I’ve always been athletic but soccer was not an organized sport for girls when I was young. I arrived in Vancouver, via Australia and the Bahamas, in grade 6 at Queen Mary Elementary School. I fell in love with track and field and joined a competitive club and became a successful track athlete. In my grade 7 year, our school was part of a pilot project and we had a girl’s soccer team. I played on that team and fell in love with the sport! However, there was no girl’s soccer when I went to Lord Byng High School so I tried all the other great sports that were out there. It wasn’t until grade 12 that one of my best friends found out that Dunbar Community Centre was starting up a brand new program-girl’s soccer! I was 17 and apart from playing that one brief season in grade 7, I was an unskilled soccer player.
I played soccer with all of my friends from Lord Byng and because we loved the game so much we formed our very own women’s team as soon as we graduated from high school. We played in the 2nd division of the Metro Women’s Soccer and became the division champs of 1977-78. From there, I continued to play with my friends until 1984 and then I decided to return to university and so tried out for the UBC Varsity team and made it! Of course, I was the oldest player on the team but I made even more friends-one friend I still play and coach Girls Only Soccer School with today!
At UBC, we were not only Canada West Champs for those 2 years we were also champs when we went on tour in Japan. We played several club teams, university teams, and the national team of Japan and we won all of our games except against the national team whom we tied. After playing at UBC, I stayed in the Metro Women’s League and played premier soccer, the top level of the game, until I gave birth to baby #2. I decided to step down to division 1 and joined the Meraloma Women’s A team.
As a member of the Lomas, I’ve been blessed with a very successful soccer career. We’ve been league champs, division champs, summer games champs, provincial rec. cup champs, provincial over 35’s champs, national over 35’s champs, and World Master’s champs in Melbourne, Australia, 2002. Now I’m part of the Silver Lomas, the second team the club has in the women’s over 30’s division of Metro Women’s Soccer.
Along with playing, I love to coach. I have coached all of my kids along the way but now I coach women-the most satisfying age group to coach. The Bullets play in the spring league of Metro Women’s and we’ve been together for 8 years. Our season is short, May and June only but because we take our soccer seriously, we start training in late March/early April.
I also run a ladies clinic called FC Mamas. Here I get to teach and inspire women to learn more about the basics of the game. I generally run two sessions per year, in the fall and spring.
My true passion, however, is simply sharing the love of the game with other like-minded women: women who love to play, women who are interested in learning new skills, and women who are interested in not only developing themselves but also developing new friendships. This game truly is “the beautiful game” not just because of how lovely it is to see several well constructed passes on the pitch or a spectacular move pulled against the opponent allowing a shot on goal but because of the deep and lasting friendships that are created on and off the pitch. My best friends are all my soccer teammates.
