It was a month ago when OpenFile first wrote about the soccer-pitch-to-be on the vacant lot at 58 West Hastings between Abbott and Carrall Streets.  As we mentioned in January, the idea was to make the lot the new home of the Vancouver Street Soccer League, which is managed by the Portland Hotel Society.

Today, the Vancouver Courier reports the pitch is at risk of falling into limbo because of an issue with city permits. Vicki Potter, Vancouver’s director of development services, told the Courier the site requires a permit to change the use of the property from commercial or residential to recreational. On top of that, another permit would likely be required to use the land recreationally. From the Courier

“Based on what we’ve heard that they want to do, because we’ve been asked for advice whether this activity or that activity requires permits, the last that we heard, it would require a permit,” said Potter. “We would call that a park or playground activity that would require permits because it potentially brings in traffic or noise to surrounding neighbourhoods.”

Potter said the cost of permits, including any for structures such as fencing, would depend on the land and the value of those structures.

“We would have expected before they started that they would have applied for permits,” Potter said.

Mark Townsend, the co-founder and director of the Portland Hotel Society, told the Courier Wednesday he was informed by email that permits weren’t needed. After meetings with the city, he said a manager with the department of planning wrote him to say permits were not required. Potter believes Townsend was misinformed.

Is this another case of a convoluted permit application process getting in the way of a worthwhile initiative?

Last month, OpenFile spoke to Hector and Randy, two members of the Downtown Eastside Homeless Soccer team, who both credited the program for helping to turn their lives around:

They say it’s helped them get clean and now get a job. “I have a baby coming,” says Randy. “ I just want to straighten my life up … I want to raise my lifestyle up in a good way.”

As is always the case when it concerns the City of Vancouver and permits, there is much more to the issue. For all the details, be sure to check out the Vancouver Courier article.  For more on the soccer league itself and some of the athletes, read out article here.

REPORTED BY
Emily Elias Reported on
January 17, 2012

Homeless Soccer Team Gets A New Home Pitch

The empty lot on the south side of Hastings between Abbott and Carrall is owned by developer Concord Pacific. In the past year it has been used for a variety of community events, including a DTES pow wow. Concord Pacific has not yet announced plans for the site. Photo by OpenFile.

Hector and Randy’s faces light up when they think about a vacant lot on West Hastings between Abbott and Carrall Streets.

It doesn’t look like much. It’ just a few logs and gnarled concrete from the former building that used to sit on top of the space.But to the two members of the Downtown Eastside Homeless Soccer team, it’s their new home field.

“It’s beautiful,” says Hector dressed in fluorescent work clothes. “It’s going to be very helpful.” “It’s fun. It’s cold. But we gotta do what we gotta do,” says Randy who believes this field will mean more opportunities to recruit more people in the community to play the game.

A few years ago, the men would have never thought they would be spending their days levelling the ground to get ready to install a soccer pitch.

Randy found himself on the streets after getting addicted to crystal meth. He ended up getting a spot in New Fountain Shelter and then a spot on Canada’s team for the Homeless World Cup in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2010.

Meanwhile, Hector heard about the program through a friend living in the Downtown Eastside. He had lost his job and found himself living on the streets. His involvement has taken him to the Homeless World Cup in Paris, France, last year. It’s also inspired him to work out 5 hours a day to in the hopes he will one day play for the Vancouver Whitecaps FC.

“I got to get my cardio back,” says Hector who is preparing for an open tryout. “They are looking for a lot of talent right now, but before I go for my trial I have to be ready.  Beating all those players is not going to be so easy.”

Both men credit the program for helping to turn their lives around. They say it’s helped them get clean and now get a job. “I have a baby coming,” says Randy. “ I just want to straighten my life up … I want to raise my lifestyle up in a good way.”

As they work behind a construction fence, people stop to chat about the space. Urban farm space will be at one end of the lot next to a carving circle and amphitheatre along with the soccer field the size of a large tennis court.

“We’ve got good feedback, like ‘good job’ and ‘keep it up’. We tell them that we are just volunteers and they say you are working hard for that,” says Randy as he beams with pride.

“We just want to get it done. Even cops stop by and say we’re doing a great job then ask us when we are going to play again. “

More people are getting on board with the Vancouver Street Soccer League in a neighborhood that communicates through word or mouth. Currently there are eight different teams within the Downtown Eastside.

Kailin See helps organize the program. She says the teams practice twice a week, and she says finding space has been a challenge. “It always comes down to dollars and we can’t afford playing space anywhere,” says See.

“Outside in the warmer months it’s not so bad,” says See. “But In the winter… You can’t in good conscience be asking people to play in the rain if they don’t have a change of clothes and gym space has been impossible full stop.“

Once the field is complete and homeless soccer players get a home, See says the group has new goal in mind. They want to raise $5 million dollars so they can host the Homeless World Cup in 2015.

“We are not even sure how or why it works the way that it does but this beautiful community has been created and these same players were totally in pretty desperate circumstances,” explains See. “Now the vast majority are housed very well, many of them are in stable healthy partnerships, many of them are working, their substance abuse issues are for the most part under control.

“And now they are building a soccer pitch for the upcoming generations of players that are going to come through this program. It’s totally remarkable in every way.”

Although there are more pressing matters ahead for the street soccer group. The pitch is set to open this week still need to find a name.

By Austin Kent 
Friday, February 3, 2012

When There’s Nowhere to Go But Soccer Practice

Billy Pagonis of Street Soccer Canada

The snow-soaked streets of Hamilton, Ontario are miserable enough in January, colder still without the luxury of a consistent address to call home. Sadly, a life of homelessness – or the looming threat thereof – is a distinct reality for close to 20 per cent of the industrial graveyard’s 500,000 residents.

Though general misfortune strikes individuals in the hapless community indiscriminately of age or personal condition, there does exist one equalizer that stands apart among the housing shelters and social services perilously tasked with making the hard life easier: the power of sport.

Sport as a therapeutic tool is a phenomenon easily cast aside by the majority, but immensely appreciated by anyone who’s ever felt it’s impact. It’s what’s made Street Soccer Canada such a valuable, if quiet, difference maker in the underprivileged community.

Tucked away in the neon-lit gymnasium of a former elementary school building in a dark corner of North Hamilton is a slice of normalcy, a desperately-sought source of salvation from the unforgiving world waiting outside. It presents in a game of indoor soccer.

Cradling his chin in the crook of his hand, Billy Pagonis overlooks the ceramic “field” in front of him. The squeak of sneakers and chorus of shouts are familiar sounds for any lifelong athlete. For Canadian Pagonis – a former professional soccer player by way of Switzerland and Germany – especially so.

It wasn’t long ago when the man, now pushing 50 years old, was a role model athlete, a devout child of the game committed to playing it often and playing it well. When the opportunity to sign a contract in Europe arose in May of 1992, he pounced and rode it well into the twilight of his physical prime.

As an athlete playing the game he’d always aspired to play, Pagonis lived a life of luxury, driving expensive cars and living his dream.

Today he rides the subway.

“I woke up every morning for almost 20 years in the professional lifestyle of a soccer player. I just lived soccer and breathed soccer,” says Pagonis. “Soccer got me my education, my friends, my health.”

It wouldn’t last.

As Pagonis surveys the action on the multi-purpose gym floor before him he does so not as a coach or literal expert on the subject (though he’s both), but as a symbol of what the program stands for.

Street Soccer Canada is a not-for-profit organization launched in 2004. One that by 2008 had been incorporated as a registered charitable organization and today touches 12 communities from Vancouver, British Columbia to Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Much like Street Soccer USA and the 70-odd likeminded national programs across the globe, Street Soccer Canada aims to connect and engage with underprivileged individuals through social inclusion and the support of a community.

When Pagonis first heard of the organization, it was the type of community he craved.

In 2007, while in rehabilitation for an OxyContin addiction brought on by a painkiller habit that haunted him in the wake of his playing career, Pagonis caught wind of the Toronto-based organization connecting men and women in need through sports – through soccer specifically, the very craft on which he had always relied.

“As soon as I stopped playing soccer, the only thing that was left for me to do was continue partying,” Pagonis explains. “The wrong environment, the wrong choices, the wrong friends. That’s how I went from the top to the bottom.”

The downward spiral was a tragic one, a drug-laced journey bottoming out with a middle-aged man left wanting as the game he loved passed him by. But the humbling stint at the bottom only armed the man further in his quest to aid individuals currently dealing with similar burdens.

“[I asked myself] ‘What was I doing then that I’m not doing now?’, and that was kicking a soccer ball. So I’ve always made a quote ‘kick the habit, kick the soccer ball.”

Nowadays Pagonis roams the sidelines of his indoor soccer pitch, a three-year veteran of the program whose role has evolved from beleaguered participant to national head coach. In August of 2011 he manned his team at the annual Homeless World Cup in Paris, France and this year he’ll take them to Mexico City.

As an athlete who participated on the field in Australia’s 2008 Homeless World Cup, he’s the perfect storm of experience.

“I can turn around and say I was the only player out of 56 countries that played in two World Cups. The Homeless World Cup and the National World Cup. So that’s a statement right there, meaning that anybody can get into a bad situation, by choice or by your roots.”

Brian Mullan is a 19-year-old kid from the east end of Hamilton, a former hockey player and current roofer of five years. At 15, Mullan left an abusive situation at home for the sanctuary of independence and has lived alone ever since. Ten months ago, what had finally started to resemble domestic stability came crashing apart.

When a fight with a landlord left the teenager out in the cold, Mullan had no other option but to get in contact with a youth shelter in town. For some a visit to a shelter is a temporary setback, for others, it’s anything but.

”You know when you’re at the bottom and it’s like ‘Kay, what do I do? Shit I have nothing right now’. That was my situation,” says Mullan.

Fortunately for Mullan, on the second day of his stay at the shelter he came in contact with Street Soccer Canada and hasn’t looked back. The routine, he attests, has added a much-needed source of consistency and stability to his life.

“Every Tuesday I know I have somewhere to go, something to do, someone to talk to.”

By the end of his first week at the shelter, Mullan had bounced back and secured accommodations elsewhere, but not before discovering a genuine appreciation of what the program and others like it can offer.

”I think routine is probably the biggest thing in life. You’ve got to keep a routine in order to stay on track and this is on your way to keeping a routine.”

By the end of his first summer in the program, Mullan was representing the national team in Paris and remains a regular member of the Street Soccer Hamilton community with hopes of volunteering with the organization for as long as they’ll have him.

As Pagonis surveys the players pounding the soccer ball up and down the aged gymnasium, he offers pointers and advice, fundamental tips that only a longtime product of the game could know. More than just an encyclopedia of strategy, though, he serves as a source on whom athletes in the program can personally rely – whether playing for their first time or for their 50th.

“Kids come up to us after a while when they feel comfortable with us. They think we’re more friends than anything else. We’re not their case workers, we’re not their parole officers.”

Pagonis is not alone. Although he, along with program director and founder Paul Gregory serve as the figureheads of Street Soccer Canada, it’s with Phil Ruicci that he manages the daily operations of the Hamilton division of the organization.

Ruicci – a 24-year-old therapeutic recreation graduate of nearby Brock University – was charged with the task of championing the recent expansion out to Hamilton, and has reveled in the opportunity.

“Working with these guys is a character builder every day. It’s emotional. For a lot of the guys it’s isolated, they don’t talk to each other, they don’t talk to staff, to anyone, really – so seeing their change from Day 1 until today, they’ve changed drastically. They’ve become the person they used to be when they were happy, when their life was stable, when their family was in tact.”

With Pagonis, Ruicci frequents a handful of shelters in the area, youth shelters like the one Brian Mullan stayed at – but predominantly men’s and adult shelters.

“A large majority [of the burdens that plague Street Soccer athletes] are mental health and drug addiction,” he summarizes, “But there are people that come because they’re vulnerable at that given time.”

Together Ruicci and Pagonis, not only organize and lead practices, scrimmages and tournament entries, but coordinate gym rentals and manage relationships with shelter administration.

Though Street Soccer Hamilton has expanded rapidly in its first year of operation, the ongoing pursuit of accessing shelters and individuals who might benefit from the program’s service is an endless struggle.

Before every scrimmage, clad head-to-toe in Street Soccer training gear, Ruicci and Pagonis visit the roster of shelters within which they’ve been cleared, campaigning for the program and spreading word about the organization. If they can find and improve the situation of even one individual, it’s an afternoon well spent.

“Billy is an ideal person for this job. He’s been in their shoes. The kids and adults that we deal with can’t bring up a topic that Billy hasn’t dealt with.”

That blend of knowledge and familiarity is what makes the pair a sight to behold, whether playing off each other to sell the benefits of the program to a group of reluctant teens smoking casually in the entranceway of one of Hamilton’s tattered shelters, or competing heatedly against one another for bragging rights on the pitch before practice.

The enthusiasm and passion evident across the board speak to the organization’s ability to transcend the harsh reality of the outside world, if even for temporary relief.

Mario Erich, a Croatian immigrant from the former Yugoslavia knows exactly the benefits that that energy can provide. It took three weeks of Pagonis and Ruicci’s salesmanship to convince him to participate for the first time and he hasn’t looked back – even since moving on from the shelter at which he was staying at the time.

“We have intensity [here]. We have a lot of fun, but we have a lot of intensity, and for that small time you forget the burdens that may be burdening you during your day,” the 41-year-old says, “Because you feel light and free here, you can go back and recapture the feeling, even when you feel a little bit stressed about life.”

A framing carpenter by day, Erich – like the bulk of Eastern European migrants – grew up playing soccer, but was reluctant to re-engage in the sport. Initially content passing on the opportunity, consumed at the housing shelter by his own financial setbacks, Erich was eventually convinced.

”People have a choice, eh? We like to take the easy route and to sit back in the stands, but once you come and you become a participant, you see how much fun it is.”

Having already used the sport of boxing to kick struggles with alcohol as a recently-landed Canadian migrant in the early 1990s, it didn’t take long for Erich to appreciate the benefits of physical exercise and the support of the Street Soccer community.

”One of the things that helps when your life gets a little bit chaotic, when you get a curveball, is to have something like routine, something that you can look forward to.”

On that everyone – everyone who has ever watched helplessly as their lives derailed in front of them, at least – can agree.

”We don’t care who you are, we don’t care what your situation is – I mean, we do, we’d love to hear it,” adds Mullan, “But we don’t hold it against anyone because we’ve all been in that spot.”

PHYLICIA TORREVILLAS
METRO VANCOUVER
January 27, 2012

Dropping by to watch and encourage players from the Homeless World Cup -Thanks Kara Lang and Team Canada!

Members of Canada’s national women’s soccer team dropped by Andy Livingston Park on Thursday morning to meet and support dozens of street soccer players.

Even with an Olympics-berth deciding game on their hands, the players of Canada’s national women’s soccer team sneaked in time to give back to their community.

They dropped by to watch and encourage players from the Homeless World Cup team Thursday morning during their training at Andy Livingston Park.

Paula Armstrong, a player on the women’s street soccer team, said it meant a lot to them to meet the players from Team Canada.

“It’s out of this world,” she said. “It’s beyond anything I could’ve imagined coming from the Downtown Eastside and being involved with drugs and poverty.”

Omar Duran, who dropped in to play with his friends on the street soccer team, said the unexpected visitors distracted him from the morning scrimmage.

“They were all very friendly and nice,” he said. “They’re telling us they were nervous for (the game against Mexico), and excited as well.”

“I had my heart divided because I’m Canadian and Mexican,” Duran added. “I told them that and they were like, ‘You have to decide if you’re going to cheer for Canada or Mexico.’ In the end, they won my heart and I’m going to cheer for Canada.”

North Delta’s Chelsea Buckland, a forward for the national team, said the team is in a positive mindset and pumped up to play on Friday.

“There’s definitely the pressure of playing against a great Mexico squad,” she said. “Their fan base is going to be up to par with our Canadian fans.”

“This is do-or-die,” Buckland added. “We’re going to put everything on the line because this is it. This game is the determination if we go to the Olympics or not.”

You could win one of these (the jersey that is)

BIDDING CLOSES JANUARY 29, 2012!

The Canadian Women’s National Team have graciously provided the Southsiders with an autographed jersey which shall be auctioned off as part of our fundraising efforts in support of the Vancouver Street Soccer League

The Vancouver Southsiders are representing the good name of soccer supporters north of the border, by entering the charitable deeds business.

Last year’s President John Knox retired from that role to oversee the new venture. Their first beneficiary is the Vancouver Street Soccer League.

The Canadians Women’s side has donated and autographed a jersey to help raise funds for the league which is associated with Street Soccer Canada and the Homeless World Cup.

Southsiders release:

As many of you are aware, the Vancouver Southsiders have been in full voice at BC Place to support the Canadian Women’s National Team in their quest for a berth at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London.

You may have also heard that we recently established a charitable wing of our supporters club, which aims to provide fundraising and volunteer support to important causes in our community.

The Canadian Women’s National Team have graciously provided the Southsiders with an autographed jersey which shall be auctioned off as part of our fundraising efforts in support of the Vancouver Street Soccer League.

From the VSSL website:

“The Vancouver Street Soccer League is associated with Street Soccer Canada and the Homeless World Cup. [It] uses soccer to inspire and empower. Our league is made up of teams that provide friendship for the homeless, physical fitness for the ill and addicted, direction for at-risk youth, and cultural focus for other unique communities such as inner-city First Nations people.

There’s a reason why soccer is known as the ‘beautiful game’ – the beauty is that it can enrich people’s lives. We’re here to get the ball rolling.”

About The Auction:

The white Umbro jersey up for grabs bears the official Canada Soccer logo and a red / black chevron design on the chest. It bears 20 CanWNT player signatures in black ink from the squad presently competing at BC Place.

Twitter participants can begin submitting bids immediately as per the following:

1) Start by “following” the account @CanWNTjersey

2) Tweet a message to the account which includes a dollar amount i.e. “ @CanWNTjersey $100 “

3) We shall send periodic updates to all followers to keep them informed of our most recent high bid

4) Twitter bidders who are still in the hunt towards the end of the auction will be asked to verify their contact details online

On the afternoon of Sunday January 29, the Southsiders and fellow Voyageurs (Canada supporters) will gather at Doolin’s Irish Pub (Nelson & Granville) before the final match of the Olympic Qualifiers. At 3:00 pm Pacific Time we will expand the bidding process to include persons in attendance at the pub.

For the next 60 minutes we will accept bids from Doolin’s attendees and from Twitter followers. Bidding will close at 4:00 pm Pacific Time. The jersey will be awarded to the top bidder, regardless of location, pending verification of the bid.

The Vancouver Southsiders would like to thank the Canadian Women’s National Team for their generosity, and we encourage all Vancouverites to turn out in huge numbers to support them as they continue their Olympic journey at BC Place. We would especially like to thank midfielder Kaylyn Kyle, who rallied her teammates into action on very short notice to make this charitable auction possible. Thank you and good luck to all!

Recently,  I was in a Mississauga community that I had worked in 10 years earlier.  I had started a soccer club then and had played soccer with kids in this community for over a year. We had a generous donor at the time who sponsored each soccer player with a jersey.  There were 4 neighbourhood teams, each with a different colour and number, with ACORN emblazoned on the back. As I was talking to two of these former players they both fondly recalled the soccer and both said they still had that soccer jersey – wow 10 years later…

Sport is a powerful tool and years later these kids remembered a moment, an experience.  As a donor to Street Soccer Canada you have participated in creating these sorts of memories for players who have participated in Street Soccer in shelters, tournaments and the Homeless World Cup.

I wanted to share this excellent video, The Love Promo,  made by Colin Askey, from the Portland Hotel Society in Vancouver – a generous partner, sponsor and supporter of the Street Soccer movement.  It will give you a sense of being there last August at the Homeless World Cup in Paris and put you inside the stories that are always inspirational.  Take two minutes and take a look inside the Homeless World Cup of Soccer experience.

Your generous donations have allowed us to do this work and continue to reach out in shelters to create more inclusive communities through the sport of soccer.  We hope you will consider giving again to support our ongoing and expanding work at www.canadahelps.org under Street Soccer Canada or visit our www.streetsocceercanada.org/donate page for other ways to support Street Soccer Canada.

Take care,

Paul Gregory
Founder Street Soccer Canada
November, 2011

P.S. As a result of our work and the work of many others in the last several years Street Soccer Canada has helped to expand Street Soccer across Canada with men and women teams and leagues in Halifax, Brampton, Mississauga, Hamilton, Toronto, Vancouver, Victoria, Kelowna and Edmonton.

Note: This is a re-post of a January 12 Newsletter email and we would love for you to be on our email list…please sign up here!

A combined street soccer team from Toronto, Brampton, Hamilton, and Mississauga shelters made the trek courtesy of VIA trains to Ottawa for a two day tournament and technical session led by coach Pagonis at the Louis Riel dome.

While the visiting side ended ahead both days the Ottawa team showed a creative will with crisp passing and intentioned positioning. The Ottawa side regularly participates in a seven aside regular league led by Ottawa founder Tatiana, Adrienne, Gracie and Ryan as well as many other volunteers that regularly make it happen in Ottawa.

Congratulations on an excellent tournament and thanks to Inaria for the jerseys (and hats for the bitter Ottawa cold).

Paul Gregory
Founder

[Show as slideshow]

A Holiday message from former Canadian National Team member and long time soccer player Kara Lang on her new involvement with Street Soccer Canada and their new work in women’s shelters in Toronto:

Street Soccer Canada is an organization that has impressed me for years. Throughout my playing career I’d always hoped that I could one day be involved with something that helps share the benefits of the beautiful game with those who need it most.

Once my soccer career came to an end, it became that much more apparent to me how my life was impacted by the game. Taking time to reflect on my career I realized that all of my best memories were ones I shared with my teammates and how fortunate I was to have gained a second family through soccer.
Now as a Technical Director with Street Soccer Canada and Coach of Toronto’s first All-Women’s team, I get to be a part of creating that same kind of fun, inclusive, supportive, and encouraging environment for women who otherwise wouldn’t have the chance to experience it.

Every week I get to watch our amazing group of women not only become more comfortable with a ball at their feet, but also just share in the joy of soccer and of being a part of a team. It’s so clear that the hour and a half we spend together each week is sometimes the only chance they have to get away from the struggles they face in their day-to-day life. It’s a chance for them to just let go in a carefree environment where the only agenda is fun with some physical activity thrown in, too.

Some of the ladies are life-long lovers of the game and the passion for soccer was already there. Like Naz – a loving mother of two, who instantly glows as soon as she starts taking about her two boys. She’s an immigrant from Macedonia and soccer is in her blood. Then there are others like Joyce – the most energetic and enthusiastic member of our squad – but had never touched a ball before coming to our first practice. Now she shows up each week with a new move that she’s learned on her own and has become our number one recruiter for new players from other shelters! She’s emerged as a leader and really has a knack for motivating her teammates. Abigail is another one of the die-hards who had never played and now doesn’t miss a practice. Her shot is so hard that it only took one day for me to realize I wasn’t going to volunteer to go in net for shooting drills anymore.

It still surprises me to see how excited these ladies are to just play each week. The smiles don’t stop from the moment we pick them up at the shelter and then we’re laughing all the way home after each game. We’re building a community and a family and the support and camaraderie for one another grows stronger each week.

Having been dealt some difficult cards over the years, and somewhat accustomed to being let down (whether by society, their friends, their families or just life in general), understandably, many of the women seemed skeptical of us at first. It was clear that they were unsure whether or not they should trust us to show up week after week.

But we’re committed to providing a space for these women to play, and slowly they’re beginning to come around and see that. As they get more comfortable, they also open up more and start to share their stories with us and with each other. Perhaps even more valuable than what happens on the field, is this interaction, communication and support that’s created off the field.
Recently we got to enjoy a holiday brunch with our ladies before we take a break for the holidays. After weeks spent together in a gym in our running shoes and soccer uniforms, Joyce told me she was worried we wouldn’t recognize them all dressed up. When we picked them up at the shelter I understood why; they sure did get dressed up! It was so great to see how excited they were. When we got to the restaurant, the ladies insisted on sitting near the T.V to watch the soccer game that was on. We had lots of fun chatting about past games, disputing “lucky goals” and “questionable fouls”. It was a great way to close out the year with our team.

2011 has been good to Street Soccer’s Women’s team here in Toronto, and this is only the beginning! After our week away, we’ll be coming together again in the New Year and I’m really looking forward to seeing our team grow in 2012.
Kara Lang

We are also trying to get a portable port to use at our various shelter locations across the GTA. Help make this happen, donate at http://www.streetsoccercanada.org/donate/
If you haven’t already seen them watch our newest videos of the Team in France for the Homeless World Cup last August.

The Love: http://vimeo.com/31471798
The Dance Party: http://vimeo.com/31470869

Janurary 1st/2012 

We’re meeting at the A-maze-ing Laughter statues at Davie and Denman, Vancouver,  at 1pm on January 1st. Look for lots of smiling statues at Davie and Denman and you can’t miss them.

You’re going to get wet and cold, so bring a towel, something to wear into the water (crazy costumes and/or Street Soccer shirts are best) and some clothes to change back into afterwards.

This event will replace our practice that day and next Sunday is Christmas so we won’t have a practice that day either.

I’m hoping most of us will take the plunge, but spectators are welcome as well.

For more information please contact Alan Bates