Congratulations to Madison Savoie-Velos for being selected "Player of the Month" for March. Madison plays for the U-12 Girls. Along with her bright smiling face Maddie brings a strong work ethic to practices and games. Her love for the game along with her easy-going personality allows her to play any position, anytime she is asked,always with a smile. Either on the attack or defending Maddie puts the team first. Keep up the good work Maddie!

Both our U13 teams have won their way to the BC Provincial B Cup Championships to be played July 2 to 5. The boys side, the Red Devils, will travel to Nelson following a tense 2-1 win over Campbell River. The Crimson Crush will play in North Vancouver after a 6-0 win over the Powell River U13 squad.  Both U13 teams have also qualified for the Coastal Cup Semi-finals. Our teams will host these games the first weekend of April. Congratulations to both teams! Well done to the Devils coached by Garry DeWitt & Ian MacLean, managed by Margot Gawley and to the Crimson Crush coached by Darrin McLeod, Rob Carr, Mike Oldale and managed by Courtney Bardonner. 
 
Feb 24th, The Canadian Tire Red Hot Tamales U16 girls rep soccer team captured the North Island championship by defeating Nanaimo 4-1 in an Upper Island Provincial Cup match Sunday at Valley View. On Saturday, March 7 the North Island champs traveled to Cowichan to play the South Island champs with the winner to earn a berth in the Provincials in North Shore in July.  Weather stole the day and snow caused the game to be cancelled, a make up date in Duncan is set for March 28th. The Tamales are coached by Charlene Davidson and John Valentin and are managed by Denise Woods.
 
On Sat. March 7, the U-17G CVUSC Red Tide defeated Bays United Thunder 3-2 to earn a berth to the Provincials in North Shore in July. This will make the 4th trip to Provincials for this team of talented young ladies coached by Christine Koppa, Greg Grieve and Darrin McLeod, managed by Kathy Campbell.  The Red Tide will also represnt the island at the Coastal Cup and will host a semi final match in Courtenay early next month. 
 
Congratulations to the CVUSC U16/17G C-Cup Hot Spurs team for winning their Semi final game of Coastal Classic Cup play, they defeated the North Shore Diamondbacks on penalty kicks 3-2.  They will now compete in the finals March 29th in Langley versus the North Shore Eagles for the C-Cup title. Way to go Hot Spurs, coached by Karen McGill, David Davonshire and Stephen Turple, and managed by Dawn Ladret.
 
This years Island Cup will be held March 28/29, 2009 at communities throughout the Upper Island. Click on the UISA link for more.

Premier Gordon Campbell, Mayor Gregor Robertson, Attorney-General Wally Oppal and Sport Minister Mary Polak were all on hand to hear MLS commissioner Don Garber announce Vancouver as the second city in Canada and the 17th in North America to join the league. The team will begin play in 2011. MLS has been around for 13 years and had built a solid fan base when it suddenly became glamorous, in 2007, with the addition of David Beckham to the Los Angeles Galaxy. Toronto FC joined the league that year, too, and caught a wave of excitement that now has Canada's first MLS club wondering how - with season ticket-holders capped at 16,000 and 14,000 on a waiting list - it can expand to fit more fans into 20,000-seat BMO Field.
 
The Vancouver Whitecaps will open their first season of play in 2011, in what will then be a newly refurbished BC Place stadium, with a retractable roof. "What a great day for Vancouver ... this truly is an historic moment," Mr. Garber said as he made official the long-rumoured addition of the Whitecaps to the league. "We're absolutely convinced that this will be a terrific Major League Soccer city," Mr. Garber said, after watching a promotional video that recalled the excitement of the 1970s and 1980s, when Vancouver had a team in the now-defunct North American Soccer League. In 1979, Vancouver won the North American championships, in an away game, and came home to find tens of thousands of people celebrating in the streets. Bob Lenarduzzi, who was then a star player with the club and is now Whitecaps president, thought he'd never see that kind of soccer excitement here again.
 
 The Whitecaps folded in 1984 after the NASL foundered. And although the club was reborn as the 86ers in 1986, becoming the Whitecaps again in 2000, it played in lesser leagues and never again had the heady times of the past. "Wow ... unbelievable," Mr. Lenarduzzi said of seeing the Whitecaps climb into the ranks of Major League Soccer. "I thought I had seen the best of soccer [in Vancouver] ... but the best is yet to come." Mr. Lenarduzzi said he felt the announcement was the most exciting sports news since Vancouver was awarded the 2010 Olympic Games. And he predicted B.C. soccer fans will flock to see the team. In 2007, the Whitecaps drew 48,000 fans to an exhibition game against the L.A. Galaxy.
 
"You are not going to find a place where fans are more committed to soccer," said Mr. Campbell, who was so excited he went to the podium to speak despite a sore throat. He remembered watching the Whitecaps play in the NASL, when BC Place stadium was "full to the rafters with fans," and said it would be that way again. "That's where we're headed," agreed Mr. Robertson, who recalled watching Pelé, the Brazilian star who won his first World cup at age 17, play in Vancouver in the 1970s, when the city buzzed with excitement. "We are a soccer city," Mr. Robertson said. Jeff Mallett - part of the Whitecaps ownership group along with Greg Kerfoot, Steve Luczo and Steve Nash - said the move to MLS is a good business decision for the club, but it's also exciting because of what it means to the city.
 
Mr. Mallett, a former CEO of Yahoo! and part owner of the San Francisco Giants baseball team, was born in North Vancouver and grew up in Victoria, where Mr. Nash went to school before going on to star in the National Basketball Association. "Steve was texting me like a little kid last night, [asking] 'Are we there yet? Is it done?'" Mr. Mallett said.