By JAY WILSON

Beginning the middle of October, the COVID-19-delayed season for the Crusaders Soccer Club’s recreational season began. Over 50 teams of boys and girls have enjoyed being with friends they had not seen in six months, learned new soccer skills and had fun.

The best memory from the season was hearing about an 8-year-old boy yell to his mother as he raced across the soccer field on the first day of practice with a huge smile on his face,“Hey mom, I saw Jason. He is not on my team this year, but he waved at me and said he would wave at me next week at practice.” The expression on his face, and his comment was worth everything. You can see that same smile on virtually every player each week they come to practice and the Saturday scrimmages between the players on their team.

Our competitive teams have been practicing diligently since the middle of June and are anxiously waiting to play games for which they may have to wait until 2021 to be played.

Our professional competitive and our volunteer recreational coaches have all risen to the challenges of teaching soccer skills to players with ever changing COVID-19 protocols. There were no off-the-shelf guidelines for coaching players who initially had to remain socially distanced from one another and still concentrate on soccer.

Tryouts of our competitive teams are set to begin in January 2021. The dates and times will be announced on our website, crusaderssoccer.org.

Beginning Dec. 15, registration for our 2021 recreational spring season for boys and girls born between 2007 and 2017 will commence. Visit the Crusaders Soccer website at crusaderssoccer.org for more information and registration. The eight-week season is currently scheduled for March and April. Teams will play on Sundays.

The Crusaders Soccer Club would like to thank Dan and Mary Buxton, the owners of the Play It Again Sports in La Mesa for donating the large portable soccer goals now being used on the lower Lewis field for the Saturday scrimmages.

The Crusaders Soccer Club’s Board of Directors sincerely thank the players, parents, coaches, and grandparents for helping make 2020 a successful year despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 virus. As 2020 comes to an end, we wish everyone a happy and safe holiday!

Join us on and off the soccer field in 2021 as we celebrate 50 years of serving San Diego’s East County.

— Jay Wilson writes on behalf of Crusaders Soccer Club.