A new Cloverdale United FC soccer club has launched with the plan to offer free registration to the youngest players.
On a Twitter account launched in September, the club is described as “Soccer Club that offers free programming to kids,” and the website cloverdalesoccer.com is “coming soon,” with a logo and the words “soccer for all.”
Cloverdale United “is proud and excited to announce that registration for the club is now open for the 2021-22 season,” the club tweeted on Monday (Nov. 16). “Please register on the link below,” at formsmarts.com/form/25eu.
“As families are trying to cope with the financial affects of COVID-19 we are committed to provide solutions for kids under the age of 8 to play soccer for free. Program will start March 20 2021,” club operators tweeted earlier.
BC Soccer has granted the club associate membership, according to an operator of Cloverdale United FC in a direct message, and a community fundraising campaign aims to boost the initiative.
“Currently we have 100K in pledged funds from local businesses. We want to raise about 250K more as we will promise that for the first 5 years of our club no U5-U8 player will have to pay a single penny,” the club operator wrote. “Training staff will be qualified as per BC Soccer requirements, proper insurances will be in place. We realize that young families are finding it hard to enroll kids into organized sports as COVID has hit them hard financially. We hope that we can find a solution for them.”
The link to registration shows no fee for players from U5 to U8, $150 for U9/U10 players for spring 2021, and $290 for a full year of U9/U10 play.
Meantime, at its AGM on Nov. 7, BC Soccer approved a bylaw amendment to allow for-profit/private clubs to become members of a Youth District Association, in “a significant shift within the BC Soccer organizational structure.”
More details are posted to the News section of bcsoccer.net.
Also at the AGM, Gayle Statton, a Coquitlam resident, was elected by membership as the new BC Soccer president for a three-year term, replacing Kjeld Brodsgaard, who served for two years.
A “Year in Review” video highlights “one of the most challenging periods in (BC Soccer) history,” during the COVID-19 pandemic.