Servpro and Team Santos Walk the Stampede Parade with Royalty
Find Parade Pictures Here
Picture this: Servpro Cleaning’s fully restored REO Speedwagon is being driven by Servpro’s CEO/President, Fred Edwards, and riding shot gun is Head Coach of Calgary West Soccer Club, Thulio Goncalves. The two lead the way of the young Calgary West Soccer Club’s U14 Tier 1 Santo’s team, who has just returned from Toronto’s Robbie Soccer Tournament. This is the World’s Largest International Youth Soccer Tournament, where they play at the highest level in front of scouts and against teams from around the globe, and they learn what it means to play not only as a team, but as a community. All 15 players are walking behind the truck showing off their new soccer skills, tricks, chants and triumph from the International Tournament. The juxtaposition is of old and new, profit and non-profit, learning from each other and how it’s time to pass on the baton and lead the way for our youth. Servpro Cleaning will beam with pride at having sent the team to Toronto for the experience of the International Tournament; where they lost to the winning team by just one goal!
Servpro is also proud to be taking our sponsorship in the new direction of not only giving back to the community, but providing further opportunities for training, education and growth for our youth. Servpro has been serving Calgary and surrounding area since 1964, and we plan to use our community experience, mentors and funds to pay it forward. Servpro believes in furthering education, as seen through our SAIT scholarship that has been handed out for over five years now. Servpro has recently focused on promoting active lives as shown by our sponsorship of Calgary West Soccer Club, Santo’s U14 boys Tier 1 soccer team.
We thought it would be appropriate to debut our new direction at the Calgary Stampede Parade. We want to start a trend of passing on the baton to our youth. International Soccer Tournament allows the team to play and learn with the best of the best from around the globe. They were invited to attend this Tournament, and Servpro is pleased to make this dream a reality. The team competed in the tournament last weekend they exceeded all expectations. They lost to the winning team by just one goal.
A little about the Tournament and the Soccer Club: the Tournament is more than just playing soccer at the highest level, it’s about diversifying players/teams skills, styles, and an opportunity to be seen by professional and international scouts. Calgary West Soccer Club is a young club that began in 2005; it’s a Calgary based, non-profit organization run by volunteers. The club trains in the Brazilian style soccer. The Santo’s team members have been playing together for over two years, and two of the players have been scouted to play on the Alberta provincial team. Servpro fell in love with the teams' zest to learn, dedication to improve and sense of community and togetherness.
The REO Speedwagon is a very rare sight these days and was probably a working ranch or farm vehicle in the Calgary area at one time. The REO Motor Car Company was a Lansing Michigan based company that produced automobiles and trucks from 1905 to 1975. It was founded by Ransom E. Olds (founder of Oldsmobile) hence the initials REO. The Speedwagon will be driven by Servpro’s CEO/President, Fred Edwards, and riding shot gun will be the Head Coach of Calgary West Soccer Club, Thulio Goncalves.