Soccer has been a big part of David Crabb’s life so it only made sense that he would find his way back to the sport when he arrived in Corner Brook.
Crabb, a native of Scotland, is the head coach for the Western Wolves entry in the provincial U15 female soccer league.
Crabb moved to Corner Brook from Kingston, Ont., in 2016. He retired as finance director at Queen’s University and moved to Corner Brook with his wife, Laura Robinson, who is settled into the community as Dean of Arts and Social Science at Grenfell Campus.
Crabb played a handful of seasons of semi-professional soccer with the Toronto Italia in the now-defunct National Soccer League in Canada and served as president of the Kingston United Soccer Association and coach of a Kingston U15 male soccer team for five seasons before pulling up stakes.
Crabb’s soccer resume came to light when he was golfing with Corner Brook’s George King and mentioned his background in the game and his love for coaching.
Word spread quickly that Crabb was in the city and Corner Brook Minor Soccer Association director of coaching Doug Sweetapple didn’t waste any time trying to get Crabb involved with the game on the local scene.
Crabb said Sweetapple showed up one day at Grenfell Campus to chat with his wife about getting hold of him because he wanted to talk to him about a coaching gig.
Sweetapple didn’t hear nothing back so he showed up his wife’s office again the next day to see if he could connect.
They connected and now Crabb is eager to help the Wolves find their way in Tier 1 play this season. The team opened the season last weekend with a brace of wins over Feildians and Crabb has been pleased with how the group has meshed together in the early going.
He likes how they have shown a lot of commitment to train and work together as a group knowing there will be a tough challenge ahead when it comes to competing against some of the more skilled and experienced teams that will provide the opposition in the Tier 1 division.
They show up to practice with focus, eagerness and energy so that’s been very impressive for a guy who expects his players to treat a practice session the same as a game and to realize the intensity level has to be high from start to finish.
“When they come out they’re always looking forward to learning and working hard at whatever we’re doing so I see a high energy and interest,” Crabb said.
The Wolves feature 12 returning players from last year’s edition and there are eight new players in the mix, some of the them a few years younger than the seasoned leaders in the mix.
“I think it’s a bit of a learning curve for the younger players because now the competition is a bit higher and the physicality is a bit more, but the good thing is they’ve all got good technique so I think they will mix in well with the current players we have,” he said.
The Wolves won top honours in Tier 2 last summer, finishing way ahead of the field by 20 points, but the stakes are much tougher at the Tier 1 level with opposing teams bolstered by players blessed with high skillsets and fitness levels because of their dedication to the game.
“We’re not going to be as skillful as those players so playing as a team is going to be important,” he said.
The Wolves will be gunning to improve the unbeaten string this weekend at home when they clash with Conception Bay South Saturday 6 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. at Wellington Street Sports Complex.
Western Wolves U15 Female
Roster
Julianna Young (Stephenville)
Emily Coombs (Springdale)
Sarah Cook (Corner Brook)
Julia Pye (Corner Brook)
Danielle Duffy (Stephenville)
Brianna Fortune (Corner Brook)
Callie Gosse (Stephenville)
Heidi Locke (Corner Brook)
Chloe Keating (Corner Brook)
Abby Morgan (Stephenville)
Cathy Morgan (Stephenville)
Kendall Power (Corner Brook)
Emma White (Corner Brook)
Chenoah Gabriel (Stephenville)
Gia Caul (Stephenville)
Marissa Jacobs (Corner Brook)
Abigail House (Stephenville)
Beth Skeard (Corner Brook)
Kristen Randell (Corner Brook)
Samantha Trask (Stephenville)
Coaching Staff
Head coach David Crabb (Corner Brook)
Assistant coach Ian Osmond (Corner Brook)
Manager Andre Power (Corner Brook)
Manager Loretta Fortune (Corner Brook)
