No jerseys, no problem: How Vancouver's Templeton girls built a school soccer empire from scratch

Templeton High School Girls Soccer team captains Anabelle King, left, and Freya Richter at Templeton High School in Vancouver. Photo by RICHARD LAM /PNG

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For years, Templeton Secondary’s senior girls had the results of a top-tier soccer team.

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They just didn’t look like one.

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The east Vancouver team, built from scratch by Grade 8 girls recruiting classmates, grew into one of the school’s most standout sports teams. It climbed the Vancouver Secondary Schools Athletic Association ranks, finishing the 2025 season undefeated and earning Templeton its first soccer finals appearance in nearly 40 years.

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But even as the Titans stacked up wins, the team lacked something basic: proper jerseys.

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The co-captains, Grade 12 students Freya Richter and Annabella King, remember stepping onto last year’s championship pitch in kit borrowed from the school’s volleyball team.

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“They had a volleyball on the shirt’s crest,” said Richter, a winger now in her fifth season with the team. “They were tight like spandex and not meant for playing soccer.”

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From the beginning, the co-captains said they had been asking the school’s athletic department for soccer jerseys — something many of their opponents from other schools in the district had.

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“It was embarrassing for us because when we played other teams, some had matching jerseys, shorts and even socks. We had mean comments made to us about our kits,” said King, who plays midfield.

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Their alternatives weren’t much better: decades-old bright yellow jerseys from the boys team or mismatched maroon soccer kits with peeling and duplicate numbers, still not enough to outfit their 17-player roster.

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King said she only realized how outdated some of the gear was when she showed her mother, a Templeton soccer player between 1997 and 2001, photos of the boys team.

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“She was like, ‘Oh my god, those are the yellow jerseys I wore when I was younger.'”

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Even without proper team gear, the Titans dominated at the Argyle Girls Soccer tournament last season, scoring nine goals without conceding a single one.

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With no guarantee of jerseys for the 2026 season, the girls took matters into their own hands.

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Players launched a grassroots fundraising push between May and June last year, turning school afternoons into “Freezie Fridays” by selling frozen treats on Templeton’s back field. They also partnered with local coffee roaster Moja, selling bags of beans to neighbours and local women’s teams, with students taking a small cut from each sale.

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The Titans raised just over $2,000, enough to buy team jerseys.

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“I didn’t care about how (the jerseys) were going to look,” said King. “I just wanted them to be able to do the job.”

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Templeton High School’s Ceili Ferguson, centre, tries slip between the defence of Kitsilano High School’s Kristine Porteous, left, and Perris Stassinopoulos during a match at Templeton High School in Vancouver. Photo by RICHARD LAM /PNG

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In a statement, the Vancouver school district said school athletic budgets are set at the individual school level, with each secondary school deciding how to allocate its budget. It means that funding for uniforms and equipment can vary widely among schools. Many programs are supported through a mix of sources, including facility rentals, school merchandise sales, parent advisory committee contributions and fundraising.

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“Schools may choose to fundraise to upgrade equipment or uniforms. While most teams charge a uniform deposit for a uniform, some teams choose to not take the school-supplied uniform in order to personalize and keep them at season’s end. In those cases, students have to fundraise and/or pay for them.”

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The push for the uniforms followed years of building Titans from the ground up, said Anthony Hempell, who has coached the team since 2022, when his daughter Lilly was a player. This season, Templeton English teacher Taylor McVay joined as co-coach.