Calgary soccer team marks end of season with a special memorial

Members of Calgary's soccer league held a special event at the Calgary North Soccer Centre to raise money in memory of Ryan Chen, a young player who died of cancer last year.

A local soccer club is celebrating the end of its indoor season by remembering the life of a young teammate who recently lost his battle with cancer.

Ryan Chen, a member of the Rangers, passed away on September 19, 2018. The young boy was only seven years old.

On Saturday, Chen’s teammates gathered at the Calgary North Soccer Centre to reflect on his life and raise money for a fund named in his honour.

“What we’ve done is all the full-time staff have offered private sessions and all the parents are coming out and bidding. We also have an open donation box,” says Graham Fisher, U12 and U13 academy director.

The event also brought out all the teams to play for the day at the facility.

“We want our players to go out and do good things in this sport and be good people but it’s also massive to come together as a family.”

Fisher says there are thousands of members in Calgary’s soccer community, but they are also very close knit.

The Ryan Chen Memorial Foundation Fund will help support families and children at the Oncology Unit at the Alberta Children’s Hospital.