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Welcome to the PMSC 2021 – 2022 Fall / Winter Season!!

Posted on September 7, 2021

Welcome to the PMSC 2021 – 2022 Fall / Winter Season!!

Thank you for joining the Port Moody Soccer Club for the 2021 – 2022 season! We know your time is very valuable, so if you don’t have time to read everything below, you can skim and look for the bold highlights in PMSC red below with red underlined words being clickable links, but we would like to ask that you please read through this email as there is plenty of important information that pertains to you and your family for this upcoming season. The message below contains the following:

  1. Letter from the President
  2. Covid Update
  3. Uniform Update
  4. TeamSnap Information
  5. Introduction to new staff and board members
  6. Staff and Volunteer Opportunities

As with every season, we are genuinely grateful to our sponsors that help support our great Club each year, so we would like to invite our members to go to visit our website and click on each of our sponsors in the sponsorship banner. 

We would also like to thank our primary sponsor Lougheed Hyundai for stepping up once again and supporting our Club with their generous contribution. If you are in the market for a new vehicle, please check out Lougheed Hyundai’s latest offers, and let them know that you are a PMSC member!

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Letter from the President

Dear PMSC Members,

I would like to first thank all of you for choosing to join the Port Moody Soccer Club for the upcoming Fall / Winter season – we are grateful that you have decided to join our great community of soccer here in Port Moody!

Since 1960 our club has been a staple in providing our community, as well as all the surrounding communities, with quality learning and playing opportunities in soccer. Our club is deeply committed to ensuring that all players are supported mentally, emotionally, and physically as they pursue their personal soccer goals within the Club. Although we may not be the biggest club in our region, you may find that you are hard-pressed to locate another club that puts as much heart and soul into developing the players on our home fields. Our quality staff is second-to-none and will be working very closely with all our volunteer coaches and managers. Whether it is our age group head coaches (a first in our region) helping our new coaches and players learn the basics of the game or some of our more senior and highly qualified staff that lead our Academies and other programs, I am very confident that all our players will have the support they need to be very successful!

Unlike last season, we are optimistic that we will not face the same restrictions and challenges that were put in place by the provincial health authorities and other organizations such as B.C. Soccer and ViaSport that implement provincial health directives, and as of right now we have the greenlight to push forward with full training and games once the season officially begins on September 7th. The only restriction that we currently have is that there can only be a maximum of 100 spectators at the sidelines of any full field. We would like to also ask that if you are attending any games or events, that you please bring a mask to help prevent the spread of Covid-19. The Club follows all applicable provincial health guidance and directives and strongly encourages all our players, members, spectators and other community members to do so too.

If any further restrictions do come into place during the year, we want members to be assured that we do have a Covid-19 policy in place that ensures that members will receive a significant percentage of their fees back (minus any administrative overhead) for times when the Club may be shut down. For a complete list of all our Club policies, please refer to our Club policy library located here on our website.

Covid aside, this upcoming year could shape up to be one of the best years our Club has ever had. Our board and staff worked hard this past year to improve many areas of our club as we continue to pursue our National Youth License. As of this month, the Port Moody Soccer Club has officially submitted our application for the license, and it is currently in review with Canada Soccer. This is a process that can take several months in which we will be in discussions with Soccer Canada, but we are very optimistic that the outcome will be positive. Once we have our National Youth License, that opens the door for our Club to begin to pursue a BCSPL franchise and start forming teams in this league, hopefully by the Spring of 2022. This is an exciting opportunity for all our members that are looking to pursue the highest level of training available at the youth level with aspirations of playing in college, university, provincial, national, or even professional teams down the road. 

Another great area of growth that our Club has focused on over the last couple months is in changes to our adult programs. Players that wish to continue their pursuit of soccer after they have aged-out of the youth program (age 18), and that may not go straight to post-secondary education or simply wish to stay within their home community, can now continue their development by playing in one of the many different levels our club offers in both the men’s and women’s programs. This is a part of our commitment to provide members in our community with cradle-to-grave opportunities, pursuing the sport they love, at the levels they wish to play, in the Club they came up in. In the coming weeks, we will be adding a new section on our website focusing on the adult teams and their programs, as well as provide a schedule, so that you and your family can come out and cheer for our Port Moody Players as they go for their respective Cups!

On top of our adult program, we will be targeting the launch of our PCSL Men’s and Women’s teams in the upcoming Spring of 2022! This will be a fun event for families to come out and watch some of homegrown Port Moody Soccer Club talent play in some very competitive semi-pro action against other teams throughout BC. We are hoping to add events such as a beer-garden, raffles, gear sales, food trucks, and more to create a fun atmosphere that our whole community can enjoy at our home games. We hope to see you and your family at the games!

Another big-ticket item that we are waiting to hear back on in the next couple of months is whether our community will finally get funding for the Inlet Field Development plan that has been in the works for nearly 30 years. This funding is earmarked to help build a full FIFA sized soccer pitch, along with 3 Super 8 pitches, and a baseball diamond where the old Inlet Gravel Field currently stands. Although this pursuit has been around for what would seem like generations now, we do strongly believe that the city and the Club have put their best foot forward in terms of getting this approved this upcoming year. If you wish to support the Club in pushing to get this accomplished, please reach out to both your provincial MLA and federal MP and ask them to get this field done! Our community deserves this, and it should be a top priority for our representatives at all levels of government to provide more recreational park space for our community. We have fallen behind and all our sports communities, not only soccer, are suffering because of it. We thank you all for your support!

As you can see, we have many great things in store for the upcoming year, and we have only scratched the surface! We have also launched all new programs such as our Open Academy, Futsal, After School, and U3 programs, as well as developed a pathway for International Students to attend our club during their time studying and living in our community. In short – the Port Moody Soccer Club is as open for business as it has ever been, and we are ready to make this upcoming year a year focused on providing quality training and reaping the rewards of some hard work from the previous year. Ultimately this work is focused on one outcome – to provide you and your family with a one-stop location to pursue quality training at every level, age, and ability. We are committed strongly to our members, and we will continue to work hard for what is best for our community long into the future. 

On behalf of myself and the board, I’d like to offer our best wishes to all our members for the upcoming season, and we look forward to seeing you and your families on the field in the coming months!

Sincerely,

Dustin Crockett

President – The Port Moody Soccer Club


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Covid-19 Update


Last year, the restrictions that were in place created a very challenging situation for our volunteers, staff, and coaches to navigate each week. It required some very creative thinking to help keep players engaged in practice-only sessions each week, and we thank all of them for their perseverance and making it as successful as it was. 


Although Covid-19 is back and creating a 4th wave in our communities, all indications from the Ministry of Health and our governing bodies point to the fact that we will be entering our soccer seasons with normal play when we start on September 7th.  The main reason that we can enter this season without any major restrictions at this point is due to the very high rate of vaccination within our communities. The Club follows all provincial health guidance and directives with rigour and strongly encourages all our players, parents, coaches, spectators, and other community members to do so too.  This is so that everyone can stay safe, healthy, and continue to keep our programs open without any further interruption in the upcoming year.


The Covid Protocols have been dialled back significantly this year, but we will be implementing the following rules within our Club to ensure that we all continue to remain safe both on and off the field:


  1. Covid checks must be done before all PMSC activities. This will be much more easily managed this year as the health check is directly available within your TeamSnap schedule (found in the app). Managers will be responsible for reminding families to fill this out no more than 4 hours prior to showing up on the field. Covid checks are completed for contract tracing purposes. 
  2. At Trasolini field, the change rooms will be open to teams that will be playing or training there. Masks are mandatory when players are inside of the change rooms and must be always worn. Not following this rule may lead to the changerooms being closed and unavailable.
  3. BC Soccer and ViaSport have put in place a rule that no more than 100 spectators may attend a full-sized soccer field at any time. This does not include the on-field players and coaches.
  4. We highly recommend that staff, coaches, players, and parents all wear masks when possible, especially when interacting or communicating with each other. Although it is not mandatory, the masks have been proven to lower the transmission of Covid from person to person. 


If members can all follow these rules, we can all do our part to ensure we are lowering the possibility of exposures. This will allow us to keep the Club open and fully operating for the foreseeable future. We thank you all for your continued patience and help while we navigate these uncharted waters!


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Uniform Update

As everyone knows, Covid-19 has had a major impact around the world and disrupted every aspect of our lives. One area that has been disrupted significantly is in the global supply chain for many products, and this unfortunate fact has also affected the Port Moody Soccer Club as well. Due to significant shutdowns in the global supply chain, our uniform and equipment supplier, Soccer Express, has informed us that our uniform deliveries may be delayed by one to two weeks. This, unfortunately, means that new uniforms will not be available immediately when we begin our season next week. This is not a problem specific to our Club as all Clubs are experiencing the same issue at the moment. 


We recognize that this will impact some teams as they may be short some uniforms, so we would ask that teams consider the following options in the short term:


  1. If your team is largely the same as the previous year, please attempt to utilize last year’s jersey in the short term until the new jerseys are delivered.
  2. If your team is unable to coordinate jerseys, we suggest that the team all wear similar coloured shirts in the short term and coordinate with pinnies over top.
  3. If most of your team has the same jersey and a couple of players do not, perhaps ask around to see if another member has an extra jersey that the player can borrow in the short term.


We know that this is a real inconvenience for teams, and we do apologize for that, but this issue is completely out of the hands of our Club volunteers and lies in the hands of the uniform suppliers. We ask that you please be patient, and we will hand out uniforms as soon as we receive them. We appreciate your consideration on this matter! For any questions or concerns related to uniforms, please reach out to uniforms@portmoodysoccer.com.


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TeamSnap Information


As you may know, the Port Moody Soccer Club has recently migrated from our PowerUp registration system to our new TeamSnap registration and management system. If you have not yet done so, we strongly recommend that you do the following before the season begins:


  1. Please ensure that you have downloaded the TeamSnap app to your phone or mobile device. It is an incredibly powerful tool that will help you keep track of the schedules for your specific family members throughout the season, as well as let teams communicate and plan throughout the season. If you do not have the app, you can still login through your web browser, but it is harder to use on your phone as it is meant for a computer browser. 
  2. Please make sure you have accepted all the invites to TeamSnap that you have received. If you do not accept all the invites, you will not see the Teams or programs that the player belongs to within the app when you sign in.
  3. Please ensure that you do not turn off at least one of the notifications (SMS or Email) within the app as ALL club communications will come out through TeamSnap. If you disable or turn this off you may miss out on important communications pertaining to closures, schedule changes, etc.
  4. If you have registered a player through TeamSnap you will only have to fill out the registration in full the first time you, do it. In future registrations, most of the player information will be auto-populated when you register.
  5. Please ensure that all your expected teams are showing up correctly in your TeamSnap account. If you have any questions related to your TeamSnap account, or you feel anything is missing, please send your concern to info@portmoodysoccer.com and someone will reach out to assist you.
  6. We strongly encourage families to take pictures throughout the year and post them up to your TeamSnap groups in the photos section! As events happen throughout the year, the Club will pull some pictures and share some of the highlights with our members through social media. If your team has some great successes, please share those with us so that we can highlight it. You can also add videos, but you can only do that with the web browser.


We will be posting up a TeamSnap “tips and tricks” section to the website in the coming weeks, so please stay tuned for more information!


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New Staff and Board Members


The Port Moody Soccer Club is always looking to add quality people committed to growing soccer opportunities in our great community. With that in mind, we would like you to please join us in welcoming our new staff and board members to the Club for the upcoming year


Courtney Brazil // Treasurer – Courtney joined the Club board this past June after seeing our online posting looking for a Treasurer. Courtney played soccer most of her life and still plays as an adult. Courtney comes well qualified in her role with a CPA accreditation and will be instrumental in helping to ensure our Club continues to instill strong financial checks and balances.


Christie Newton // Director-At-Large – Christie also recently joined the board over the past summer and has a wealth of experience in governance. Christie is family doctor, as well as an Associate Professor and Director within the UBC Department of Family Practice. She serves on the board of the College of Family Physicians of Canada and has a daughter that has played within our Club since 2009. Christie will be supporting our Club by helping strategize around fund-raising opportunities and supporting with governance.


Alex Coombes // Director-at-Large – Alex has just joined the board recently as a director-at-Large and has two young sons in our Club. Alex is a lawyer and brings with him great experience as a both a lawyer and is or has been a member of other volunteer boards throughout the lower mainland. He will be working with us in many capacities, but we look forward to leaning on Alex a bit to bring his experience with governance matters into the conversation to ensure we have looked at all the angles when making decisions at the board.


Nick Hopewell // Disciplinary Chair – In ensuring that we follow best practices and adhere to Canada Soccer standards, we are pleased to announce that Nick Hopewell has volunteered to take on the role of Disciplinary Chair within our organization. Nick is a lawyer and current associate with Maryn & Associates. His legal background and attention to detail will help ensure that any disciplinary matters are handled fairly. We thank Nick for stepping up and joining us in this capacity!


Audey Korpus // Marketing and Communications Coordinator – The Port Moody Soccer Club is pleased to announce that Audey Korpus has stepped up and volunteered to take on the role of marketing and communications coordinator. Audey brings with him a wealth of experience in the marketing sphere and will help our club on marketing and communication initiatives throughout the year. Thank you Audey for your support!


Teri Shaw // Risk Manager and Child Protection Liaison – Teri is a long-time volunteer in our club and has worn many hats over the years. Apart from her role in helping to coordinate the Adaptive Program, Teri also looks after the Risk Management portfolio, and our newly added role of Child Protection Liaison. We thank Teri for her continued hard work in our Club!


Dalibor Plavsic // Assistant Technical Director – You may have seen a picture of Dalibor recently in our social media as he won a medal as a part of the gold medal winning women’s soccer Olympic team in Tokyo! Dalibor has recently joined our club as an assistant technical director alongside Mike Girard and comes with some great soccer credentials. 


Yuri Vasilveski // Director of Boys U6-U12 Development – A former Port Moody Soccer Coach has returned! We would like to welcome back Yuri Vasilevski to the Port Moody Soccer Club. Yuri is joining us to help provide support to our grassroots program as a Director of Development where he will provide direction or our Age Group Head Coaches and support our early competitive level programs as well.


For all our coaching bio’s please go here and click on the Technical Coach Bios Tab!


We would like to thank all these great board members, operations volunteers, and staff members for joining us and helping to push our Club forward to new levels!


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Volunteer and Staff Opportunities


We need your help!


The Port Moody Soccer Club is a volunteer-run, non-profit society. As such, we are always looking for great volunteers and staff to join our operations. If you or someone you know fits any of the following roles, please consider applying for one of the following roles:


Paid Staff – Executive Director – 30+ hours a week

Volunteer – Field Equipment Manager – 1 to 2 hours a week

Volunteer – Photographer / Videographer – 2 to 4 hours a month


These opportunities are great ways for you to show your support for your Club. Please consider joining today and helping. We thank you for your consideration!


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Thank you for your consideration, and we look forward to seeing you and your families on the pitch!


The Port Moody Soccer Club

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