SPONSORED BY E.J. KLASSEN
Scott Harris has been involved with coaching Port Hardy youth soccer since 1997-1998 when he first moved to Port Hardy.
“I’ve grown up playing the game, loving the game, and seeing where it can take you,” said Harris. “It’s like an international language, if you can play soccer you can join in anywhe
re. For me, it’s about the love of the game — it’s a way of giving back to the community, and it’s a way to teach kids the important values like hard work, dedication, and commit
ment that can take you a long way in life.”
Harris has spent countless hours volunteering as a soccer coach on the North Island, always encouraging the youth to strive for their best. Harris goes above and beyond to teach the kids the skills of soccer in a kind, compassionate and caring way that encourages the youth, no matter what their skill level.
Harris has also coached for the Upper Island Riptide competitive soccer program for the last three years, which means he travels down island on Fridays to spend all weekend coaching practices and games nine months out of the year.
“I used to play competitively until I was 40 and I was travelling down island all the time, but my kids started growing up and they both wanted to play at a higher level,” said Harris on his decision to coach for the Riptide.
“Coming from small communities where we have to travel all the time, getting to see the kids from the North Island be able to compete against the best in the province is very satisfying and shows that we can compete with anybody.”
He has also coached the Port Hardy Secondary School girls soccer team for the past four years and continues to help out with the Port Hardy Soccer Association. He is the head referee for Port Hardy Youth Soccer and makes sure all local games have refs.
When asked what sticks out to him the most from his 20+ years of coaching on the North Island, Harris said he has seen “fantastic support from the community — the kids are always trying to raise funds to be able to travel and compete at all kinds of different events, and I would like to say a big thank you to the community for the support over all these years, we certainly could not have done any of this without them.”