By Ottawa Sports Pages, for West Ottawa Soccer Club
The Gugelmeier family gets out their pre-game packing list for the Wee Warriors soccer festival.
Soccer balls? Check. Shorts and jersey? Check. Cleats, shin pads and socks? Check. Cooler, water, fruit? Check. Facepaint, ribbons and team-coloured sunglasses? Check, check and check. Baseball bat? All packed.
Wait, what was the last one? Did they mixup the sports?
“Well that’s for the piñata,” explains mom/coach Tanya, listing perhaps the most important item of all.
For the Gugelmeiers, now veterans of four seasons at West Ottawa Soccer Club, the post-game team party is just about as important as the action on the pitch, and their homemade soccer ball-shaped piñata is a big hit.
“By the end, we become friends with all the families,” says coach Tanya, noting they still get together long after the season is over. “We’ve met so many great families from all over and all kinds of walks of life. It’s awesome. It just brings people together.”
The Gugelmeiers represent a bit of a global soccer family already themselves. Dad/coach Steven’s family has German roots, making the Bundesliga, Euros and World Cup a core part of his upbringing, while Trinidadian Tanya grew up surrounded by Caribbean football fire.
Now it’s the Wee Warriors soccer program with West Ottawa Soccer Club that fuels much of their soccer passion. Youngest child Victoria is the latest to join the fun, while older sister Katerina, now a WOSC U11 player, loves “helping them and just motivating them to play their best,” as the team’s assistant coach (or role model as her mom puts it).
“They definitely look up to Katerina,” Tanya signals. “She’s really good with kids and she’s a great help for us on the field.”
The Gugelmeiers are among 200+ volunteer coaches who power the Wee Warriors program, which welcomed roughly 1,500 players from the U4-U7 age groups this summer. They include players’ parents, grandparents, community members, and high school age players who are part of WOSC’s youth leadership program.
“It’s been phenomenal. Everybody is just so willing to help,” states Wee Warriors Club Head Coach Cathy Briggs, who feels grateful not to have to work too hard to recruit volunteers thanks to exceptional community enthusiasm. “They coach because they want to coach, and that’s a brilliant thing to have. That makes all the difference.”
WOSC offers Wee Warriors community programs in numerous West Ottawa neighbourhoods throughout Kanata North, Kanata South, Richmond and Stittsville, with a selection of evening and weekend programs to choose from.
“They get to play in their backyard. Lots of parents can pull their wagon to the park,” notes Briggs. “I think that’s what makes it so popular.”
To finish each season, teams from all the various sites come together for the high-energy Wee Warriors Festival at Wesley Clover Parks. There are opening ceremonies and a team parade, O Canada is played, there are skills competitions, face-painting, inflatables and three soccer games per team (without scorekeeping or standings).
“Everyone brings family. Grandparents are out, siblings are out, everybody is out,” Briggs describes. “Lots of people make for lots of cheering and lots of fun.”
For the Gugelmeiers, it’s the community connection that develops through soccer that they love the most.
“Soccer isn’t just about what takes place on the field,” underlines Steven, noting the excellent organization of the program also makes it easy for them to keep coming back each year. “It’s about team spirit and being part of the community, giving back, working hard, learning skills. It’s about what you can teach the kids on the field that they can take and use in real life.”
Steven loved his experience playing soccer in his youth, but he never imagined there’d be such widespread passion for the beautiful game in Canada – whether gathering with neighbours at the local park or cheering on Team Canada at the World Cup.
“There was definitely lots of additional energy around the World Cup this year. It’s what everyone was talking about when they’d arrive at their session,” Briggs recounts. “It was fun to watch the kids come back, and they would pretend to be certain players or try moves that they saw.”
She also saw some youngsters mimic dramatic embellishments to encourage foul calls.
“You get the bad with the good,” smiles the past Queen’s University Gaels national champion, “but I’m hoping that going forward it brings an interest in soccer to more and more kids.”
There’s an opportunity coming up soon to jump in and join fall Wee Warriors programs, which begin the first week of October at the WOSC domes at Thunderbird Sports Centre, for players born in 2022, 2021 and 2020. The club also has a wide range of programs for older youth players, plus adults all the way to 50+, and even a wee bit younger for toddlers.
“They sell out fast,” Briggs highlights.
Find out more about Wee Warriors here and other West Ottawa Soccer Club programs here.
