Steve McMinn will be stepping down from his position as President of the VSSL in the coming months after leading the league for the past three years. While Steve will continue to sit on the Board, coach practices and coordinate Covenant Houses’ volunteers, the league will dearly miss Steve’s leadership.
Over the past three years, Street Soccer has continued to thrive in Vancouver and the VSSL has made steady progress in building capacity. We’ve sent multiple teams to June Sports – a wonderful aboriginal soccer tournament at Alert Bay (covered by the Guardian), become an official charity partner of the Whitecaps, won the City of Vancouver Mayor’s award for inclusivity and raised tens of thousands of dollars to support coaching and programming for many of the Downtown Eastside’s most vulnerable people. Steve has been at the heart of all of this.
For players and volunteers, he’s seen as a beloved fatherly figure who knows all the ins and outs of Scottish football. He is a pillar of support who everyone can rely on, no matter how tough things get. He’s the kind of guy that will get up at 6 AM to drive 5 hours across an international border just so that he doesn’t miss an important street soccer game. He’s also the sort of leader who will spend countless hours coordinating board materials, chairing meetings and then heading to the soccer pitch in pouring rain with a bag full of balls and a van full of Covey youth who he knows will significantly benefit from Street Soccer. His commitment is unparalleled.
So important and remarkable have his contributions been to Street Soccer that he was nominated last year to be the Vancouver Whitecaps MLS community MVP. The honour meant significant online recognition and a nifty video.
Vancouver Street Soccer League 