Two members of North Okanagan Youth Soccer Association (NOYSA) received provincial recognition.
NOYSA chairperson Frank Rennick was given a B.C. Soccer lifetime membership while Marina Korberg, executive director for NOYSA, was chosen B.C. Soccer’s Administrator of the Year at the provincial organization’s awards ceremony in Surrey Nov. 2.
“Frank and I receiving awards is a real testament to the support and level of commitment from our Vernon soccer community,” said Korberg, who has been NOYSA administrator for 21 years.
Rennick has been a director of NOYSA since 1987 in some capacity or another, except for his tenure as a B.C. Soccer director from 2003 to 2007.
He started as a coach of his son and daughter’s team and was hooked.
While on the B.C. Soccer board he was the also chair of the competitions committee and has sat on other B.C. Soccer committees including discipline and appeals.
Rennick also held the position of the president of the Vernon Soccer Association from 2015 to 2019, which is a local organization of adult leagues, the youth association and referees. He has been president of NOYSA since 2007.
During his service, his many responsibilities have included all aspects of volunteerism to make a club run smoothly — from uniform ordering, organizing mini-soccer programs, house leagues, and rep leagues to referee and coach management.
Rennick’s notable achievements include being instrumental in the formation of the Thompson Okanagan Youth Soccer League in 2002, which is a league for rep level teams from Penticton, Kelowna, Vernon, Kamloops and Salmon Arm.
He was involved with the building of the Vernon Toyota Indoor Soccer Centre with many other volunteers.
Rennick has also been involved in the administration of the adult soccer and referee scheduling as well as collaborating with regional youth associations to provide players all levels of soccer opportunities.
Rennick’s sustained contribution to soccer in the Okanagan and in B.C. has earned him a B.C. Soccer Award of Merit in 1998 and induction as a life member in 2019.
Korberg’s job began as part-time and has grown to full-time with 2,000 youth and 1,000 adults playing outdoor soccer and another 1,000 playing soccer in the indoor centre that the NOYSA staff manage.
She initially got involved with soccer in Vernon as a player and then as a coach of her son’s soccer team.
She sat on the NOYSA board for five years prior to becoming employed by NOYSA, and is proud of the growth the association has seen over the past two decades.
Korberg is especially proud of the Soccer Patch program for ages U3 to U5, a grassroots initiative that is unique to Vernon that she developed with past head coach Andy Waughman.
She is equally pleased with the player development opportunities that have been created from the partnership NOYSA has with the Vancouver Whitecaps FC that began in 2006 with the creation of the first youth academy outside of the Lower Mainland.
Beyond the daily administration required to run the association, she also developed the Jerseys for Africa program, where NOYSA collects soccer kit and partners with local missionary groups to send to countries in need.
In 2018, she also created the Seb’s Kits for Kids program in memory of Seb Gardner in which NOYSA secured local sponsorship funding to outfit players in need with soccer shoes, shorts, shinguards and socks.
Korberg was also a key member of the committee that created the Thompson Okanagan Youth Soccer League in 2002 and has been involved with the management of the Vernon Indoor Centre at Marshall fields since 2008.
She was also honoured with a B.C. Soccer Award of Merit in 2004.
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