For the Moose Jaw Soccer Association, it might almost end up being final registration.
With COVID-19 and the amount of field time available at YaraCentre having forced each age group into a number cap, the MJSA has found themselves almost full across the board at the end of early-bird registration on Friday.
And that’s left technical director Jordan Jeffery with the best of quandries.
“I’m basically in the process of trying to figure out how I get more groups,” Jeffery said with a laugh. “All the limits and stuff just makes it a pain this year. If COVID hadn’t happened I think we’d have even bigger growth and a bigger headache still.”
As one might imagine, too many players and not enough space is a problem most would like to have. That translates into over 150 youth registrations for the MJSA, and a further 150 expected for the adult co-ed and men’s leagues when things are all said and done.
As things currently stand, the registration cap limits have been hit in Under-5, U9 and U13, with a handful of spots available in the U7 and U11 divisions. The plan is to open a second group for U5, and doing the same for the next two higher age groups if it comes down to that.
In the older groups, the U17 and U19 boys divisions have seen a substantial boost due to the Celtic FC partnership, featuring numbers that haven’t been seen in close to a decade. The older girls leagues aren’t quite as high, but a split U13-U15 league is likey as well as separate U17 and U19 teams.
“It’s good to see people coming out and still being interested in getting exercise every week and staying healthy and staying active, they want to be part of the club,” Jeffery said. “There have been a couple of parents who said they were going to give it a miss this year, with the schools and stuff like that they didn’t know if it was good to do outside activities and they wanted to stay in the cohorts created by the schools. That’s fine, it’s their choice and we support that, we just hope that this starts easing down until outdoor begins and we can see those players come back as well.”
As for what games will look like when they happen, there’s still some question. The Sask Soccer Association was recently informed that the limit for players in a mini-league can go to 80 if the play format is nine-versus-nine or 11-versus-11, but more clarification is needed before things are finalized locally.
Competition-wise, the MJSA is planning to partner with Swift Current and have their teams pay a visit to YaraCentre for a few weekends in the U9 to U15 divisions once things kick off.
All told, it’s as promising a situation as the MJSA could have hoped for and a sign that soccer is certainly on the uptick in the city.
“Based on what I’ve heard from other clubs and areas and where their numbers are and our numbers are, we’re in a good place,” Jefferey said. “We’re excited and hopefully we’ll see some more growth in the outdoor if the world can get to normal then…. We’re excited and hopefully things will start to get better, until then we have a great base to build on in the indoor so far.”
