Just as Collingwood continues to grow, so does the Collingwood United Soccer Club.

The club is the result of a recent merger between the Collingwood Soccer Club, which ran the adult league, and Collingwood Optimist Youth Soccer.

According to club official Maxine Van Boxmeer, there are close to 1,900 people playing soccer in Collingwood, making it the largest organization of any kind in the municipality.

"We are the biggest by far," she said.

She said not only do they get players from Collingwood, but also Wasaga Beach and Town of the Blue Mountains.

Van Boxmeer said the one of the most popular programs is the ladies recreational program. She said registration is up significantly this year.

"It really seems to be kicking off this year," she said. "We really want to try and spearhead that."

Club president Peter McFarlane said the goal is to continue to grow the club and make it into a soccer town.

He says there is going to be a need for more facilities and the club plans to form a committee to start looking at the issue.

McFarlane says the club would like to have an indoor facility to further develop its rep teams and run year-around leagues. They currently rent the high school gyms to run indoor programs, but it doesn't allow them to run a full slate of winter programs.

"When our programs start, our rep teams are already five months behind," he said.  "We want to do it for the kids and keep them busy year around."

Van Boxmeer said while the Fisher Field complex is good, she said they not only need to retain their existing fields, but look at building more.

"We need the Legion and we need Heritage Park," she said.

McFarlane said the club has a good relationship with the town and hopes to speak to them to see how they can partner together to build more facilities.

"There is never enough soccer pitches," McFarlane said.

McFarlane said the reason for the merger was to bring all the soccer groups in town under own banner and one voice. He said it makes it easier for families when registering for the season as parents and kids can do it at the same place, but the concerns of both the adult and kids clubs are shared.

"We want the kids to come out and have fun."

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