Whistler Youth Soccer Club President’s Report for 2011 AGM

The “beautiful game” is alive & well in our beautiful corridor! It’s been a great soccer year & from the youngest to the oldest players, I have enjoyed watching their skills improve throughout the season.

Our club registration continues to grow & we are so very well served by our coaches, both parent & non-parent, who are the back-bone of our club. My thanks to all of you for stepping up & making such a great commitment to the youth of Whistler.

The funding we get from the RMOW has been very supportive via the Community Enrichment Grant. We have put that money to good work in the form of coaching support, coaching certifications, tournament assistance & side-line equipment. I would also like to thank Judith Mackenzie for her tireless work booking all our fields & Paul Beswetherwick & the rest of the RMOW ‘green’ staff for giving us such high quality fields to practice & play on for our two short seasons.

I would like to extend my gratitude to my fellow Board members, who continue to generously & zealously lend their skills for the great benefit of the club. It was with much regret that we accepted David Demers’ resignation, as he has been uniquely instrumental in the continued growth of our club. I wish David, Sharon & Cole all the success imaginable with their move to Vancouver & the lucky city clubs are now going to benefit from his invaluable experience.

This year marked the first time that we have branded the whole club. The Whistler Avalanche is making its mark throughout the corridor & in the many tournaments/cups that our teams have entered. The unique uniforms that Mitch Forster worked so diligently on to deliver (a whole 18 yard box of thank-yous), are a great sight to behold on the fields.

Once again due to the generosity of the Squamish Youth Soccer Association we were invited to play in their house league for an abridged fall season. The Green River League in the spring was once again a resounding success & it is great to see the Pemberton club growing to provide such quality players.

Our founding fathers (well actually more like father & mother) in Bob Calladine & Andree Janyk, continue to mentor the referees & lend their incredible soccer knowledge to the younger referees & players alike. The mentoring has paid off as our youthful in-training refs also run the lines at the summer-time Adult League for even more learning situations & some nice remuneration to boot.

We are looking forward to another great year ahead with more league play, tournaments, Whitecaps clinics in the spring, summer camps run by Saibo Talic (EFS) and by Sandi Potis, as well as expanded opportunities for coaching education facilitated by Polek Rybczynski our Head TD.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas & a fantastic New Year.

PJ O’Heany