Wasilla Youth Soccer Association hosting New Year's Soccer Ball

WASILLA — Wasilla Youth Soccer Association Valley Revolution is celebrating three generations of local soccer programs and their lasting, positive impact on the greater Mat-Su Valley at the Menard Sports Center this Saturday.

“The people that founded Wasilla Youth Soccer have grandchildren playing in our club right now… Playing for Wasilla Youth Soccer is kind of like a rite of passage. Almost everybody in the Valley at some point played soccer in our association,” WYSA Executive Director Lisa Catlett said with a laugh.

WYSA’s New Year’s Soccer Ball is also a fundraising event and official launch for their new capital campaign to construct the Mat-Su SportsPlex, the Valley’s first multi-sport complex with a full-size indoor turf arena.

“We just know youth sports and healthy activities provide so many benefits to children in their development and we have to create the infrastructure so that can take place,” Catlett said.

The Mat-Su SportsPlex project is in the early development stage. Catlett said the WYSA is collaborating with numerous sports associations and community partners to make this vision a reality.

“We need to reduce the obstacles so that more kids can play more sports and pressure healthy activities for all the benefits that sports provide. That’s why we say ‘primary prevention through sports’ because there’s physical benefits, social benefits, mental benefits…” Catlett said.

Catlett said one of their primary goals with the Mat-Su SportsPlex is to use soccer and other sports as a means of primary prevention, combating teen substance abuse. She said they’ve drawn inspiration from sources like the “Youth in Iceland” model.

The “Youth in Iceland” model was created to encourage young people to spend more time with their families, participate in sports and other activities as a way to feel good without the use of alcohol and drugs.

Once fully operational, the Mat-Su Sportsplex will house numerous types of sports associations with their own offices. Catlett said they’re planning to construct the complex on the Menard Sports Center property, coordinating with the City of Wasilla. It will be a hub for the spectrum of local youth sports programs and healthy activities with the ability to offer more down the road.

“If you want a true impact on the community— the health of our youth and the connectivity of families and people in the community— you have to work together. You have to collaborate. We really believe in win-win, that when we get together, everyone wins,” Catlett said.

Catlett took a moment to acknowledge their event sponsors including the Mat-Su Health Foundation, City of Wasilla, Mat-Su Seahawkers, Knik Tribal Council, and Cruz Construction Inc.

The New Year’s Soccer Ball is an “Alaskan formal” event and only those 21 and older can enter. There will be a silent auction, food, drinks, and a live performance by Nervis Rex. Doors open at 6 p.m.

Admission is $65 for individuals and $100 per couple.

To purchase tickets online, visit eventbrite.com

For more information, call 907-376-1013 or visit wasillayouthsoccer.org.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com