File photo (Image credit: CFJC Today).

By Sydney Chisholm

soccer

Kamloops looking to be a soccer hub

Apr 4, 2024 | 6:30 AM

KAMLOOPS — In the last few years, Kamloops has been putting itself on the map as a soccer hub in B.C.

Housing a founding member of the League1BC soccer league, Rivers FC, and following the Thompson Rivers University men’s soccer team winning the U Sports national title in 2022, the local soccer community is looking to build on that momentum.

“There’s so much talent [in Kamloops]. So I feel like there’s going to be more and more kids in the coming years that are going to sign professional contracts and do big things in soccer,” Alesandro Comita, former TRU and Rivers FC soccer player, told CFJC News.

Comita was one of the first Kamloops soccer players to sign a pro contract in Europe. But according to TRU’s head soccer coach, John Antulov, he won’t be the last.

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“One of the big reasons when I moved back here was to create those opportunities for kids to be able to play at a high level, both boys and girls. It’s not just Alesandro, we actually had just had junior American come just sign a professional contract in Australia,” Antulov says. “We had three players signed professional contracts last year, so we’re starting to see that progression and that growth in the players, not just on the men’s side, but on the women’s side as well.”

Over the last decade, the Tournament Capital has seen a steady rise in talented players emerging.

“Over the last seven, eight years, we’ve had eight kids go full time into the Whitecaps, MLS Academy and Girls Elite Academy through the Whitecaps,” Antulov says. “That’s a pretty significant number.”

According to the Kamloops Youth Soccer Association (KYSA), registration is up by 8.5 per cent and it will see the most select teams competing in the last 10 years.

Part of the sport’s newfound momentum in the community comes from the local success stories,

“To dream, you have to see a road to get there. And so a big part of what’s being done here in the community, it started with true many years ago. Now you have League1 and the team in the board bringing a League1 franchise here. I can’t understate the importance of that because now young athletes can now look at the highest league for the women, that’s the highest league in Canada,” Lyle Dos Santos, general manager of KYSA and Rivers FC says.

Leaders in the community see the recent victories as merely a jumping off point.

“We want to make Kamloops a destination for soccer, and you know, we’re starting to get people on board that are starting to see this. And we have all the wonderful facilities here that are continuing to grow. We’re building through TRU and Rivers as well, and we want to make Kamloops a hub for soccer in not just in the Interior, but in British Columbia as well.”

Dos Santos believes geographically, Kamloops is in the best possible spot to act as a soccer epicentre and elevate the game for players throughout the province.

“We live close access to Vancouver and the Lower Mainland, but we also can be a hub for the northern communities that might not be accessible to the pathway. I grew up in northern B.C. as a young man and the opportunities were very limited,” Dos Santos says. “And so now having something here centered out of Kamloops, it gives an opportunity to families and young talented players in those communities.”