UNITY – The Unity Soccer Club has commenced a new season with some new and exciting changes for the young and adult players.
The club has been a part of the community for roughly 20 years, seeing growth in the beginning. According to Kristen Partington, president of the Unity Soccer Club, numbers in players have become quite consistent over the past few years. She said 165 players registered for the 2024 season.
New to the club this year was two new age divisions. Tiny Tots is for children who were born in 2021 and has been well received so far with 12 kids participating.
“There aren’t very many sports in town for these younger aged kids. This gives them the opportunity to be involved with a club and to meet new kids in the community,” said Partington.
The other new program for the club is adult recreational soccer, which will be held on Sundays at 7 p.m. for anyone over the age of 14. The club felt this would be beneficial for those who want to play more soccer and work on their skills.
“We have a group of kids from U19 that don’t have a team to play, so they are able to join here to play. It also gives parents and coaches a turn at the sport,” added Partington.
With 10 age divisions, Partington said, finding coaches was not a difficult thing this year.
“We are very fortunate to have many coaches returning this year.”
While practice started the last week of April, the club also hosted a free clinic for those who are interested in referee and coaching. Jeff Beer from the Wainwright Soccer Club made the trip to Unity to teach the clinic on April 27.
“We had 13 players and eight coaches attend the clinic. The club is looking at hosting this clinic annually for players and coaches to understand the sport and rules of the game better,” said Partington.
The U7 to U15 teams will be attending a tournament in Wainwright, Alta. on May 25 and the U7, U11 and U13 teams will travel to Provost, Alta. for a second tournament June 1.
