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Grande Prairie athlete Cecil Pizzey purchased the six power chairs for the club, a gift totalling $70,000 (Photo supplied by Swan City FC)
By Shaun Penner
Power Soccer

$70K donation helps build on power soccer dreams for Swan City FC

Mar 8, 2021 | 7:00 AM

Swan City FC’s dream of an expanded power soccer team is now much closer to reality, thanks to a generous donation from one of its team members.

The club was recently the recipient of a $70,000 donation from Swan City FC athlete Cecil Pizzey. This will go towards the purchase of six power chairs, which are specifically designed and used to play the wheelchair adaptive sport of power soccer.

Having received such a gift to further build on its current team, Swan City FC Executive Director Dylan Cartier says the club could not be more grateful.

“Our mission inherently states that we will govern and promote the sport of soccer, and to continuously foster its growth in this community and region,” said Cartier. “When I say that mission, to me it’s a matter of looking at our community and finding the needs for everybody.”

“To have a donation like this for the club, it allows us to further expand our reach into the community, and beyond our community.”

Swan City FC has recently taken over the power soccer program in Grande Prairie from the Wolverines Wheelchair Sports Association, which is how technical Director Claude Bolton says Pizzey became involved with the club.

“Cecil was the first person I went on the court with, and I kicked a ball to him and he hit it back with his wheelchair,” said Bolton. “Later on, he said that he thought that we were doing good things. That this would work.”

As of now, the power soccer team’s roster sits at eight, which is just enough to have the necessary four players per side to be able to scrimmage.

Both Bolton and Cartier say they have been working hard to expand the roster and eventually field a team that can travel for competition.

To do that though, Swan City FC first had to come up with a game plan to acquire the necessary chairs. With six chairs coming in at a cost of $70,000, Bolton says he, and Power Team Lead Corrie Funk, had been working feverishly on a plan to fundraise and buy one chair per year for the next six years.

“He put us ahead six years, like I’m getting goosebumps talking about it,” said Bolton. “I think what it also does is people hearing this news realize that we were always serious, that this is part of us.”

“It’s not some abstract program, it’s not a token… This is ‘we have a group of athletes that are a part of us,’ no different the U5’s or U17’s, and it’s helping to complete our program.”

The striker chairs, as Cartier refers to them, are chairs specifically designed for the sport of power soccer. He says now that they will have the proper equipment to take to the court, he sees big potential for the team to blossom.

“I played soccer my whole life. Competitive, college, Division I, but I still remember the first day I got my first real pair of cleats and the difference that it made me feel like I was a real soccer player,” said Cartier. “For some of these athletes, I can’t wait until the day they get to try these (new chairs).”

“I hope they get the same feeling I did as when I got my first pair of cleats.”

The new chairs were also delivered to the club thanks in part to a $4,000 donation from Fletcher Mudryk LLC, a Grande Prairie accounting firm. That money was used to pay for the shipping of the chairs to Swan City FC.

by Shaun Penner