Kamloops youth inspired by Canadian World Cup heroes

“When I saw Canada games, in particular, it definitely made me want to play a lot more soccer than I already did,” Leighton said. “It’s just the thrill of when they score and seeing the results.”

Canadian stars were born and future generations were inspired during the national team’s unprecedented men’s World Cup run, which concluded last week with a 3-0 defeat to Morocco in the Round of 16.

The Spendlove boys are proof of that and their father, Soccer Quest FC technical director Jamie Spendlove, can offer further evidence.

“For our World Cup summer camps, there are already a bunch of kids registered, more than expected, and we figure it’s around this,” Spendlove said. “Our numbers are constantly increasing and all this does is just give us an extra bit of passion. This just helps. We’ve had teams in our academy having private parties for Canada games and lots of kids down at Riverside Park.”

The City of Kamloops received $90,000 from the provincial government to support watch parties at Riverside Park for each of the 104 FIFA World Cup matches.

Crowds of between 3,000 and 4,000 were seen at each Canada game watch party, according to city community events coordinator Janvi Desai, with between 20 and 200 fans on hand for matches not featuring Jesse Marsch’s outfit.

“I was so surprised with how many people came out,” said Lucas Rinaldi, who plays for Kamloops United in the BC Premier League. “It was awesome. For me, that’s how I fell in love with football, the 2014 World Cup. For a lot of these kids, with it being here, that will hopefully do it for them, as well.”

Leighton and Finnley are among the lucky ones who experienced the atmosphere of sold-out BC Place for a World Cup match featuring Canada.

“Leighton said it was the best day of his life,” Jamie said with a laugh.

The Spendloves were among the 50,000-plus who watched the Canadians wax Qatar 6-0 on June 18 in Vancouver.

“I don’t think there’s a way I can explain it,” Leighton said when asked to describe the madness. “The next goal was better than the last. It was amazing.”

They saw David net a hat-trick. They saw the Canadian team rally around Ismaël Koné after a gruesome injury ended his tournament. They returned to Kamloops to watch Eustáquio score an injury-time winner and send his country into uncharted World Cup territory.

“They’re waking up at five in the morning and playing World Cup down the hallway and waking me up real early, so that’s always fun,” Spendlove said. “It’s nuts. They’ve always been into soccer, but not like this. My four-year-old can name you countries based on flags. They know players now, which is crazy.”

Kamloops United is also reporting a World Cup-propelled registration boost.

General manager Lyle Dos Santos said July camps are sold out, August camps will sell out this week, more than 800 are registered for BMO Select Program evaluations (the most in club history) and more than 2,500 club registrants expected for the 2026-2027 season.

Perhaps one of the new registrants will be the game’s next big star, the first Canadian to chase the Golden Boot and the one to push Canada to the quarter-final round and beyond.

Those dreams seem a touch more plausible now.

“It’s nice to know there is someone that I can hopefully become one day,” Leighton said. “They did really good.”

by Marty Hastings

Kamloops youth inspired by Canadian World Cup heroes

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