The beautiful game, at walking speed

Globe and Mail

9 hours ago

Aidan Butterworth's voice booms across the soccer pitch at Toronto's Cherry Beach as his players warm up.
'Just shake it up,' he tells them.
'Go! Go! Go!
'Keep moving on your feet, don't stop.'
The moving feet aren't moving all that fast. Nor is the pace of play. That's all by design.
Mr. Butterworth is an assistant coach for the Toronto Walking Soccer Club, also referred to as the Loons. They're one of 20 teams from across Canada. Across multiple age groups, the club has more than 100 members from all around the Greater Toronto Area.
The coach knows his way around a soccer pitch. He spent four years playing for Leeds United in England and was the club's top scorer in 1983. The game he has loved his entire life didn't fully love him back, though.
'I've had two replacement hip surgeries and another on my knees,' he said. 'My playing days are behind me, but I get a lot from walking football.'
The appeal of the game is similar to that of pickleball – a more contained, less physically demanding alternative to tennis. Pickleball Canada claims 1.54 million people are playing the sport in this country.
Walking soccer – invented in 2011 in England, where there are now more than 700 clubs and 200,000 players – has experienced an international boom over the past decade. In Canada, six provinces have launched multiple active programs that continue to grow in participation.
'People aren't ready to give up soccer when they get a little bit older,' said Patrick Yao, founder of the Canadian Walking Soccer Association, or CWSA. 'Their passion for the sport is still there.'
The rules of walking soccer are designed to minimize the health risks to participants and increase accessibility. The pitch and goal size are smaller than in conventional soccer, the ball cannot be kicked higher than two metres, throw-ins are replaced with kick-ins, and goalkeepers are not permitted to leave their zones.
There is no running or jogging allowed, regardless of whether the player is handling the ball or not. What counts as running or jogging is dependent solely on the interpretation of the referee.
'The rule is that you're supposed to plant your feet,' Mr. Butterworth said. 'The player must always have at least one foot in contact with the ground.'
Club founder Kerrin Hands said the golden rule is 'If you can salsa, you can do walking soccer.'
The Loons' over-50 team gathers every Thursday evening for two hours of intense training drills, finishing off with a 30-minute game. Before starting, the players are reminded to enjoy themselves, but to go hard. No swearing, though.
A 2024 survey by the CWSA revealed that more than 60 per cent of respondents discovered the sport through family or friend referrals, followed by a close split between news and social media.
Mr. Hands founded the Toronto Loons three years ago, after stumbling across the sport in Spain during a family visit. The native Englishman played soccer at various competitive levels in South London, but moved into coaching when he relocated to Canada.
His efforts to grow the club have included reaching out to non-walking soccer organizations with programs for those aged 40 and up, inviting them to join sessions and hosting pop-up events. Still, his most effective strategy for securing sign-ups is ensuring that everyone who steps onto the field leaves with a positive experience.
'The way most people find out about the sport is through word of mouth,' Mr. Hands said. 'People have enjoyed it so much, they go around and tell their friends.'
Andrew Hilton also played competitive soccer for most of his life, and once joined an over-50s competitive team in Denmark for a brief period. He returned home to Stratford, Ont., during the pandemic, but the team he used to be a part of was no longer there. He began searching online for ways to play in the area. That's how he found walking soccer.
'It's more fun than I thought. It's better exercise than I thought, and I was reconnecting with people I played with when I was in high school. I just really enjoyed it,' Mr. Hilton said. 'I get to play the sport I love and see people I know.'
Mr. Hilton's commitment runs so deep that he makes the almost three-hour trip from Stratford to Toronto's Cherry Beach field at least once a week. His teammate, Faisal Ahmed, knows the route to the field with his eyes closed after three years of weekly drives there.
A 2020 review of research on the sport determined that there are health benefits connected with walking soccer, and that it can help build social connections. Another 2022 study highlighted the importance of socializing and developing new friendships that came out of the sport.
Among the Loons, there is living proof of that. Mr. Ahmed wears his Apple Watch for every session to track his heart rate, calories and all other important health information. He underwent heart surgery five years ago and followed a strict training program as part of his rehabilitation.
'What I've found through walking soccer is that I can still maintain a heart rate above 145 beats per minute for 45 minutes,' Mr. Ahmed said. 'If I can do that three to four times a week, that is beneficial for keeping my heart healthy.'
Mr. Butterworth said he has seen the sport do incredible things for the quality of life of some of the players who have trained under him. He credits walking soccer for improving his own mental and physical well-being.
'Seeing the joy on people's faces and telling me about the health benefits really inspires me to keep building and trying to get this sport out to even more people,' he added.
This October, Canadians are headed to Spain to participate in the second edition of the Federation of International Walking Football Associations' World Nations Cup with four age groups, including a women's over-50 team. The Canadian men's over-60 team finished fourth in the inaugural 2023 cup, and it was a 'no brainer' to ensure qualification for this fall, Mr. Yao said.
A total of 63 teams from 25 countries will gather to compete for medals, three times the number of teams that participated two years earlier. Canada will face powerhouse soccer countries Spain, England and Italy. Canada's team will be made up of players from eight clubs from Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario.
'Our claim during the bidding process is that there would be a legacy left after this World Cup,' Mark Coleman, founder of Walking Soccer Team Spain and director of Spain Walking Football, told The Globe and Mail.
'Hosting this global event is going to boost participation around the world to millions of people.'
The Loons are gearing up for the fall competition, but enjoyment remains the main goal.
'Our objectives are to create a very positive and happy environment where people can thrive,' Mr. Butterworth said.
'When the players come down for two hours, the goal is that they enjoy it and feel a benefit, and maybe they go home a bit tired.'