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The new indoor soccer fields at Genesis Place
tive leagues separate from those in Calgary. That means still travelling during the winter months for Aztec league play. “It would be wonderful at some point if Calgary started booking games out with us, but from a business point of view for Calgary they have to have 100 per cent capacity in their facilities before they would entertain that,” Cameron says. That, though, could change down the road with more growth in soccer registration. Currently between 600 and 700 people have registered for the indoor soccer leagues. The ADSA will host another drop-in registration later this winter. Soccer, like many other mainstay sports, competes for numbers each season. Since 2006 more than 1,600 players have donned uniforms for play on the outdoor fields each season. That’s a 25-per-cent increase compared to 2003 numbers. Looking at other cities that have adopted indoor soccer arenas, Jacobsen expects those numbers to kick up over the next couple of seasons. “Talking to people in other communities – Red Deer, Sherwood Park, Fort Saskatchewan – they indicated that once they got their indoor facility their first years of registration brought about 60 per cent of their outdoor people to indoor. “From there there was an explosion of demand for outdoor soccer. Now all of a sud-
den it was a recreational activity that could be done fairly close to home, reasonably inexpensive and could be continued throughout the spring and winter,” Jacobsen says. With the impact of the indoor game, Jacobsen is predicting outdoor registrations to increase to 15-20 per cent a season compared to the five-10 per cent growth they’ve observed over the past couple of years. Jacobsen is expecting to see growth at all levels, with more players advancing to the competitive Aztec levels. “The more people you get involved the stronger your competitive program becomes. It’s happened in other communities. There are always those players that strive to challenge themselves to the highest level and they want to get that stronger competition.” But for now the dream of kicking the black-and-white ball around a facility built for the sport has become a reality. Players of all ages, coaches and the many volunteers who make the ADSA a success now have a hugely visible indoor place to call their own. “We’re thrilled,“ concludes Annette Cameron. “It’s going to be a benefit [to] Genesis Place as well. Because when you have little Katie come in to play U-6 soccer, the siblings have an opportunity to go swimming, or do drop-in sports. And of course for mom and dad it would encourage membership because they can go work out or whatever while soccer is going on.” LIFE
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