Chestermere’s local, and much loved, Tim Horton’s sponsored a soccer tournament this past Saturday, June 1st, to the excitement of the young players and the joy of organizer Vicki Klinger.
Klinger once again proved her organizing prowess and devotion to the community by putting on the soccer tournament for the U6 and U8 teams of Chestermere and the surrounding communities.
Both Langdon and Strathmore had both U6 and U8 soccer teams come out for the event.
The tournament was originally supposed to be held the Saturday before June 1st, May 25th, but was cancelled due to the rainy and wet weather that weekend. Klinger herself got in contact with all the invited teams as well as the sponsor, and rescheduled the entire event for a weekend with better weather.
There was also the matter of certain teams not having enough players be able to come out for the tournament. Klinger solved this problem with relative ease, combining the smaller teams together and canceling the use of fields they no longer needed.
Klinger said she was taking a ‘Zen approach’ to the whole event, something that was much appreciated by the parents and coaches of the soccer teams.
The U6 teams player first, in the morning from 9 until 11:30. The children were from the ages of 5-6, and have a slightly bigger program here in Chestermere.
After all the games were finished, Klinger and the Rec center hosted a toonie lunch for all the players and parents, where for 2 dollars a person, everyone got a hot dog and a cookie.
The lunch was set up and run by parent and rec center volunteers.
The U8 teams played in the afternoon, with a little delay while the teams waited for more players to show up. Klinger took it all in stride, placating agitated coaches and re-doing the entire tournament schedule to accommodate less field space and teams that had now combined to allow more kids to play at once.
Klinger saved the whole event with her on-the-spot reorganization. Throughout the morning and afternoon, parents would come up to her just to say what an assets she was, and how appreciative they were of all the hard work Klinger puts in to events like the soccer tournament, making them fun for the kids and enjoyable for the adults too.
Tim Horton’s sponsored the whole event, as well as the entire soccer program in town. They’ve been a partner in the soccer for 3 years now, and will continue to support the program as long as owner/manager Andrew Marriott is involved. And hopefully long after.
Klinger is very grateful to Tim Horton’s and their sponsorship of the soccer program at the Recreation Center.
“When you get the t-shirts and the medals donated, it allows a program to be very affordable,” Klinger said.
Tim Horton’s donated different colored t-shirts for the players of the different Chestermere teams to wear especially for the tournament, and they donate all the big end-of-the-season medals as well.
Andrew Marriott even came down to take a special picture with all the U6 players, to commemorate the big event.
