Okotoks United keeps raising the stakes in its Father’s Day weekend classic.
For the second year in a row, the Okotoks United Soccer Jamboree presented by Cavalry FC has seen a massive uptick in registration numbers with last year’s record number of teams shattered all the way to the 178 mark for the June 14-16 tournament.
“The first event had 50 teams and we capped it at that because we didn’t know what we were doing,” said Peter Mundy, Okotoks United president. “I can’t put my finger on exactly what we’ve done right to make it grow, but there’s a few factors. One of them is the amount of support we’ve started to receive from the Town for the quality of the fields.
“That’s made a big difference, a lot of the comments we get from the participants is the quality of the fields is far above what they’re used to. And also the staff at our club have started to learn and it’s become a bit like clockwork.”
It all comes back to the importance of word of mouth and those enjoying their experience sharing the message and seeking to come back year after year.
“I think we can take that as positive feedback that we’re doing a good job,” Mundy added. “And even this year, it’s not just the big clubs in the big cities, we’ve got our first team from Penhold and it’s great to get a community team coming in as well as our High Country teams participating as well.
“It shows that the game of soccer is developing generally throughout Alberta and through Canada.”
Tournament organizers capped registration at the end of May with an estimated 2,500 players representing 106 boys teams and 72 girls teams, with 48 of them travelling from outside the Calgary region.
Mundy, who had an initial goal of 160 teams, said they might be at their peak number now.
"The limitations are always the number of referees," he added. "As long as we can get the number of referees then we can actually build on those numbers, but after this year and the amount of work and pressure it's created, I don't think there's an intention to expand this particular weekend in future years."
The 28-division tournament features U9-U11 teams in the Tier I-4 ranks in the 7 vs. 7 format and U12-13 squads from Tier I-4 playing the 9 vs. 9 version of the game.
Twelve Okotoks teams will be part of the event.
The jamboree will take place at 22 fields in Okotoks, including Bill Robertson Park, Howard Park, Drake Landing Park and at Dr. Morris Gibson School.
For more information on the event, go to okotoksunitedsoccer.ca/ousc-jamboree-2024 and follow the OUSC Instagram account.
