Kenneth Donald and his family moved to Huntsville in January 1996 and thought they would stay for around 5 to 7 years. Over 20 years later, Huntsville is very definitely home and the family had become heavily engaged in the community.
Starting with Huntsville Soccer Club as a coach in its first year, Kenneth got involved with the club’s executive in its second year. The club started with about 200 registered players at the old high school field at Lion’s Lookout and subsequently grew to over 1,000 registered players, the largest soccer club north of Barrie. The primary focus was skills development for male and female players of all ages, at one point this spanned from 4 years of age to 65 plus! Originally started with a primary emphasis on house league, a select program was soon added with great success. Players who started soccer at a young age have gone on to play at the varsity level.
The club began using pitches at various schools, none of which were truly dedicated to the sport. The first “new” field was developed at the McCulley-Robertson complex and a few years later two more were added. The latest one to be built was the all-weather pitch at Conroy Park, a bonus to the high school developed as an extension of the G8 Summit Centre.
Kenneth is proud to say that the whole family was involved with the club over the years since his wife Annette, son Neil and daughter Kirsten have all played, coached and/or refereed at various times.