Ridge Meadows Soccer Club in the Maple Ridge – Pitt Meadows area, is welcoming a new sporting director, starting August 1.
The club decided to bring in Paul Turner, after the departure of former coach Craig Dalrymple. Dalrymple who came to the club in 2020, has joined the Inter Miami FC MLS club in Miami, as academy director.
“I am very excited and I hope to carry on the positive work that has been done so far by the board and the club staff. With Craig, he has done so much in the past months, so I just hope to keep building upon it, keep pushing it forward, and make soccer a really positive environment for everyone while helping grow the sport,” said Turner.
Turner has an extensive soccer background working through a variety of roles in the province, as well as in Ontario. He is coming to the club from two Vancouver-based clubs, Vancouver Athletic FC and Mountain United. Before that, he has worked with North Vancouver FC, Ottawa South United and has also worked as a Soccer Development Officer with BC Soccer.
“It has been a full-time job and it is great to have your passion as your day job. I have had a wide range of experience working with youngsters, recreational players, and players pushing to get to National teams. Whatever the player’s ability or aspiration, it has always been a pleasure to work with them,” said Turner, who has a National A license, a children’s program license, and is now working towards the youth license to stay updated.
He moved to Maple Ridge four years ago and said that after moving around a bit, trying to find his place, he finally feels that Maple Ridge is home and is excited about taking on soccer in the city.
“Soccer can play such a massive part in us coming out of this challenging year. Soccer continued being a positive part throughout the year and I think it can play such a positive part in the lives of everyone, be it children, youth, or even adults. It could bring families and communities back together,” he said, adding that he now hopes to grow the game in the community even further.
Operations manager for the club, Shauna Williams expressed how great it was to have Turner join the club.
“I am excited to have Paul join the club – his energy and excitement is exactly what we need,” she said. “Craig has done a lot to set the foundation in place and has really brought focus on infrastructure programming and I think Paul has the right ideas and energy to push this forward.”
The club is in the process of launching a new facility for its over-2,000 members.
“One of the things we want to do is really develop the social side of the community, and with this new facility, I think we will be leaders in sport in our community. It is just such an exciting time to make the club into something it hasn’t been before, push it to the next level,” said Williams.
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