WPSL is not professional soccer. It is the oldest and largest amateur league for women’s soccer in the world. The season runs similarly to the men’s Premier Development League where the Victoria Highlanders FC play.
Who will play on the WPSL team?
Anyone who is good enough. We anticipate the roster will be made up of the top women on Vancouver Island along with college players coming back home for the summer. Check this website for try-outs.
What are the plans to meet with local youth clubs?
We are hopeful local youth and senior clubs find value in female players taking on top players in the Pacific Northwest by supporting Vancouver Island FC. We have not sent information out yet (remember we only launched our website at the beginning of March) to clubs because we did not want to give misinformation while we sorted everything out. We would have liked to get information out while all teams were still playing but as soon as we can we will get information out. We really hope lots of kids attend games, especially girls, so we will price tickets accordingly.
Colours are the same as Pacific FC are you affiliated?
We have a strong relationship with Pacific FC but we are not affiliated. Pacific FC is in support of Vancouver Island FC using the colours and we wanted to honour the new professional endeavour on Vancouver Island by sharing their colours. We felt that it was consistent with our goal of being the highest level of amateur women’s soccer, outside of the university system, on the Island.
Can we sign up to help the team?
Absolutely. We hope that we get assistance from all areas of the island and from all clubs. We wanted to introduce the team to the island for the female players young and old on the island and all others who want to support the growth of the game, consequently, we feel that this is the Island’s team and not ours. We would accept help from anyone. Contact Corey Volk (thevolks@epicsport.ca) if you would like to help this team be successful!
Did Vancouver Island FC have a community meeting?
We had a meeting of around 50 people consisting of players, parents and other supporters as we wanted a large focus group who would be willing to share ideas. There were so many people that we wanted to invite but knew there had to be a limit in order to move through the content that we saw fundamental to us taking the next steps toward the season. We welcome anyone who is willing to support the women’s team and the growth of the game. Contact Corey Volk if you would like to help this team be successful!
What is the reserve team?
Vancouver Island FC Reserve Team will consist of players who are post-university (senior players), current university players who play locally or return during the summer, and U17-U18 who aspire to play at college.
We also know that once we open this WPSL roster up to anyone who is interested in playing and training that we would receive more interest than the 22-24 players who will be on the WPSL roster. Consequently, players who are not in the WPSL roster will have a group to play with as they train alongside the WPSL players.
Will the reserve team play games?
Vancouver Island FC will schedule exhibition games for the Reserve Team against other women’s teams as well as boys teams during the period of time we are training. We will have intrasquads as well.
Will this interfere with local club programming?
No, Vancouver Island FC and WPSL are desired as enrichment from other programs. Our objective with EPIC programming has always been to not interfere with local club and BCSPL programming. Most organized soccer on the island is complete, apart from BCSPL and those teams heading to provincial championships, so we are confident Vancouver Island FC will not interfere with others teams.
Can a BCSPL player make the WPSL?
Anyone who is good enough can play. We anticipate the roster will be made up of the top women on Vancouver Island along with college players coming back home for the summer. The reserve team is designed to be enriched training for BCSPL and returning college players. EPIC never wants to interfere with a youth players competitive environment, especially BCSPL. The Wave is their competitive environment and as a youth player they must fully commit to that program.
Are the local universities involved?
The University of Victoria and Vancouver Island University coaches have been engaged and both are contributing to the program’s success by promoting to players.
The team was announced in October, why did it take so long to get the website up and start to inform people about the team?
We have been working on this project since last July and October was the date that we worked with the league to announce our participation in the WPSL for the 2019 season. Since October there have been a lot of moving parts behind the scenes which have had to be clarified. As with all of EPIC programs we have never wanted to put information out to the public unless we had discussed it extensively and had a clear direction.
