based soccer program. As a results, all of our coaches took additional training and certifications and we would like to thank them for their time and dedication in supporting our program.
U3/U4 coaches:
- Yevhen Viznytsya, Tracie Decker, Matthew Decker, Joshua Lisoway, Kristian Hammerback, Dustin Ewanyshyn-Morgan, David Kelly, Anah Ali, Emmanuel Ojo, Kayla Duna, Christopher Ateah, Victor du Plessis
U5/U6 coaches:
- Fabio Capone, Corey Lowdon, Reid McGregor, Abbie Nykvist, Keith Mckague, Rachell Dolynchuk, Dana Stimson, Andrew Krahn, Ziggy Haluik, Laura C. Pereira, Phillip Snar, Victor Lei
U7/U8 coaches:
- Nick Harland, Sam Matibini, Tim Smith, Nick Cotter, Joy Halliday, Angela Guerra Walczak, Calum Rodger, Lisa Laxdal, Greg Laxdal, Jose Sousa, Nick North, Dennis Nowosad, Tom Klassan, Jeff Sandelli, Phillip Snarr, Maryse Laliberte, Matthew Stathers, Silvio Fava
U9 coaches:
- Scott Lancaster, Kristin Shiach, Joseph Masi, Anthony Conte, Warren du Plooy
U10 coaches:
- Katrina Krcadinac, Richard SalasÂ
U11 coaches:
- Valerie Taraska, Tim Smith, Brad Parkes
U12 coaches:
- Reza Mirrashed, Ciro Stefani
U13 coaches:
- Chris Alto, Maryse Laliberte, Cosimo Minella, Jay Pathirana, Jason Dee, Dennis Neufeld
U15 coaches:
- Darren Sharpe, Leila Heinrichs
U18 coaches:
- Dan White, Christen Lewis, Kirill Pirgalin
Conveners:
- Nazar Viznytsya, Kerry Skibinski, Justine Brisebois, Charwin Dahl, Nick Harland
And a special thank-you to our long-time soccer convener Yevhen Viznytsya who stepped in at very critical moment as our mini-soccer director and who was instrumental in relaunching this program in our community. Also thank-you to our former soccer directors Rachael Fecyk-Lamb and Karthi Pariyasamy for insuring a smooth transition of mini-soccer program to the new director and helping with equipment and training materials. Without them there wouldn’t have been mini-soccer this year.
As we continue to develop our program and expand our team we will be looking for volunteers to help us. Please visit our https://whyteridge.ca/sports/soccer/contacts/ page to see which positions are available.
For those who are interested in improving their soccer skills and want to have fun during summer we offer 2 summer camps in August organized by RDT soccer in Whyte Ridge. Details here – https://rdtminisoccer.com/wp/summer-camp/.
On behalf of all Whyte Ridge Soccer we wish you a great summer!
