Taber Soccer ready to kick into new season

By Cole Parkinson
Taber Times

The warm weather is bound to hit southern Alberta before too long and when it does, Taber and District Soccer will be ready to get the ball rolling. While a late snowstorm has made things a little more dire in terms of getting outdoor sports rolling, registration numbers have the association excited about the coming year.

“Our registration is looking good. We closed it a while ago and our numbers have increased from last year. We currently have a waitlist of almost 20 kids as well,” explained Liz Foote, current president of Taber and District Soccer. “We have over 100 kids in U5, U7, and U9. We are still looking for U15 players. We currently don’t have enough to make one team. In total, we expect to have over 460 players registered in Taber Soccer this year.”

Players are signed up and ready to go, but they are still looking for a few key figures before the season starts. The need for coaches and officials is paramount for a successful season and the association is hopeful every position will be filled.

“We are always looking for coaches, but particularly in the younger age group like U5. As for commitment, I’m always impressed with how many parent volunteers step up to help out. We couldn’t do soccer without them. Everyone has busy schedules now, so we’re very grateful that they take time out of their schedules to help our program grow,” added Foote. “Over the past few years, some of our coaches have really been beneficial to our program. We have multiple coaches who played soccer for colleges or universities. And many who just have good knowledge and experience with coaching other sports that transition well into soccer.”

In terms of officials, they are looking for refs for older groups.

“We are always in need of officials. However, we struggle to find adult refs for our interleague program. Currently, we only have two refs who can ref our oldest age group. However, we are at an all-time low for refereeing in all sports across North America. Hopefully, we can find more refs. If we have more refs it allows for our interleague teams to play more home games which would be nice for our town. –If someone is interested in reffing please email us at tabersoccer@gmail.com,” continued Foote.

Overall though, everyone is excited to get back out on the pitch.

“As a board, we are excited to get back onto the fields. We have many new players and of course lots of returning players this year. We love that this gets kids outside and interacting with kids from all over Taber and surrounding towns. It brings the communities together more than any other sport it Taber.”