Players

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT

Mike Tse – Volunteer Coordinator, Staff Coach, Volunteer Coach and Parent

• Can you describe your BFC “journey”?

My BFC journey started about four years ago when my daughter started playing soccer with one of the founding clubs that made up BFC. I would go to her practices and help the coach set up the field, I would shag balls and just enjoyed being around. The following year my son was ready to play, and I decided to coach his team because my daughter had a coach already. One year later the five founding clubs joined, and I became a volunteer coach for BFC. It was a historic year for the club with a huge increase in participation and along with that came a lot of growing pains as well. The journey has been a lot of fun meeting some great people along the way. Because of these great people BFC was something I wanted to be a part of and now I am still a volunteer coach but also a staff coach and the volunteer coordinator for the club.

• Can you share some stories or highlights from along the way?

There are several great stories that I have had over the past few years. I think my son’s team is one of the highlights. The parents on our team are fantastic and very supportive. Anytime I need support with coaching they step up, if I needed a team manager they step up, they are there early to help set up for practice, they are there early to help set up for games, they are there to help with drills, and they are there whenever I need support. We are very blessed to have such great people in our community.

Our team is also like family. I have one parent who I coached in basketball twenty plus years ago, I have one parent who was the sister of someone I coached twenty plus years ago, I have a parent whom I have seen grow up in my neighbourhood and is now a fantastic role model to his son. I just feel deeply bound to this club because I grew up in Burnaby and want to be part of building something great.

• You are BFC’s Volunteer Coordinator, how did you end up helping that way?

I attended the AGM last year and there were some incredible celebrations to mark year one of the club. However, one theme was the lack of volunteers at the club. I spoke and insisted that there are a lot of volunteers out there, but we just need to connect to them. About one week after the AGM the role of Volunteer Coordinator was created for the club and they asked me if I would like to do it. Now it is my turn to show that they exist. The last four months have been an amazing time. I have met so many people through e-mail that have stepped up to help, from coaching to helping with events like the jamboree and handing out over 3000 items including balls, kits etc. I have tried to get out to meet these people so they can put a face to the e-mails. What has been so great is the number of volunteers that have stepped up to show that volunteers are out there.

• What do you think more people should know about volunteering with the club, and how can they get involved?

One thing that people should be aware of is we are a non-profit organization and do need the support of volunteers to make the club experience the best we can for our children. We need support with a lot of things at the club like I have mentioned before like coaching, tournaments and uniform handout. However, there are so many other things that we can use the support on such as school programs, volunteers, paramedic or firefighters to man our first aid stations at the tournaments, selling doughnuts, and many other things that come up. If you want to volunteer, you can fill out the form on this LINK or you can email volunteers@burnabyfc.com.

• Why do you volunteer?

I love to volunteer because it is my way to pay it forward. When I was growing up my parents worked hard to raise me and my brothers. They worked so much they were not at my games very often, but they made it possible for me to play soccer, rugby, and basketball. I remember my soccer coach who would pick me up to drive me to practice and games. If it weren’t for these people in my life, I wouldn’t be able to do what I do. I love to volunteer because I want to be a part of my children’s activities whenever I can.

• Outside of BFC and soccer what makes you tick?

My family makes me tick. I am very active with the school lunch program at my kids’ school, helped with the kids’ school fair, and spend time with the kids. We like playing rock band as a family, we aren’t the Partridge Family but sure try to be. I am terrible at Minecraft and Roblox but I try to keep up.

• Do you have a favourite pro soccer team?

It has to be the Vancouver Whitecaps. I was born the same year they became a team; they are the local team and they bring back fond memories from when I was kid. If I follow a European team it has to be Liverpool because of the player ties from the Whitecaps like Peter Beardsley and Bruce Grobbelaar.