Players from the Strathmore Soccer Association will soon have the chance to play with the pros, as several players from Calgary's pro soccer team Cavalry FC will join them for practice at the Ranch Market Soccer Fields On July 10 at 6:00 p.m. All players who were members of Strathmore 1 and 2, SSA Sage, SSA Swells, SSA Strikers, SSA Spurs, and SSA Scorchers are invited to participate.
Charlie Trafford, Ethan Beckford, and Michael Harms from Cavalry FC will be there, and Trafford is really excited to work with the kids.
"It is something that is special, it's so fun to go out and be around these kids and their excitement. I remember when I was growing up, when you got to meet athletes and stuff like that if they give you a positive kind of environment or some moment with them, it really made an impact," he said.
While Trafford is very focused on how he can make a positive community impact and help grow soccer in our communities, he added he also just simply enjoys playing soccer and sharing that with kids.
"It's so much fun, you go out and hang out with these kids and there's so much energy and it's so pure. It's just a lot of fun every time, so any chance we get to do it, we do it."
Trafford's resume is vast and full of impressive accomplishments, including but not limited to playing on Canada's National Soccer Team, playing all across Europe in Finland, Poland, Scotland, and England, where he played for Wrexham and got to meet Ryan Reynolds, who partially owns the team. Saying he's now in the back half of his career at 31 years old, Trafford is embracing the new goal of helping Cavalry FC and the Canadian Premier League grow and inspiring the next generation of soccer players.
"It's so fun to have that vision and aspirations to help grow the game, there's such a cool sport market in Calgary and across the whole country. And I'm obviously so passionate about soccer, it's so great for me to see this game grow in this country and the passion and excitement there is in the young kids."
"It's fun to see the game growing, when I was growing up there, you never see kids walking around with soccer jerseys, like the national team or Cavalry jerseys, and now we go around the city, and you can definitely feel that it's growing."
While he very clearly is fully invested in helping the sport grow and engaging with the community, he is of course also laser-focused on making sure Cavalry FC is winning games and making it exciting for fans. This season they got off to a bit of a slow start as there was a lot of roster turnover, but the team has been turning it around recently as they're on a 2-game win streak and have won 3 of their last 5.
"It feels like we're on the right track now and moving, we just need to stick to what we're doing. We've been sticking to the process and letting everything kind of gel together and it finally feels like it's close to where we want it to be. So, we just need to keep pushing forward like that."
Cavalry FC is right around the midway point of their season and is also sitting right in the middle of the Canadian Premier League standings, but it's a tight race and the #1 seed is still very much in play.
If you'd like to be part of a growing league and support Cavalry FC's push to the #1 seed, you can buy tickets at their website here.
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