As Pembina Valley Women's Soccer gets set to embark on their second season, one of the founders, Rhonda Vandenbos, is very excited for where things are headed.
Coming off the inaugural season, there's a different feeling according to Vandenbos. "Last year was a lot more nerve-racking," she says with a slight chuckle. "We were not sure exactly what we were doing. We had a concept, we had an idea, and we ran with it. This year, we're a little calmer, we know what to expect and what to look forward to."
For Vandenbos and her sister, the other founder, they believed there was a need for something like this in the area and the response has proven that to be true. "It was so exciting. My sister and I both really love the sport of soccer, we grew up playing, I coach now, she wants to get into coaching, so it's just sheer excitement that people still have love of the support and want to keep going."
On top of wanting to keep the love of soccer in the area, Vandenbos says they wanted to have a competitive option closer to home. "There's a league in Winnipeg, it's a good league if anyone want's to play competitive soccer, it's great to be a part of, but it's a lot of commitment to anyone who lives an hour or hour and a half away from the city. So, we wanted to bring something that is closer to home, people can enjoy it, their families can come watch, they can bring their kids out and they don't have to worry about getting home at 10, 11 or 12 o'clock at night and then work the next day. We wanted to make it easier for people to have the sport accessible to them."
The popularity of soccer in the area means a lot to Vandenbos. "It's amazing, I love it. I'm a huge proppant of soccer, so the more people we can get out at all the ages, the better."
After learning a lot in year one, Vandenbos says they're making a pretty big adjustment after listening to people who played a year ago. "We're making a few changes. After last year, we did an 11 vs 11 league, but this year, we're going seven vs seven. We've heard some feedback from people and seven vs seven is kind of nice who haven't run in a while. We're trying to make it more accessible that way."
Vandenbos says their working on how many teams will be in the league this year and there's still time for more to enter. "Well, signup for teams ends this week Saturday, so we haven't gotten the full league lineup yet. We've heard from about five or six teams, but we haven't got the official number yet. Seven vs seven allows for all skill levels, there's a little less running but equal the fun. Anyone interested to check out our Facebook page (PV Women's Soccer | Facebook), for details anyone can reach out through messenger or over email, PVWsoccer@gmail.com."