A giant cheque for $4,760 was handed to Werner Heine by Sunrise Ford Sales Ltd. owner Leon Chrétien on Sept. 27.
It represented a final milestone in financing the construction of the $1.3-million 100 Mile House Soccer Park.
Planning for the project started in 2006 and construction started in 2008. Two of the four fields were completed in 2009 and had players running, sliding and kicking the soccer ball on them in 2010, while the entire park was ready in the spring of 2011, when the 100 Mile House & District Soccer Association (OMHSA) hosted the U15 boys and girls B Cup Provincial Soccer Championships.
The hardest part about building the soccer park was getting the ball rolling, says Heine, the local soccer association’s communications and sponsorship director.
“It took a little bit of manoeuvring. At first, it’s a really expensive pipe dream. There were some people who had a bad taste in their mouth because they spent money and volunteer hours in a previous attempt [to build sports fields there].
“Once we had the first phase completed, people could see it. ‘It’s green. My kids are on it.’ Then the second phase was much easier.”
Naming rights for the fields came with $20,000 donations from the 100 Mile House Rotary Club, Sunrise Ford Sales Ltd., Katchmar Construction Ltd. and the 100 Mile House Lions Club. Money came in from a number of other local businesses and organizations, as well as government grants and soccer association fundraisers.
“We had a hell of a lot of support from people.”
Heine adds the “sweetest $100 we got” came very early on in the planning process during a presentation to the Cariboo Regional District from Brent Rutherford, a retired school teacher.
“He opened his wallet and wrote a cheque for $100. He said, ‘Here’s some seed money. Let’s get it going – best of luck’.”
Before the Soccer Park was constructed, the soccer association – which includes close to 400 players every year – was using different school fields around 100 Mile House and 108 Mile Ranch. The arrangement was hectic for parents and since the only regulation size field was at Peter Skene Ogden Secondary School, 100 Mile House couldn’t host any large tournaments.
“We always envied everybody else for having fields, now it’s the other way around. Now they come here and they envy us.”
Henie says the soccer association is looking at hosting tournaments next season, which will not only benefit them, but the community as well.
Development is not complete at the site. The soccer association is looking to build a storage shed there this fall and then start fundraising to construct a club house, estimated at $550,000, starting in the spring.
