Along with spring comes Soccer. As the trees fill with leaves, so too does Giovanni Caboto Park fill with activity: kids throwing a football or Frisbee, families filling the playground, and, of course, the green jerseys of our McCauley soccer teams can be seen on several nights, as the children play their games in the park.

This year, the U6 team, AKA the “McCauley Zebra Cats,” are being coached by Krista Mitton, Ayla Parry, and assisted by Hans Rasmussen. Thanks to those coaches for all their efforts and energy, keeping those little ones on the field and playing. They sure are a lot of fun to watch!

The U8 team this year is being coached by Heather and Mike Van Boom, and thanks also to them for their energy and commitment to this team. The U8 game has changed from a 4 on 4 game format to 5 on 5 this year, and as the kids get older their energy grows too.

We had a number of U10s, U12s, U14s, and U16s register for the season. However, we did not have enough kids to make full teams, and many, up to 23 kids, were transferred to other communities. Thanks to those communities – Delton, Highlands, Northmount, and Delwood – for taking our players.

Much thanks goes to the McCauley Community League for their support with registration and subsidizing the soccer program. A special thanks to the McCauley Boys & Girls Club for use of their space and wifi for registration. Thanks to Tim Horton’s for the U6 jerseys, and Kidsport for funding up to 15 kids in our neighbourhood, and JumpStart for funding another two kids. Thanks to EMSA North for the scheduling, thanks to Free Footie, via FC Edmonton, for lining the fields, and thanks to the City of Edmonton, Park Maintenance crews, for cleaning our park on a regular basis.

Grace is McCauley’s Soccer Director.