Monday, March 30th, 2026, marks the start of the 11th annual Spring League season, and the first where teams have been determined by a draft. Eight days ago, 16 captains and their assistants gathered in the clubhouse to select the players to play alongside every Monday night for the Spring. Some came adorned with collared shirts and ties, most came with notes and laptops, but all came as members of the Cowichan Valley soccer community.
Cowichan Valley’s soccer community was well represented within the leadership group. The over 35 Men’s Steelheads were most represented – making for over 20% of the leadership pool. This features Curtis Flynn and Justin Parish of Green, Luke Massey and Marshall Wilkins of Grey, and George White and Chris Watson of Pink. Xitiluq Hwitsum formed a pair with ever-present Spring League legend Kelly Hall on the aptly named Kelly Green team. The Division 3 (or 4) Cowichan Oak men’s team was the next most represented, by Lime captains Matt Archambault and Al Casta, Tristan Price with Division 5 coach Moe Osman on Navy Blue, and Sal Seif with Cowichan women’s u23 player Shelbie Paddle on Red. Clifford MacFarlane and Declan Sanders round out Division 5 as they lead Royal Blue, while former 49er Jordan Clarke and current u21 Isaiah Clarke form a father-son duo with team Black.
The Women’s Selects team was represented on two teams, with standouts Tianna Chau and Taya Brubacher captaining Orange, and stalwart Jaeda Douglas pairing with Mike Bellefleur on Gold. Recent Leversedge Cup-winning Cowichan u23 women’s team also has two captains, with Poppy White leading Silver, and Ellie Irvine leading Purple. The Cougars’ over 30 women’s team is represented by Sarah Jones, partnering her husband Nic on Teal, while Cowichan Storm is represented with Yellow by Megan Branch. A pair of Jackson Cup finalists captain the White team in Connor Crichton and Tim den Hartigh, meaning that every adult team in Cowichan is represented.
This is a testament to the diversity and community within Spring League. The captains reflect the Spring League goal: bringing people together from varying skill levels to kick around and have fun. In a league of over 200 players, over 55 are new to Spring League. Some haven’t played in a long time, if at all. This is great for our goal, but it creates an interesting challenge for our captains – most of which have never been involved in a draft situation outside of fantasy sport apps. Livestreaming on YouTube in front of the community wasn’t going to make it any easier, but if it was easy, would it really be worth it?
Each captain was tasked with finding a draft strategy. Do you value having a goalkeeper, or a team that can goal keep by committee? Stronger players with attitudes, or competent players that are fun to kick around with? Younger, faster players, or older, more experienced players? Offence, or defense? It is rare that a team has all the above, such is the nature of the draft. You give up something to get something, and you must work together as a team to have any success. Captains were given information on all players to help determine which strategy was ideal for them. It was then up to them to jostle and negotiate with the others to secure their picks.
It is interesting to look back on all the captains’ strategies after the dust settles. Pink, a team full of family and friends, has 10 of 13 players that prefer to play in an attacking role. Teal, another team full of family and friends, has 9 of 13 players that prefer to defend. You have teams like White, who despite having their own full-time goalkeeper, have 7 other players willing to put on the gloves. Black appears to have the opposite strategy, with only 1 player listed as occasionally going in net – and no full-time goalkeeper. White is joined by Red as the only two teams without dedicated midfielders. Prepare for lots of long balls and runs from defenders! Perhaps the most controversial pick of all goes to Poppy, who after talking about how much she wanted to captain the white team, chose to don Silver for the season. At least the jerseys won’t look too dirty.At the end of the day, 11 of the 16 teams have a fairly even balance between offence and defence. 3 teams have leaned heavily into firepower, while only 2 teams have worked to build a fortress. You know what they say, offence wins games, but defence wins championships. Will that be the case this year? Who really cares, as long as everyone has fun doing it.