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| Nine years! It seems like yesterday.Can you make a difference? You bet you can!I remember walking into The Barrie Soccer Club 10 years ago and asking why it is that I was travelling to tournaments in smaller cities and we didn’t have a tournament of our own. Luckily, I said to them at the time, that I don’t believe in complaining if I’m not willing to get involved. I asked them to call if they ever needed any help in getting a tournament started.
It was an honour when they called the next year to ask if I was interested in helping. Six of us sat down and asked “where do we start?”. We decided that the main objective was to raise the profile of soccer in the city and contribute to raising awareness of the city itself. I’m not sure we had any idea how much this would grow and become the great tournament it is today! We started by asking ourselves what we didn’t like at other tournaments. Simple things like field conditions, cleanliness and a lack of communication were the biggest complaints. We started there. Our primary goal was to have 80 teams and not lose money. The first year, we had over 120 teams and actually contributed funds to player development! This tournament now has over 200 teams from all over Ontario that come for a great weekend of good clean fun and competition. Due to “life” happening, I have not been able to participate like in past and really miss it but I’m very proud to say I was a part of this tournament coming to life. You can make a difference if you just stand up and get involved. Don’t be one of those who always complain and never offer to be part of the solution. The comment was made at a Knights of Columbus meeting that “the more you put in, the more you get back”. It’s true of just about anything in life! This tournament has given a lot to me and my family. Thank you for letting me be a part of getting it started. Make it a great day! Barry What are you thankful for today? |
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