With the FIFA World Cup 2026™ now upon us, we want to reflect back to April of this year when the Royal Netherlands Football Association (KNVB) World Coaches program came to səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh Nation), as part of a special collaboration with the Consular General for the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Vancouver.
səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh Nation) partnered with the Royal Netherlands Football Association to provide a week-long coaching program for six soccer coaches from Tsleil-Waututh Nation and Squamish Nation. The World Coaches program not only emphasizes soccer techniques and skills, but also trains the coaches to consider life skills and social impacts in the child’s life.
The training took place in the səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh Nation) community on our new, full-size turf Sports Field. Dozens of youth from the two Nations competed in a tournament on the final day of training, where coaches applied their newfound skills.
As Councillor Dennis Thomas (Whonoak) shared: “What we’ve seen within the last number of years is this resurgence of our Members being active in outside community clubs. It really meant that the time was now in order for us to really be committed in the power of sport.”
Watch the video below, featuring Tsleil-Waututh Members Dave Thomas and Hillary Hyland, alongside various soccer-playing youth:
