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The Superstar Women Over Thirty (SWOT) is a recreational women's soccer program for women over thirty. This program is designed for women of all skill levels from beginner to superstar! No prior soccer skills or experience are necessary, just the will and determination to get up on Sunday mornings to have fun, develop soccer skills, and enjoy the positive rapport with your fellow team mates.
SWOT takes team balancing very seriously, putting a mix of new and experienced players on each team. Balancing is accomplished through player self-ratings and independent ratings conducted during the previous season. Teams are established using a random draw of players within each of the five rating categories. So you may not necessarily be playing with your friend, neighbour, co-worker, or sister, but SWOT will attempt to accommodate such requests so long as team balancing is not compromised.
Given that the teams are based on random selection, it is quite possible that over the years you will get to know your opponents quite well too, and that creates a very positive, relaxed soccer environment. Each season ends with a party where’s there us plenty of food, drinks, and awards.
The SWOT program is a recreational venue providing an easy-going, fun environment, while at the same time giving those muscles a good workout. If you are looking for an aggressive, must-win soccer venue, then you need to keep searching for an appropriate program suitable to your competitive needs.
To get a better feel for the SWOT program, please enjoy reading about the history of SWOT.
SWOT HISTORY
OUTDOOR 2000
In 1999, Ronda Evans, Secretary of Ajax Warriors Soccer Club (AWSC) board ask them for permission to start a women’s soccer program, but was turned down. But with a never-give-up attitude, she asked again in February 2000 and the new board agreed to expand its programming to include SWOT. The only parameters were that SWOT could not be a financial burden to the club and that it would be self-managing under the responsibility of Ronda Evans, club Registrar. At the registrations in February and March, Ronda put out a sign up sheet and actively encouraged women to try soccer themselves.
A meeting was held in April with 21 of the 36 women who had signed up. At that meeting the registration cost was set based on a bare-bones budget and the SWOT Committee was established; Lorraine Coulas, Christine Holmes, Margaret Tompsett, and Trish Warner. We decided to start the league on the mini fields and have the games start at 9am one week and 10am the next week to accommodate women who had conflicts with attending church on Sunday mornings. But SWOT was still short players, so if Ronda ran into you during that time, she likely tried hard to convince you to join. By May the recruitment was up to 48 players and a waiting list grew.
The SWOT coaches that year were Steve Turner, Dave Rivers, Hyson Elawar, and Robin Gabbidon. The sponsors were Budget Post Hole, Diamonds Auto Sales, C & C Auto Exchange, and Diamond Shine Car Cleaning and Detailing. Diamonds Auto Sales generously purchased goalie gloves for all the teams during the season.
Four mini teams were fielded in our inaugural year, each with about 15 players. The SWOT players participate in the 2000 in 2000 game put on by AWSC. We played from 6 to 8:30 on the Sunday morning.
The inaugural year was a learning experience for everyone. Players learned new soccer skills and the SWOT committee learned about women’s soccer needs. Absenteeism in summer is an issue for women as they tend to focus on their children (soccer tournaments, parties, etc.) so SWOT needed to put more players on the teams than the youth did. SWOT was very recreational in the first year and did not even keep statistics. Players would also jump ship and play for other teams that were short, just to help them out. The one big drawback was that sometimes players would get the game start times mixed up.
An end of season tournament was held September 17th, 2000. The final game came down to a shoot out between Diamond Shine and Budget Post Hole. Michelle Stephens settled the shoot out in favour of Diamond Shine.
TOURNAMENT AWARDS
Team MVP Rank
Diamond Shine Car Cleaning & Detailing Sharon White-Sullivan Champs
Budget Post Hole Anthea Turner Finalists
Diamonds Auto Sales Ronda Evans Consolation Champs
C & C Auto Exchange Robin Gabbidon * Consolation Finalists
MVP Final Game (Diamond Shine) Lisa Morrison
MVP Final Game (Budget Post Hole) Joanne Greco
Best Save Josie Raimondo
Most Goals Anthea Turner
* the C & C Auto Exchange team chose their coach as MVP because they felt he had gone over and above the call of duty to support their team
An end-of-season survey showed that many SWOT players wanted to try the full-fields, but some wanted to stay on the minis, they wanted to keep statistics, they did not want full uniforms supplied (just jerseys), they wanted all games to start at 10am, and they wanted an annual tournament.
INDOOR 2000-2001
Twenty-two SWOT played indoor soccer on Friday nights from 6:30 – 8:30pm at Pickering High School. The format for the games was “pick-up” where teams were established each Friday. From October 13th to December 15th, the teams played in either red or green pinneys to help us get into a festive mood. After the holidays, we played until March 9th in blue or yellow pinneys to help us get ready for the spring. Games were presided over by an OSA referee.
The club was able to get an extension on the Pickering High School gym until May 18th. Some nights it was pretty hot in the gyms, but we had a lot of fun. The attendance started to dwindle at that time so we would invent our own soccer rules, like widening of the goal crease and only allowing goals shot from within the goal crease. This cut down on rocket-hard shots we had developed over the winter. If there was an odd number of players, we would have one person be a “Mystery” player, restricted from scoring, but permitted to assist any team. So no one knew if the mystery player was going to help or hinder.
OUTDOOR 2001
The SWOT Committee for the outdoor 2001 season were; Anthea Turner, Cheryl Crawford, Valerie Rivers, Carol Perusits, Josie Raimondo, Julie Rogers, Jo Ann Sigindere, Margaret Tompsett, and Ronda Evans. The full-field coaches were; Steve Turner, Tom Perusits, Dave Rivers, and Robin Gabbidon. The mini-field coaches were; Edwardo Barreda, Drew Evans, and Yuri Tello.
SWOT sponsors were; Diamonds Auto Sales, Diamond Shine Car Cleaning & Detailing, C& C Auto Exchange, Budget Post Hole, and the mini field sponsor was Midas Auto Service Experts Ajax.
Four full-field teams and 2 mini-field teams played during the summer of 2001. Each Sunday morning at 10am the full-field teams would play at Monarch and Centennial and the mini teams would play on the Monarch mini fields. The mini-field teams practised with the full-field teams on Friday nights at Miller’s Creek and put in their own team for the tournament.
LEAGUE AWARDS
Team Most Improved Most Goals
Diamond Shine Car
Cleaning & Detailing Janice Lang Amanda Mroueh
Budget Post Hole Kim Brudnicki Anthea Turner
C&C Auto Exchange Rosy Sarnovsky Penny Walker
Diamonds Auto Sales Trish Jones Margret Tompsett
Midas Auto Services Kathy Arsenault &
Experts-Ajax Joan DesRoches-Loudon Julie Rogers
The SWOT Tournament committee members were; Ronda Evans, Cheryl Crawford, and Margaret Tompsett.
Tournament Awards
Team MVP Ranking
Budget Post Hole Kim Brudnicki Champs
Diamond Shine Car
Cleaning & Detailing Amanda Mroueh Finalists
Diamonds Auto Sales Helen Niezen Consolation Champs
Midas Auto Services
Experts-Ajax Laura Beare Consolation Finalists
C&C Auto Exchange Anne Wilson Participants
Best Save of the Tournament Susan Gough
Most Goals of the Tournament Patricia Guest
The end of year survey revealed that almost all players preferred to play full fields so the mini field program was dropped.
Stay tuned for more SWOT history to come. If you remember an interesting tidbit, please let us know at SWOTsoccer@hotmail.com
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