Editors’ note: Kurt and John are firm believers that Vancouver can and should be the Canadian epicenter for growing the sport and culture of soccer football soccer. This is a self-described healthy community. We can play outside year-round, as fields are rarely closed due to snow and/or freezing. And, most importantly, Vancouver is the place to expertly develop the sport of soccer because our city’s team, Vancouver Whitecaps FC, shares this goal and so demonstrates this vision through its Club Structure and the Whitecaps Foundation, which aims to create the fittest generation of BC Youth by 2020.
As Vancouver Whitecaps FC season ticket holders, Kurt and John are well-positioned to evaluate how the franchise showcases its commitment to “be a significant community asset” – so, following every match we will reflect on this commitment by answering two questions, which are below. Sometimes we bring friends and/or family-members to the game. And sometimes those awesome friends and/or family-members write awesome blog posts about the experience.
Here is our brand-new (and youngest) Correspondent, Josie Buter’s, take on Vancouver Whitecaps FC being a significant community asset.
Josie Buter - current and future world changer
How is the team a significant community asset?
The Whitecaps FC games bring people together, for example I went to the game against Kansas City and before the game I got to take part in a parade to the stadium with the Southsiders. They had chants and giant flags with the players’ faces on them, some people knew the chants and others didn’t, but it didn’t matter because you could still clap along to the rhythm of the drums they brought with them. The cheering didn’t stop outside the stadium though, throughout the whole game there were ringleaders that lead all the cheers. The whole experience was very exciting and I’ve never experienced anything quite like it before.
WHAT COULD MAKE THE CLUB AN EVEN BETTER ASSET?
Now that the men’s team has success in a higher level of soccer, where are the women? When I was younger I went to many of the women’s Whitecaps games and looked up to the players on the team, they were role models for me. For young girls it’s important to have role models, and when playing soccer it is good to have a picture in your head of what a player who plays your position or plays on a competitive team looks like. Having a local team, that would play all year ‘round would give many young soccer players hope that they can achieve their goals as well, no matter the size of the net.
