Soccer-filled weekend honours memory of Paul Stipdonk<\/p>\n
Published 1:18 pm Friday, February 6, 2026<\/p>\n
The Paul Stipdonk Memorial Tournament celebrated its 13th annual event in Fort Simpson Jan. 30-31.<\/p>\n
Named in honour of Paul Stipdonk \u2014 a former teacher, board member, bus driver and coach \u2014 the fun-filled weekend featured soccer games, skills competitions and even some hockey games.<\/p>\n
Jackie Thompson Whelly, a teacher at Liidlii Kue Regional High School, spoke with NNSL Media regarding the event.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis tournament is a good opportunity for children to have access to the sport of soccer,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s really just a weekend of fun. There are no winners, there are no losers, there are just kids out there having fun, gathering together.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a Mackenzie Recreation Association signature event, the association provided food and keepsakes while facilities were organized in partnership with the Village of Fort Simpson.<\/p>\n
Thompson Whelly spoke to the community spirit and good nature exhibited during the event.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the previous years, we\u2019ve always had a new community come, and they\u2019ve always enjoyed themselves and had a lot of fun,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s just designed to be a weekend where kids are exposed to the sport of soccer while having fun with their friends.\u201d<\/p>\n
This year, in addition to soccer games and prized-based skills events, the tournament ran alongside the Dehcho Cup, a regional hockey tournament.<\/p>\n
Thompson Whelly praised the volunteer turn out for the event, noting that \u201cwithout volunteers, an event like this wouldn\u2019t happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
She expressed her gratitude for the efforts behind organizing, scheduling and coaching.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was all teenage youth that refereed the soccer games, that coached the soccer teams \u2014 for the Fort Simpson teams anyways. It\u2019s a great opportunity for the youth to give back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Remembering community members of the past and community building for the future remain at the core of the event, according to Thompson Whelly.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt really builds a community of volunteers,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re always grateful that the Stipdonk family allows us to honour their grandfather, their dad, their husband, in a way that is really meaningful to our kids and our communities, and that really makes it worth every volunteer hour.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Soccer-filled weekend honours memory of Paul Stipdonk Published 1:18 pm Friday, February 6, 2026 By Kody Ferron, Local…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":458412,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-458411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=458411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458411\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/458412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=458411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=458411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=458411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}