Organized youth soccer might not exist in Pemberton without Anne Crowley.
Crowley has called the Sea to Sky home since the late 1970s: a time when both Whistler and Pemberton were lacking in sports programs for children. As her own son reached his sixth birthday, she and an old friend decided to launch a grassroots soccer initiative.
The fledgling Pemberton Youth Soccer Association (PYSA) launched in 1991, and others quickly contributed to the cause elsewhere. Alphonse Wallace started a league in Mount Currie, and the late Andrée Janyk followed suit in Whistler. A healthy dynamic materialized as kids and coaches from each community got used to playing and training with one another.
"It grew very quickly because my mission was to create a program that would be very affordable and very inclusive," explained Crowley. "The kids were super stoked about it, and it was a program that revolved around [letting them] ski in the winter while playing in the fall and spring."
Now with more than 30 years of service behind her, Crowley has retired. A harsh skiing accident in January led to a fractured shoulder, and eventually to her bittersweet decision.
She admitted: "I'm going to miss the kids hugely, but to everything, there is a time and an end, right?"
Reap what you sow
Although she coached every conventional age group in the PYSA's early days, Crowley didn't go it alone.
She wisely realized that training parents to get involved in their offspring's recreational pursuits would be just as important as training children in terms of skill development. Therefore, Crowley actively encouraged moms and dads to get involved, raising up coaches capable of managing a sideline as their kids got older.
It's been a successful model all around.
"One of the key things I used to tell my parents was: 'you know what? You're going to get way more out of [coaching] than you ever put in,'" Crowley recalled. "Every single one of them would come back and say: 'you're right. That was a hugely enjoyable part of my life.'"
Yet parental leadership can only take you so far, which is why Paul Selina became a key figure in PYSA history. Selina's background as an experienced athlete and coach from the United Kingdom equipped him to bring much-needed structure to Pemberton soccer in the late 1990s. New challenges arose from there.
Crowley was not interested in fundraising at first. She wanted the PYSA to be simple and inclusive above all else, with its youngsters focused on practices and games instead of bottle drives. This approach brought so many kids into the fold that playing teams in Squamish became both feasible and desirable.
Janyk and Crowley decided to bring their respective associations under the BC Soccer umbrella, which led to fee hikes but also more competitive avenues. One-time PYSA president Phil Read helped the transition along, and Graham Murphy eventually took on Pemberton's first development teams for high-level youth.
Having said all of that, Crowley is still the one who planted the seed.
"We wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for Anne's courage to kick it all off way back in 1991. Everything has to start somewhere," remarked incumbent PYSA president Robbie Stevens. "I think Anne's vision in terms of being able to engage parents and community members to take ownership over the club has stood the test of time."
'The progression is absolutely staggering'
Not everyone connects well with kindergarten-age children, but Crowley does, which is why she's spent much of the last three decades as PYSA's U6 coach.
When asked what she enjoyed the most about interacting with little ones, the longtime Pembertonian laughed and said: "Just their openness. There's zero attitude at that age, right? At the end of practice, you're like: 'hey guys, can you pick up the cones?' and they're so enthusiastic about doing stuff that a 12-year-old just rolls their eyes at you for. You can kind of live in their fantasy land, because that's where U6s live most of the time."
Crowley is also gifted when it comes to building rapport with parents as they step into mentoring kids. Stevens lauded her for re-introducing valuable leadership to the PYSA U6 curriculum in 2018.
"We're super grateful to have Anne's touch and fingerprints on [our program]," elaborated Stevens. "I think a lot of parents have drawn a lot of inspiration from a woman on the field who's old enough to be our parent running around with four and five-year olds. We can see the growth that continues to happen in those birth years from that reboot we made [in the late-2010s] due to Anne's evangelism of the game in the community."
The PYSA is nicely set up going forward.
Wallace remains an active partner as he oversees Lil'wat recreation, while Alan Firth left a sound balance sheet for Stevens to use in navigating the post-COVID era. Janyk's daughter, Britt Tilston, is on the Board of Directors. Murphy hooked the PYSA up with Bart Choufour, who now facilitates player development structure and scalability.
All of that means Crowley can rest easy in retirement, and her heart brims with gratitude.
"The progression is absolutely staggering," she said. "You see these kids who can barely run, let alone kick a ball [when they sign up] and by the end of the season, they're scoring goals. They're just amazing, and I'm incredibly grateful to have had that opportunity."
