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Blizzard aiming for May start to soccer season

Grass visible beneath melting snow is a welcome sight for Sylvan Lake Blizzard Soccer Club, which held its annual general

Grass visible beneath melting snow is a welcome sight for Sylvan Lake Blizzard Soccer Club, which held its annual general meeting at École Fox Run School last Tuesday night.

With a targeted season start date of early May, the club has been working to appoint directors and recruit volunteers, and confirmed several positions during last week’s meeting.

Although others had yet to be confirmed by press time, assistant director Danielle Grapatin was confident of yet another successful season for the club.

“Weather depending, we’re aiming to start on the week of May 5,” she said. “Hopefully that pans out. I think we’ll cross that bridge if we come to it, but from what I can tell, and from what I understand, it seems like it’s going to be another successful year for the soccer club.”

Player registration, which opened about a week before the meeting, is ongoing until Mar. 31.

It’s not yet clear how many players have signed up, but Grapatin felt the club is on course to match the 540 registrations received last year.

Volunteers are needed to help with everything from refereeing to coaching and coordinating the club’s various age groups.

While some were recruited at the meeting, others are still needed to ensure the smooth operation of the club throughout the year.

“Even if all of those positions fill, if someone gets sick or whatever, it’s always nice to have a backup list of people who could step in, as with any volunteer positions,” said Grapatin. “We did actually have quite a bit of interest in volunteer positions, which was really refreshing.”

Players interested in registering are able to decide whether they wish to play in a house league among other teams from Sylvan Lake, or on a travel team that plays against teams from all over Central Alberta.

The latter, according to Grapatin, requires more commitment in travelling outside of Sylvan Lake for games and playing on weekends.

The club has teams for boys and girls between the ages of 4 and 18, with some of the youngest teams able to play only in house leagues.

The season will run until the middle of June.

Remaining executive positions will be filled at a future board meeting. A list of all members, once confirmed, will then be posted to the club’s website at www.sylvanlakesoccer.ca.