For the love of the game

By Melissa Piche Times Contributor

Soccer players of all ages and skill levels will have a chance to hit the pitch this August as the Perkins Performance Football Foundation (PPFF) hosts its inaugural 3-on-3 soccer tournament.

The event is designed to bring the community together during the break between soccer seasons, offering a fun, fast-paced day that focuses less on competition and more on getting people out playing the game.

Ryan Perkins of the Perkins Performance Football Foundation said they knew they wanted to host this event during a time when there was a natural break in between seasons.

“It was a good opportunity for people to still be able to get out with kind of a smaller number,” he said. “Essentially, you don’t have to field the whole team of 11 players or nine players, but instead, three or four seems a lot more manageable given the time of year.”

The smaller format brings a different style of soccer. 

“It also gives us an opportunity to get a lot of people through and kind of get exposed to it in a tighter context,” Perkins said. “Being that they are shorter, faster paced games, it really works on a lot of the close ball skills.”

The response from the community has already been encouraging.

“We’ve actually been hearing from quite a few people, even ones that aren’t able to make it because they’re out of town, that they were interested in participating in future ones,” Perkins said. “At the same time, we’ve had quite a few registrations, so it’s been a really positive response.”

Making soccer accessible has always been one of PPFF’s primary goals and Perkins said the tournament is another step toward that mission.

“It allows us to create a tournament environment where you have a huge age range,” he said. “Whether you’re a fairly new player or you’ve been playing your whole life, it’s an opportunity to come out, have fun and kind of hang out and be social with your friends.”

Organizers intentionally created as many age categories as possible to make sure everyone has a chance to participate. If this year’s tournament proves successful, Perkins said the foundation has even bigger ideas for future events.

“We’ve also talked about, if we can prove this pilot successful, including small corporate teams or family teams where full families that play the sport could potentially play 3 vs 3 versus other families that play the sport,” he said.

The tournament will be about more than just the games. Organizers are planning additional activities throughout the day, including a community skill zone where visitors can try different soccer training equipment.

“We’re also going to have a skill zone up,” Perkins said. “You can come and play with a volley net. We have a bunch of other training aids there, like a shooter tutor and a bunch of other kinds of training apparatus for people to come and play with.”

They’re also hoping to include freestyle soccer demonstrations, food trucks and music to help create a festival atmosphere.

On the field, players can expect a game that’s quick from start to finish.

“The pitches are 10 metres by 15 metres and they’re enclosed by approximately two-foot high, inflatable walls,” Perkins said. “Because of that you get a lot of speed.”

Tournament rules also prohibit slide tackles, helping keep the games safe while maintaining the fast pace.

“It keeps it safer, but at the same time it also has people having to recover quickly and keep the ball at the feet,” he said. “(It’s) just a really high-paced, exciting, kind of fun environment that will hopefully bring out the best in our competitors.”

Teams of three or four players can register for $80 per team. Individuals who don’t have a team can also contact the foundation directly and organizers will try to help connect them with a team.

For more information, to register a team or to inquire about volunteering or joining a team as an individual, visit PPFF.ca/3vs3 or contact the foundation via email (admin@ppff.ca).