A flagship summer event is getting a professional soccer club addition this June.
The fifth edition of Okotoks United Soccer’s annual Father’s Day tournament will have a new name as the Okotoks United Jamboree presented by Cavalry FC.
“The idea from our perspective is to try and make it into a bigger event,” said Okotoks United president Peter Mundy. “And having the Cavalry name put against the tournament is potentially a big benefit for us when in comes to registrations and bringing some limelight to the tournament as well.
“We would like to try and attract teams from further afield and that would probably help us do that.”
Mason Trafford, Cavalry FC commercial director, said the organization is integrating more with the Calgary Minor Soccer Association and its member teams, adding there are upwards of 35,000 playing the game in Calgary and area.
“We’ve developed the club program and really want to give back and open up our doors to the next generation of player,” Trafford said. “Myself and Nik Ledgerwood, who are leading the charge on the strategy behind that, we feel invested from a personal standpoint, we both have kids that will play in the (CMSA), but we’ve also both grown up in Canadian soccer systems and know that this is really the next generation.
“When you watch our women’s and men’s national teams right now, you feel like how could you not try and play your part in the development of that?”
As part of the Cavalry club program this season, Okotoks United will have a special day at one of the Canadian Premier League team’s match days this season.
“And that opened the door to a conversation with Peter about this tournament,” Trafford said. “I love the Okotoks market, it’s so close to Cavalry FC, we have the Cavalry FC Regional Field House naming rights, which I know a ton of people see.
“And we really want to be more intentional with our involvement in Okotoks in 2023 and this is one spoke on that wheel, to be involved with the grassroots soccer.”
For the tournament, Trafford said the details are still being ironed out, but there will be significant club representation from the Cavalry at the jamboree even with the team playing an away game that weekend.
“Both in the form of staff, coaching staff, I will be there, a retired player and now commercial director,” he said. “There will be a number of players that are either injured or not featuring in the match that weekend, you can always count on five or six players not travelling.
“We’re pretty confident we’ll have a really good turnout.”
Trafford, the former captain of Cavalry FC prior to retiring from the professional game in the off-season, said it’s rewarding to be on the business side and tap into the younger generation of fans.
“Soccer can change your life, as a kid it changed mine. I’m here in Calgary now because of soccer, my family is here because of soccer, my job is because of soccer,” he said.
“I feel like we really have a duty to show the kids and, in this case the kids in Okotoks, that there’s a dream right around the corner now at Spruce Meadows. You might not make it to the national team or Cavalry FC, but to dream about it, to keep you on a path of discipline of determination and goal setting, if you want to be a pro and make those sacrifices, it’s a powerful thing in a kid’s development.”
The Okotoks jamboree has steadily grown in size and prominence over the years.
The inaugural event was capped at 50 teams.
“It started off as an under-10 tournament and we wanted it just to be a 7v7 tournament initially,” Mundy said. “We started off small because we didn’t really know what the reception in the market was going to be like from the other clubs and we sold out actually and had a waitlist.”
That would be a harbinger of things to come.
Expansion followed and at the 2022 event there were 111 teams with the age groups also expanding up to the U13 division.
“Our hope is this year will be in the region of about 120 teams,” Mundy said. “We had a lot of teams registering from Edmonton last year as well. I think we’ve already got a bit of a reputation for running a tournament and the Town (of Okotoks) have been wonderful in running good fields.”
The 2023 event runs June 16-18 at the Bill Robertson Park fields.
For more information, visit okotoksunitedsoccer.ca.
