By Mark Squibb/April 7, 2022
The Mount Pearl Soccer Association (MPSA) is gearing up for a full season’s worth of celebrations as the club marks its fiftieth anniversary this year.
President C.J. Nolan said the club is eager to celebrate its storied history. The official kick off and anniversary logo unveiling was held some weeks back, and the celebrations begin in earnest in May, with an ages 15 - 17 Metro/Premier Youth League Tournament. The club’s season begins on June 25.
MPSA will also host a Vancouver White Caps Camp in July and the annual 'Super Soccer Saturday' in September. In addition, the Club will offer a number of activities for which you don’t need your soccer cleats, including a handful of Family Fun Runs, reunion dances, a pre-teen dance, and an outdoor movie.
“We really wanted to make it a fun year,” said Nolan. “Soccer is our core value, and making a lifelong love of soccer is our mandate, but we also have to have a culture where it’s inclusive, and we try to include families in a lot of these activities. There are moms and dads and brothers and sisters and nans and pops coming to the field, and we really wanted to try to include them as much as we can.”
The schedule of activities was based in part on fortieth anniversary celebrations.
“There’s been some great leaders and great people at Mount Pearl Soccer and we’ve copied what was done really well in the past, especially during our fortieth celebration,” said Nolan. “Craig Dwyer, our vice president, is our leader for the fiftieth anniversary and Craig has really taken on this with the help of some volunteers and the board of Mount Pearl Soccer and even our employees.”
The season’s festivities culminate in a Hall of Fame Awards Dinner in November.
As per provincial regulations, activities this season are able to go ahead without arduous COVID-19 guidelines that have governed the last two seasons.
Nolan said they are approaching the season with a ‘hope for the best, plan for the worst’ type of mentality.
“We take things step-by-step, a day at a time here, but we do plan ahead for these things ahead of time,” said Nolan. “We’ve rolled with the punches at Mount Pearl Soccer fairly well now for two years, and again, if something sidetracks us or we have to go a different direction, our board has been great, and so is our technical director and our office coordinator, at really shifting fast. It’s been great. But I think we just need to take it a day at a time.”
The club was founded in 1972 by Ed Moyst, who is still involved in the program.
