Siggi Siepmann wins Dedication to Soccer Award

Siggi Siepmann has been named the 2009 recipient of the Dedication to Soccer Award, sponsored by the North Bay Soccer Association.

Siepmann’s selection was made by the North Bay Sports Award Committee.

He first became involved in soccer in North Bay in 1967 as a player on the North Bay under-20 team in the Northern Ontario junior league. The team won the playoff championship that year.

In 1968, he joined the Germania Club team playing in the men's senior league where, over many seasons, he was named the best defender, including one stretch as best defender in three consecutive seasons.

He first turned to coaching when the North Bay women's league started (1977) and his team, The Moody Blues, won several consecutive league and playoff championships. He has continued to coach adult women and youth teams since then with a great deal of success, winning far more often than losing. He continues to coach today.

His major contribution to soccer has been as an executive in several organizations.

He first served in the old North Bay Soccer Association's executive as Director of Women's Soccer, a position he held from 1980 to 1996 and he was also as a member of the North Bay Youth Soccer Committee.

Somehow he found the time during that period to found and run the Armstrong Park Soccer Club, an organization devoted to recreational adult women's soccer where players of all ages can continue to play and enjoy the game in a less competitive environment. He still runs that organization to this day.

In 1999, when the North Bay Soccer Association dissolved into separate organizations (youth, women and men), it was his Armstrong Park club that formally organized and registered the men's and women's teams.

He did this for several years until 2005, when he was a founding member of the Nipissing District Adult Soccer Club (NDASC), comprised of men's first and second division and women's first division. He has been the registrar/secretary for the NDASC since its inception.

Siepmann is a person of complete integrity who has worked diligently to organize and develop soccer, especially the female soccer program. He is a dedicated individual who prefers to work in the background, doing a quiet but outstanding job.

He is one of the major builders of the game of soccer in North Bay, no doubt impacting the soccer careers of hundreds of North Bay youth.

Seldom can one find a soccer game ongoing in this city without the presence of Siepmann on the sidelines as a coach or observer. Siepmann is a very worthy recipient of this award.

Submitted to BayToday.ca