Sunday afternoons will often feature a number of ultra-fit teenagers darting to and fro on the turf at the James Jerome Sports Complex, members of the various teams, both local and otherwise, who battle it out in the realm of competitive youth soccer in Sudbury.

By 6:00 p.m. or so, things have typically quieted down nicely.

For the ensuing two hours, many of the names who dominated local men’s soccer ranks from the 1980s through to the early 2000s still get to enjoy their love of the game, as the Sudbury Regional Competitive Soccer League now features both an eight-team 40+ division as well as a four-team 50+ bracket.

“This league has been here for the past two to three years – and it’s an excellent league for the guys that are my age,” noted 62 year-old Charles de la Riva. “Before, we would be playing in the over forty – and that just didn’t work.”

“It was too fast and too serious. This is just right for us.”

The irony for de la Riva was that his father (former city councillor Ricardo de la Riva) was one of the pioneers who launched youth soccer in Sudbury, back in the sixties. These days, Charles finds himself at the other end of that spectrum.

“It is slower than the 40 and over – but the skill is still there,” he said.

A relative newcomer to the Sudbury soccer scene, Mark Prystupa boasts one of the more wide-ranging perspectives of the sport in this group. Raised and first introduced to the game in Winnipeg – “I would bike over to the local field to play” – the gentleman who moved to this area just over two years ago also spent time in Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Calgary.

“That’s the good thing about soccer – you can find it anywhere,” he said. “There’s always a place to play.”

Not all that much older than the minimum age requirement, Prystupa is fine with the rule alterations that allow this division to thrive, even though he admits that there are times when he would love to let loose with a much longer sprint down the turf.

“The big difference here is that we are not playing on a full field (they play the width), so we’re 7 v 7,” he said. “It’s good. You get more touches on the ball – and it is less running.”

And much like de la Riva, Prystupa acknowledged the simple reality that the ball can always travel faster than the players, especially when it is distributed with the kind of precision that comes with years and years of practice.

“A lot of these guys have played for a long time, so they have pretty good skill.”

Dario Ragogna first showcased his soccer skills as a youngster in Sault Ste Marie, a mainstay within the Soo Civics system who used to love the treks to Sudbury for tournament play. With some three decades or so under his belt as a resident of the nickel city, Ragogna truly enjoyed the tables being recently turned.

“We just played in the Coppa Giovanni in Sault Ste Marie and played with a lot of the oldtimers that I played with before,” said Ragogna, now a member of the Nickel City Lasers. A striker throughout the course of much of his soccer career, the father of recent Laurentian Voyageurs commit Braxton (Ragogna) acknowledged that Father Time can be cruel, at times.

“We were in the playing in the over 35 league (a few years ago) and we had some sixty year olds,” he said. “It was hard to keep up with a difference of twenty years. Now, we have thirty minute halves, we get a water break – and a BenGay break,” Ragogna laughed. “I’m having fun with it. We try and even out all of the teams so there’s a level playing field.”

A handful of these fine gents are also expected to suit up in the 2025 Coppa Caruso scheduled for August 8th to the 10th in Sudbury. More than thirty teams will be on hand at the James Jerome Sports Complex (primary), as well as fields at Sacré-Coeur, Lockerby and Morel Park, with finals in the U14 and adult brackets slated for Sunday afternoon.

On the competitive soccer front, most local youth teams are enjoying a restful long weekend, most deservedly so for the members of the GSSC (Greater Sudbury Soccer Club) U15 Impact boys team. The lads opened the final stage of iModel play on the road, sweeping a pair of games, including posting a first-ever victory over Newmarket.

The Impact were dominant on Saturday opposite King City as Sebastian Gonzalez earned the shutout and Damian Lalonde paced the attack with a two goal effort, all part of a 5-0 rout. Nathan Estriplet, Alex Ben-Anteur and Logan Anderson rounded out the scoring, the latter netting his first tally in addition to maintaining stability on the back line in his role as a dependable centerback.

A more closely-contested affair on Sunday would see Sudbury and Newmarket deadlocked at 0-0 until the southerners broke the ice with 27 minutes to play. That strike only seemed to galvanize the push from the GSSC reps, rallying with a beautiful top-corner goal from Nathan Estriplet and a game-winner from Sam Lazare to secure the 2-1 triumph.

Finally, every summer marks the end of the line in terms of youth soccer for another graduating class, often home to lifelong friendships. Ibrahim Najem and Braxton Ragogna started their journey as members of the Sudburnia Soccer Club and finished it the same way this summer.

As they prepare to undertake their post-secondary studies, there remains hope that the pair may see each other again in OUA action, with Ragogna heading to L.U. to study Kinesiology while Najem makes his way off to Carleton University, enrolled in the Bachelor of Science in Biology program and having recently been granted a tryout with the Ravens varsity team.

And if that does not come to pass, there is always adult soccer as an option. As the likes of Charles de la Riva, Mark Prystupa and Dario Ragogna so eloquently noted, the Beautiful Game can certainly be a sport for life.