The Whitehorse Recreational Co-ed Soccer League is entering its 20th season. To celebrate, players gathered at the North of Ordinary Experience Centre on Tuesday for a party.

The players mingled and laughed as they watched a slideshow of pictures from years past. They were also treated to a talk from league founder Doug Hitch.

Hitch said he never thought about the league reaching its 20th anniversary.

“I thought it would go as long as it would,” said Hitch. “I guess it’s a good formula for recreation and people having fun.”

Hitch came to Whitehorse in 1995 and starting coaching right away. In 1996, the city was mulling over the idea of a multiplex.

“The gymnasiums were full of kids playing soccer,” said Hitch. “The city at that point was considering the idea of building a multiplex. The city released a report in 1996 about a proposed indoor complex.

“The biggest user of indoor use was soccer and in that report, not a single voice from soccer had given input. I started a campaign to get soccer included in the discussion for the multiplex.

“I realized the issue was there were not enough adults playing soccer. There was a psychology gap. There was the idea that soccer was out of place and didn’t belong because it was so new.

“As part of this campaign, I decided more adults needed to play soccer. I tried different experiments here and there and one of the things I hit upon after a few failures was this idea of co-ed with the engineered teams and special rules to make it more accessible.

“It’s a sound principle. The main reason you want to play is to have fun. You don’t want to go out and crush somebody’s spirit or have your spirit crushed. You want to run around and have fun.”

The co-ed league emphasizes fun and learning the game. Everyone is welcome and no experience is required. The nets are small and there are no goalies. The score is not tallied.

The league’s motto hasn’t changed since its inauguration.

“We used to make players sign when they registered, the registration said: ‘you have read the rules sheet and the philosophy sheet,’” said Hitch.

Since the league is not refereed the sportsmanship philosophy is important. Hitch also said in the early years this allowed the league to keep its costs down.

Hitch no longer plays in the league but he still looks at his time spent playing and organizing it fondly.

“I am,” said Hitch, when asked if he was proud of the league he created. “I feel like a grandparent. I’ll go by a game and I won’t see anybody I know. Still, it’s good to see it.”

When Hitch first came to town he said there was a good men’s league and a strong women’s league but nothing indoors or for co-ed.

He advertised an outdoor co-ed league and said the response was overwhelming and that more people registered than expected. He carried that momentum indoors and the league hasn’t looked back. An outdoor season is also run.