Youth soccer is back.
So PentictonNow celebrated by spending a couple hours Saturday morning at this city's soccer (football?) shrine, King's Park, photographing the next generation of stars while they're still kids.
The youngest players we saw were all of five years old. The oldest were ten. And there was apparently a group playing before we arrived that were just three and four.
Needless to say, we came out of the exercise feeling absolutely prehistoric.
But invigorated too. There's something about watching these little guys and girls doing their thing on a warm Saturday morning that brings out the kid in all of us.
And especially now. Pandemic measures forced an end to games throughout the region for all of 2020 and 2021.
All of that changed though when the 2022 season opened April 9 with a flurry of games at all four Pinnacles Football Club pitches throughout the South Okanagan (Penticton, Summerland, Oliver and Osoyoos).
This Saturday King's Park was packed again and a big chunk of that crowd were, of course, parents. Two of those parents were Penticton's Dustin and Sarah Thompson, there to watch their kids Jasper and Cohen zip around in "Tots" and "Mini" action.
We asked if it was a chore to wake up early Saturday, at the end of a work week, to take the kids to soccer. Turns out it’s anything but.
"No, this is exactly what you go to work for," answered Dustin in a reply so perfect it was like he had a scriptwriter.
Sarah, meanwhile, a "stay-at-home mom" who's already conditioned to the early-to-rise lifestyle, laughed that it was "just a normal day for me."
Indeed, both seemed to be having a great time.
"There are lot of kids out, the turnout is just awesome," said Dustin. "And it seems like there are lots of volunteers and coaches who are all trying to do a good job."
Lisa Lepke's been a Saturday morning King's Park regular for nearly three decades.
"I've been coming here for 27 years," she said. "I was never a player, but my daughter Melissa started at five and I watched her forever. And when she grew up, our younger daughter Abby, who's at UVic now, started playing at five, so Melissa and I started coaching that team.
"We coached for maybe six years. Now I have both my grandsons playing. They're both five years old too. So it's still soccer Saturdays for me."
Amongst all the players and the parents and the families Saturday was PFC vice chair Mike Strain, who, in between rounds of coaching, called the day "unbelievable."
"It's unbelievable what we’re seeing here today. Smiling faces, kids playing soccer, lots of touches on the ball, and we've got sunshine. Can't get any better than that."
Strain has been in Penticton four years in all, moving here, like many, from the lower mainland.
He was involved in soccer on the coast too, playing for many years at the high-grade Fraser Valley premier level until knee problems forced him to scale back.
Nowadays he still laces up the boots for the adult-focused Penticton Soccer Club when he's not helping run Pinnacles.
And he's upbeat about 2020.
"We have more than 1500 players registered this year between Osoyoos, Penticton, Oliver, and Summerland," he said. "From three- and four-year-olds all the way up to 18."
According to figures from Pinnacles Sports Administrator Dale Cory, that's nearly 200 more than last year and 250 more than 2019, the last "normal" season prior to the pandemic.
Those are good numbers, but PFC would love to add to them. In that respect, registration for 2020 remains open until this Saturday, April 30. To register your child for the program, head to the Pinnacles Football Club website here.
And expect more soccer-centric photo stories from PentictonNow as the season unfolds.
