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Orangeville Minor Soccer celebrating 50 years

April 3, 2018   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

The Orangeville Minor Soccer Club has a lot to celebrate this season.

The local Club is entering its 50th year as an organization that helps kids play the sport while honing their skills on the soccer pitch and learning the value of competition and sportsmanship.

Over the past few decades soccer has been one of the fastest growing sports in the country with many kids starting out at the Timbits level and keeping with the game for a lot of years. Nation wide, soccer clubs have sprung up in just about every city and town across the country.

For many, it is the first sport they ever lean to play.

“This year we’ve brought back out Storm Front tournament that we used to run,” explained OMSC president BJ Walker. “We haven’t run it in a few years. On the May long weekend we’ll be running a tournament on all the soccer fields here in in Orangeville. It’s all rep teams. We’re bringing it back for the 50th anniversary.”

As the sport grows, so does the number of local participats.

Orangeville minor soccer has around 900 registered in the house league program and another 250 to 300 who participate in the rep team program.

“We are the biggest registered sports club in Orangeville. Numbers wise, soccer is the biggest,” Walker said. “ We play different nights and there’s so many kids each night, people don’t realize how big we are.”

During the house league opening weekend the club will be participating in the opening of the new Lions Club Sports Park in Orangeville. The Sports Park has two soccer fields along with the other on-site

amenities.

“They have one big field the same size as Rotary Park and it has lights. We’ll be moving a lot of games over there. Then they have a smaller field that’s good for our nines and tens (year olds). There’s going to be a big grand opening on May 26, which coincides with our house league opening so we’ll move some games over there and work that. Then at the end of August when we have our closing weekend we’ll planning a big fair to do something for all the kids,” Walker said.

Fortunately, Orangeville has plenty of soccer fields available when you factor in the parks and local schools.

“The big thing about Lions Park is it is the second lit field in Orangeville, “ said OMSC director, Chris Boom. “As we add more rep teams and more adult teams soccer leagues start up, you really need more lit fields.”

The OMSC has divisions ranging from the Tiny Tots, age three, (Timbits)age right up to U18, for house league, and in our rep team we go from age eight development right up to U21,” Walker explained.

When you register for minor soccer your fees include a full package of uniform and playing fees including shorts, shirt, and socks.

There’s still time to register for the 50th anniversary season.

You can visit on-line at www.orangevilleminorsoccer.ca, or you can call the Club office for more information.

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