“Can I buy you a beer?” my sweaty soccer teammate asked me after a tough match in the Kamloops Invitational Soccer Tournament (KIST) over the August long weekend.
It was a typical enough gesture for a recreationally driven competitive level soccer team finishing a game in the biggest tournament of the year in Canada’s tournament capital.
The kicker is my sweaty teammate was my mom.
Not many people can say they have played on the same competitive sports team as their parent for eight years.
In the last couple years, my aunt and cousin have joined the roster, making it a real family event.
I went back to my hometown, Kamloops, for the long weekend to visit friends and family, bask in the desert heat and take part in my favourite annual event, KIST.
I have been involved in the tournament since I was a child. First, on the sidelines cheering for my mom and being mothered by her teammates from the field when I ran too far off into mischief. Then, as a teen I kept myself busy by selling homemade soccer-themed jewelry to teams until, finally, I was old enough to play.
Kamloops’ summers have always been an integral part of my upbringing.
The sunshine seems to recharge my parents, and everyone always tried to make the most of the good weather while it lasted.
A large part of our summer family bonding came from a general consensus to meet on our deck after a hot, summer day either for a swim, a slushy drink made from mom’s fresh strawberries or an ice cream cone with chocolate chips individually placed to make a smiley face.
Summer was our time not only because of the family pool, but because my family has always been active outdoors.
Summer, for me, represents our time together. My mother and I shared an even more special summer bond.
Not only did we play on the same soccer team for eight glorious seasons, she also coached me and bought me my first pair of soccer cleats when I was about five.
When I moved to Alberta, playing soccer with my mom was one of the many things I left behind for a step toward my desired career. I miss it constantly.
It saddened me to learn she would retire her soccer jersey at the age of 43 after this year
At first I disagreed with her decision. She is still one of the top players in the most competitive division of the league and is in fantastic shape. However, after hearing her reasons, I understood her choice to give up soccer.
After a lifetime in the Kamloops soccer community, she is tired of the league politics and feels she has been cast aside by the league with no division to play in, an idea she shares with many other Kamloops soccer veterans.
She is a skilled, older player who doesn’t want to be lumped in a division against the competitively driven college ladies. While she could match their skill – her intention is different, something made more evident recently when a top-of-the-league team wouldn’t agree to shorter halves in the dry summer heat, despite them being barely able to field a team.
It saddens me a veteran player with valuable experience who contributed to the league for years, both organizing and playing, is so fed up with the process she would rather quit than help improve her sport. Sometimes the struggle for everyone’s future betterment is so daunting, it can be easier to just live our day-to-day lives than fight the tough battles.
It’s an idea that translates for me into my experiment covering the Town of Irricana.
From what I have seen so far, members of the Town council do not seem to get along. Serious issues, such as the Town’s finances, require tough, unpopular decisions.
However, I feel the Town’s political process could potentially prevent residents from caring, much like how my mother decided to hang up her soccer cleats.
As someone who does not live in the community, it is difficult just to watch this unfold. I can’t imagine being a resident and speaking out.
If I lived in Irricana, I would consider avoiding the drama altogether.
I hope council will someday work out their differences to help create a better town for everyone to live in, peacefully.
The most important lesson I’ve learned while playing soccer with my mom is, while you can play hard and competitively during the 90 minutes of game play, it’s important to shake hands with the opposition at the end of the match.
What happens on the field stays on the field.
