Emmerson Reyes edits his photographs on the sideline of the Val Matteoti Gymnasium at Lethbridge College as 2019 ACAC Futsal Championship play goes on in front of him. The futsal championship was the college’s third year in a row hosting such an event.
While the 18 teams participating in the 2019 ACAC Provincial Futsal Championships arrived on Thursday, the work for host Lethbridge College started long before – nearly one year ago.
The college was informed it was the winner of the bid to host the third-annual event in March of 2018.
After hosting the women’s and men’s ACAC Provincials for basketball in the two years previous, the college is no stranger to the big stage.
However, it would be the college’s first time ever hosting a futsal championship, which presented some interesting challenges.
“One of the biggest challenges was explaining to everyone what futsal is,” remarked Holly Owens, Athletics Assistant with Lethbridge College. “It’s not quite indoor soccer, or outdoor soccer. It’s somewhere in-between.”
Owens was responsible for accommodation and transport for all 18 teams. She explained the relatively new sport of futsal made it more difficult than previous events.
“They are very last-minute across the conference. It’s just a one-tournament sport,” Owens said.
Without a regular season, the sport of futsal receives far less attention from the student body than other sports such as volleyball and basketball. This made drumming up excitement for the tournament a new challenge.
Paul Kingsmith and the rest of the communications department at Lethbridge College were put to the task to promote the tournament. Work for the department started nearly a month before the opening kick-off, as the participating teams were finalized.
The communications department was responsible for creating the programs and advertisements for the event in the weeks leading up to the tournament.
Once the championship was underway, Kingsmith and the rest of the communications team kept the Lethbridge College, Kodiaks and ACAC websites and social media accounts up-to-date with information.
Kingsmith admitted it had been a long week of preparation and the hours on Friday, Saturday and Sunday were extremely long, leaving after midnight both of the first two nights.
However, the feedback he and the rest of the college’s representatives received has been extremely positive.
“They feel like it’s a special, once-in-a-lifetime experience for them and that’s the payoff for us,” Kingsmith explained. “It’s good for the college as well. We want to be a place where people want to gather to participate in these championship events.”
According to Todd Caughlin of Kodiaks Athletics, this tournament was one of the most successful financially for the institution. He added the college hopes the positive reviews from this event will bring another ACAC championship to the school as early as the next academic year.