After a highly successful first year that saw over 400 teams register nationally, with the Glen Shield Sun Devils from Ontario taking home the grand prize, the Bank of Montreal (BMO)’s Team of Week program is now entering its second season with aims to get even more teams involved. Each week, a team is selected by a panel of judges based on their essay, photo and video submissions. These submissions follow four basic ideas: team pride, team spirit, community commitment and a passion for the game. Weekly winners receive $500, track suits and a gift for a local charity and, more importantly, are entered for a chance to win the grand prize — $125,000 for the renovation or construction of a new soccer pitch.

“We at BMO want to grow the grass roots support for the beautiful game’’, Toni Broadfoot, Branch Manager, of BMO in Invermere said.  “It’s not just the team that benefits from the cash grand prize; soccer becomes a lot more accessible to everyone.”

On top of the $125,000, the winning team also receives a road trip to either a Toronto FC, Vancouver Whitecaps, Montreal Impact or Canadian National Team home game and a $5,000 donation to a charity of their choice.

BMO had decided that since the winning team was from Ontario and had likely seen a Toronto FC game, they instead flew the entire team out to Vancouver for a Whitecaps game.

For a chance to promote youth soccer (age 7-12) in your community, apply to BMO’s Team of the Week contest, which runs until July 13. To register, visit www.BMOsoccer.com and follow the links.