Woman receives national award
Kensington Area Soccer Club’s Kara Sabean receives national volunteer award in recognition of her efforts to bring soccer back to her community in 2020
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KENSINGTON — Volunteers are the lifeblood of youth sports organizations.
Never has that been more evident than during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Kara Sabean stepped forward when players with the Kensington and Area Soccer Club (KASC) needed it the most. Her commitment and efforts have earned the Kensington resident national recognition.
“For a while, we contemplated, as a small club, not even having a soccer season,” said Courtney Woods, register and treasurer for the KASC. “We felt the amount of additional work required would be too much for the limited number of volunteers that we have.”
The club, which would have just under 300 players registered in a regular season, decided not to proceed with in-house programming for the under-3 to under-7 age groups.
It did go ahead with seven teams in the following youth leagues: under-9; under-11; under-13 and under-15.
“Kara, as the youth league director, stood up and said, ‘I really think we need to get these kids back on the field, even if it’s just the older kids, and we can focus on their coaches and having some COVID volunteers,’” said Woods.
As a result of her efforts, Sabean was recently named the P.E.I. Soccer Association’s (PEISA) recipient of the 2020 Canada Soccer Nation Champions award. The award recognizes volunteers from each province and territory who supported protocols under Canada Soccer’s return-to-soccer guidelines in 2020.
“I was very surprised, very humbled,” said Sabean, who was nominated by Woods. “It was a group effort. It just wasn’t me getting soccer up and running.
“Our kids in this community are so lucky to live here because people are so willing to help out and so willing to step up.”
The PEISA forwarded the award applications, and each club had the opportunity to submit nominations directly to Soccer Canada, which made selections. PEISA executive director Peter Wolters praised Sabean and all the volunteers at all clubs.
“Kara got selected and has done great work, but this past summer it was unbelievable, from one end of the Island to the other, how many of our volunteers stepped up to make sure they ran programs,” said Wolters. “Some of them never thought they would be doing some of the tasks that they did when they signed up, that’s for sure.”
KASC president D.J. Welton said the national award is a great accomplishment and well-deserved recognition for Sabean. He added there is no one he can think of that is more deserving.
“She took the lead to organize our return-to-play,” said Welton. “Without individuals like Kara in all the clubs, we just would not have been able to pull it off this year.”
GET STARTED
Sabean made sure teams had the support they needed to get started. It included designating specific drop-off and pickup areas for the players and making sure numbers were in line with the guidelines and physical distancing was respected.
“It was a lot of education for all of us, making sure we all understood the rules we had to follow,” said Sabean. “We knew if we did not follow these rules well, we may not (have the opportunity to) be playing soccer.”
Sabean put together COVID kits for all the teams. These kits contained sanitizing equipment for the balls, pylons and drill equipment, hand sanitizer for the players and forms for contact tracing.
Sabean created volunteer stations at every practice and game to ensure the kids were divided into cohorts and not exceed gathering limits.
“Honestly, at the beginning of it, it was all hands on deck for the entire board, but Kara was at the field every night,” said Woods. “She was there for everybody.
“The first couple of weeks, you could see her going from field to field to make sure everybody had the equipment and the right volunteers showed up. The volunteers said it wasn’t hard at all because she was so organized.”
Once games began in July, it resulted in more changes. For example, players had to sanitize their hands each time they came on and off the field.
Sabean’s responsibilities also included organizing volunteers watching traffic coming in and out of the Queen Elizabeth Elementary School and Kensington Intermediate Senior High School pitches. It was challenging on doubleheader nights as volunteers would have to keep arrivals in a waiting area and enter the field from a different location to keep numbers in check while the first group was leaving.
“Quietly, behind the scenes, Kara has been an advocate for soccer in our community,” said Woods. “She is the shyest, most humble person you will ever meet.
“When it comes to soccer, a sport she is passionate about, she really helped the Kensington in-house program grow to the size it is by organizing it into the station format Soccer Canada recommends. She has been an advocate to make sure our little continues to evolve and grow.”
Wolters agreed with Woods. He pointed out Sabean has held various positions with the KASC for over 10 years.
“My technical director (Jonathan Vos) has worked with that club and worked with her as well, and that club has grown and gotten bigger number-wise as well,” said Wolters. “They have been running some good programs in that club for the last number of years.”