By Marcia Jansen
The graduation of his daughter Lillah marks the end of an era for soccer coach Colin Walde. For almost 25 years, you could find Walde on a soccer field multiple times a week.
The Salt Spring United board acknowledged Walde’s dedication to coaching at the end of the season with a special memento.
“I know I will coach a team again,” he said, “but I am not jumping right back in in the fall.”
Walde took up soccer after the roller hockey league in Fulford Hall came to an end when he was nine years old. He found a new passion in soccer, playing for Salt Spring United youth teams, the men’s team and the over 35 team.
As a player, he had already taken on a coaching role with the senior teams, and when his son Hamish started playing at the age of four, it marked the beginning of a nearly quarter-century of involvement with his children’s teams.
After Hamish went on to play for the White Caps Academy in Victoria, and later for UBC Okanagan, Walde took on his son Jackson’s team. When Jackson graduated, daughter Lillah just joined the in-house program at Salt Spring United.
Coaching a girls team, which he did with the help of Jason Buck, was different than what he was used to.
“I had three totally different coaching experiences,” said Walde in looking back. “Hamish’s team was super competitive and very eager. Everybody wanted to score goals, but they didn’t take a lot of direction. Jackson’s team just wanted to have fun and hang out together, and the girls’ team was also very different. They were keen, listened and were so much easier to coach. The group effort was most important to them. The boys were there to win, the girls were there for a lot more.”
While he enjoyed coaching all the teams, the girls hold a special place in his heart.
“The connections I built with the girls are much deeper. They opened up to me, even about things that were happening outside of soccer, at home or at school. The highlight for me was that I got to know my kids’ friends really well and that I had the chance to spend more time with my children than I normally would have, especially Lillah. That I was in the middle of her friends group was pretty special.”
The feeling was mutual, said player Dani Marshall.
“Colin is the kind of coach who truly wants to see you succeed and grow, and not just as a player. He has been my rock through my soccer journey. He’s firm when he needs to be, but never in a way that tears you down. He’s also incredibly generous. He’s the one who organized all our fun tournaments, and he goes out of his way to make sure we’re having a good time. Playing in this team has genuinely been my happy place. I really value the friendships and how close we’ve gotten as a team.”
With the core of the team graduating, there were a lot of lasts this season: the last league game, the last cup game, the last tournament. As a last hurrah, Walde planned a trip for the U-18 team to the Kelowna Canada Day Cup tournament.
“It was the perfect ending. We won the tournament, but that was secondary. We made so many fun memories together.”
Walde hopes that with most of the girls off to university or having other adventures, they keep playing soccer.
“Jason and I both love soccer. It’s our passion and we hope that we have instilled that in the girls. Soccer is so universal.
“You can go anywhere in the world and make friends if you can kick a ball.”