It may just be the dawn of a golden era for women's soccer in Squamish, as a spring league for female players over 18 will be debuting in April.
Alison Harwood, the Sea to Sky Women's Soccer Association president, said the organization is now operating under the umbrella of the Howe Sound Soccer League.
As a result, there is now a home for over-18 soccer in Squamish.
The Sea to Sky league had teams and games in Squamish, Whistler, and Pemberton in previous years.
However, Harwood said there were challenges in maintaining the number of people needed to keep the league running steadily.
Many participants got busy with other parts of life, such as work and motherhood, and the population in areas such as Whistler — where much of the activities were based — was transient.
As a result, the association's board asked Harwood to move the league to Squamish just before the pandemic.
She and the board worked to get the league going, but things were slow to start. She said there were only two teams for the first season, which made joining the association an unattractive proposition. Soon after, the pandemic hit, and plans were put on hold.
However, COVID-19 did have a silver lining.
"I think the pandemic has been a positive thing for soccer, in general, because it was a way for people to connect in a safe way," said Harwood. "So there were lots of people playing soccer during the pandemic, and then post-pandemic our over-30 team had like a huge influx of women come."
So far, that hunger for the sport has translated into six over-18 women's teams competing in April until the end of June.
People from all over the Sea to Sky can register, but the teams will play their matches in Squamish.
This fills in a big gap that has been present for some time in the corridor.
Harwood said that previously the closest place for over-30 female players to compete was in North Vancouver. Furthermore, there were no local all-women associations for female players to compete after they aged out of the 18-and-under divisions. There were some co-ed options, but little else was available.
As a result, Squamish female players who wanted to play in a women's league in their late teens and 20s had no options, and those over 30 had to commute to North Vancouver.
However, the new spring division addresses that issue.
"There's like a gap there, you know, and not all women want to play co-ed," said Harwood. "And a lot of them are not 30. So this is kind of a nice league that's inclusive to everyone over 18. So, it's sort of like once you finish within the youth ranks, and you still want to play soccer, you have an opportunity to do that locally."
Harwood said that any woman over 18 can sign up online at the Howe Sound Soccer League website, which is the umbrella under which the women's spring division is now playing.
"The message we really just want to send is that this is inclusive to all women, and [it's an] everyone's welcome type thing," she said. "And the [Howe Sound Soccer League] has been a huge supporter of women's soccer in helping us get this off the ground."
In the meantime, the men's soccer division also has a spring division, which will also be pitting six teams against each other.
League treasurer Michael Heinrich said this initiative is a collaboration between the Howe Sound Soccer League and the Whistler soccer club.
Games will alternate between Squamish and Whistler and take place between April and June.
Heinrich said soccer's popularity has exploded as a result of multiple factors, including the pandemic, and collaboration between different soccer associations.
Currently, there are almost 400 registered players in the Howe Sound Soccer League, up from about 75 last year, said Heinrich.
Of the 400 players, more than 100 are women, he said.
The inclusion of a spring soccer division also allows soccer to be alive in the corridor year-round.
Heinrich said that registration is still open on the league's website, but spots are filling up quickly.
