Frosty fields a soccer curse for some, a boon for others
Posted January 4, 2017 1:29 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – The snow and ice have left many soccer fields in our region in unplayable shape, and that has many enthusiasts of the beautiful game trying to figure out alternative plans.
The desperation hasn’t quite kicked in yet for Harcharn Parmar, whose daughters play high level soccer in Burnaby.
But with tryouts a couple of months away, he’s concerned about the mid-season disruption, which means the vast majority of outdoor fields are unavailable for games or practices.
“My girls are, I guess you would say, competitive,” says Parmar. “Select A, and Select B. They do tryouts in March or April, usually. So, depending on how short the season will become, it will affect their tryouts for next year, because they won’t have as many touches on the ball.”
Parmar points out his girls won’t have a disadvantage given other players will be in the same position, but he’s trying to keep them fit during the extended winter break by doing indoor exercises at home, sometimes with a family friend who’s a physical trainer.
But the weather hasn’t been bad news for everyone — TSS Soccer Centre in Richmond moved into a new indoor field three months ago and co-owner Brendan Quarry says business is booming.
“Every couple of hours we get a handful of emails from local coaches at the various soccer clubs trying to find some space for their teams to train and play,” says Quarry. “We’re trying to accommodate as many people as we can, but we have a lot of long-term renters as well whose contracts we have to honour because they’ve been supporting us for a while now.
“So we’re trying to squeeze in all these individual groups in the gaps we can find at the facility. We have some people who are coming at 7 a.m. in the morning on the weekends just so they can kick a ball around.”
