The 2005/06 soccer season has been an extraordinarily successful season for Point Grey Youth Soccer. We had a record number of children, 1300, playing youth soccer in the club, making us the second largest youth soccer club in Vancouver. We also have the largest number of divisional boys playing soccer in Vancouver.

Season Highlights 

• January - long-time Point Grey coach, Frank Harrop, was selected coach of the year, by the British Columbia Soccer Association.,
• March - fourteen Point Grey divisional boys and girls teams either won or were runners up in the 4 District Regular Season, 4 District Cup play, Vancouver Cup Play or Provincial Cup play offs.
• April - the first artificial turf field for soccer in Vancouver was completed at Point Grey high school, largely thanks to the efforts of folks in the 3 westside clubs, Point Grey Dunbar and Kerrisdale.
• May - we had our first volunteer appreciation night, honouring the folks who go the extra mile to get thing done in the club.
• May - we obtained a new full size grass field for next season from the parks board next to the Jericho Sailing Centre.
• June - we have just decided on new uniforms and logos for our divisional teams and have ordered complete new uniforms for every divisional boys and girls team that will arrive this August and be ready for the start of next season. 
• We also decided in June on a way through which next season utilizing our Technical Directors Gregor Young’s direction and expertise, we will implement training and skill level standards that will involve the older players in the club next season helping our mini coaches teach every 5-9 year old boy and girl in Point Grey how to pass, dribble, check and shoot. 
• Last but not least we have continued a practice reinstated 2 seasons ago whereby coaches nominate and recognize the most sportsmanlike players in the club, the players who show up to every practice, try their hardest in practices and games and in general are an inspiration to their teammates because of their work ethic and sense of fair play on the field.

   

Registration

Our registration continues to climb. Last year we had a record number of boys playing divisional soccer in the club; the largest number of divisional boys in all of Vancouver. And already we have had a record number of pre-registrations for next season. 

Credit for this goes to Alan Etkin our webmaster who has made it quite easy for Point grey parents to register online. Online registration, started by Alan  2 season ago now account for 95% of all registration in Point Grey. Credit for the increase in registrations also goes to Gregor Young, our technical director, who conducts every evaluation, is involved in every coach selection and has demonstrably improved working with the parent coaches the standard of play in this club.

Last but not least credit for improving our level of registrations goes to Colin Ford who has recently replaced the hard working Barb Bradbury and has made pre-registration a key priority. The sooner we know how many kids we have, the easier it is to organized teams, coaches equipment and paperwork.

Alan, Colin, and Dave Thomas created a contest to spur early registration this season and Alan will be reading tonight the winners of the Ipod and other prizes for registering early.

Coach of the Year 

There are over 115 community youth soccer clubs in British Columbia. This past January a long time Point Grey coach, Frank Harrop was selected from all those clubs and all those coaches as the British Columbia Soccer Association youth coach of the year.

Frank won the award not only for his success on the field with Point Grey teams, (BC champs 2005, BC finalists 2001) ut more so for his commitment to coaching 3 generations of Point Grey players. At 67, with no children still playing youth soccer frank nevertheless volunteered to coach our U11 development team last season, which played up a year and won the U12 divisional title . The community is fortunate to have coaches like Frank.

Team Success 

Fourteen Point Grey divisional boys and girls teams either won or were runners up in the 4 District Regular Season, 4 District Cup play, Vancouver Cup Play or Provincial Cup play offs this past season.

Two of the Point Grey teams that won, U11 boys under Frank Harrop and the U18 boys under Frantz Simon, were playing a year up. 

Our thanks to the following for a job well done:

• U11. Girls Pt. Grey Bumblebees, coach Gregor Young;
• U12 Girls Pt. Grey Storm, coach Mike Alivojvodic;
• U12 boys, Point Grey United*, coach Frank Harrop;
• U12 boys, Point Grey Thunder, coach Chris Davis;
• U14 girls Point Grey Storm Riders, coach Ewen Cameron;
• U14 boys Point Grey Hawks, coach Chris Suzuki;
• U14 boys Point Grey Eagles, coach David Fraser;
• U15 boys Point Grey Rangers, coach Phil Hay/Frantz Simon;
• U16 boys Point Grey Boomers, coach Colin Nadon;
• U17 girls Point Grey Tigers, coach Peter Crocker;
• U18 boys Point Grey Exiles, coach Ric Mallett:
• U17/18 boys Point Grey United, coach Frantz Simon

New Artificial Field 

The first artificial turf field built for soccer was completed in April at Point Grey high school. The 3 west side clubs, Point Grey, Dunbar and Kerrisdale collectively paid $400k for it to be here, next to 4,250 children registered for youth soccer. This is the highest concentration of youth soccer enrollment in the province.

The 3 clubs will each have one practice day on the field during the week and will have Saturdays and Sundays dedicated to youth soccer league play. This has been a long struggle for the clubs, in determining where the fields would be located, drumming up funding, addressing citizen concerns at public forums Parks Board and  Board of Variance meetings and negotiating with the Vancouver school board to ensure that the children in community soccer receive both the artificial field and adequate playing time on it .

Larry Myers and Ewen Cameron from Point Grey have played an active e role in this along with myself and a number of other peope from both Dunbar and Kerrisdale. We have proposed that a plaque be erected at the field both to recognized the efforts of the parents of the 3 west side youth soccer clubs and to remind those that come after us that youth soccer has a right to the field.

Our Memorandum of Understanding with the Parks board says the clubs will retain their allocation of time to the field and that the parks board will “initiate or consider changes to the playing schedule only if there are significant changes to number of players represented by the Clubs individually or combined.”

Volunteer Appreciation

The past month we held our first volunteer appreciation night recognizing 30 individuals who have done yeoman work in allowing the children of this community to continue to play soccer each season. Our thanks to Colin Ford, the clubs administrator for organizing this event.

New Field 

Also in may we obtained a new full size grass field for our kids to play on in the fall. I noticed last fall that the area running west of the tennis courts just north of our Jericho east field would support another field with proper drainage. My wife I measured it off then we called Parks board.  Parks looked at it, added turf and sand, then deep tined and punched it to allow proper drainage. Parks will be delivering goal posts to the field this month and we will now have a Jericho north field right beside the Jericho east field for outr players to play on this fall.

New Uniforms 

We will be getting new uniforms for all our divisional teams this season. Our present design is no longer available. The uniforms have been budgeted and ordered for delivery in August. All divisional teams will receive new jerseys, shorts and socks replacing the current ones which can no longer be reproduced as the company making them no longer makes that pattern. We have ordered a 7 year supply to ensure pattern continuity in the new jerseys.

I want to thank Diane Bridges, Alan Etkin, Colin Ford, and Gregor Young for quickly coming to a satisfactory decision on the uniforms and logo…both have been reviewed with a number of boys and girls teams in the club and the jerseys and logos both have received favourable enthusiastic responses. We will have new jerseys and logos now which blend tradition with simplicity and modern styling.

The uniform is predominantly white with red trim, featuring a standing lion in a shield with the number 52 below him . The standing logo is used in many soccer crests including the Scottish Football Association.

For us it represents the Lions mountain peaks which can be seen from our home mini and divisional fields at Trimble and Jericho. The lions look over the kids while they’re playing. The 52 in the lion shield represents the year the club was founded 1952.

The clubs historic slogan “ United in Endeavor “ is on the back of the jersey under the number. I met the founder of the Point Grey soccer club Ron Rothwell last week. He told me that Point Grey began with one team, sponsored by the United church on 8th and Trimble. That is were the “ United in Endeavor “ slogan comes from. 

Skill Development Standards 

Last but not least we Point Grey Soccer is developing standards of skill development for U6 U7 U8 and U9 players that every boy and girl on every Point Grey mini soccer team will have a chance to learn at mini practice, next season. My son is 17 now and I’ve been involved in youth soccer since he and my daughter started playing at ages 4 and 5.

I have over the last 14 years seen so many players drop out of soccer at an early age because they were not taught how to play at the same rate other players were taught at. In many ways it seems to me to be the luck of the draw as to whether a young boy gets a good coach in mini and/or has a parent that can get out and kick a ball with him.

I have seen a world of difference when clubs are fortunate to have a coach and coordinators and/or a head coach who will get out there and make sure that every kid is learning the basics in each age group, rather than just the kids fortunate enough to be on one good coaches team. 

What we are going to do next season in Point Grey is develop/establish standards of skill development for U6 U7 U8 and U9 players that every boy and girl in every Point Grey team will be exposed to at practice, similar to elementary school. We have agreement at Point Grey that working with our technical director Gregor Young and our mini coaches we are going to come up with, before next season starts, agreed upon skills that all of our U6 U7 U8 and U9 players should have a chance to learn at each mini soccer age group.

Over the summer we will be using our Head Coach, the mini coaches in the club, other knowledgeable coaches in the club and all related resource to develop a set of soccer skills that the boys and girls should be taught at each level from u6 to U9. We will also determine collectively the age appropriate techniques and drills that will allow our young girls and boys to learn these soccer skills.
 
We plan to implement this by publishing the skills and drills, giving every parent and coach a copy and then utilizing our head coach and the older players in the club to help the mini coaches and the younger players in the club out during mini practice in the 2006/7 season.

We have a wealth of soccer talent in our divisional ranks. Fourteen Point Grey divisional boys and girls teams either won or were runners up in the 4 District Regular Season, 4 District Cup play, Vancouver Cup Play or Provincial Cup play offs during the 2005/6 season.

What we are going to be asking the older players in the club to do next season, is to give something back to the club by helping our mini coaches teach the younger kids in the club the soccer skills that the older players already know and that have been agreed upon buy the coaches as appropriate for each U6-U9 player.

I don’t think the older boys and girls in this club will let the younger kids down. Our admin person will be approaching local  high schools to say look the kids need so many hours of community work to graduate from school. This is what they are doing for Point Grey soccer to get these hours.

This will be a clear win-win for both the older and younger Point Grey players. Not only will the older players get their community service hours, but more importantly they will have the satisfaction of helping the other volunteer coaches in the club teach their soccer skills to the younger Point Grey players.

We want every girl and boy starting out in Point Grey soccer and hopefully, eventually anywhere in Vancouver, the same opportunity to learn to play soccer at the same rate as other players in their age group, regardless of coach, ability or team. I’ll be co coaching a U8 boys team and a u8 girls team this season to see first hand how the program is working.

Our Main Goal

Our purpose as directors of a community soccer club is to give our children the best opportunity we can to allow them the fields the training and the equipment and uniforms they need to play soccer. We have the fields, we have the uniforms and we have the equipment. By making sure that every young player receives the best training possible at Point Grey, we will ensure that any child who spends time with this club will be able to play soccer to the best of their ability, anywhere in the world, for the rest of their lives. That to me is the main goal of the Point Grey Soccer club.

I'd appreciate any comments or suggestions you may have to continue to improve soccer at Point Grey. Please email me at randey_brophy@telus.net or call me at 604 736 6203

Cheers,

Randey Brophy

President - Point Grey Soccer Club