‘He’d be happy’: new soccer field at MGBHLM keeps young athlete’s spirit alive

Bryton, remembered for his laughter and speed, had played since he was five, alongside his twin brother.

“He had a really good sportsmanship… he was always full of smiles on the field, and said hi to everybody. He was a really friendly guy,” Tamara said.

(Kenneth Cheung/battlefordsNOW)

His uncle, Randy Wahobin, still hears his nephew calling from the pitch.

“Every time when I went to watch him play soccer, he would look at me and say, ‘uncle, score.’ He’d always try his hardest, always try his best. And it was always 110 every time he played soccer, and he was quick, he was fast. Very talented soccer player.”

Bryton’s life was cut short about five years ago, a loss his aunt links to mental-health struggles.

“Mental health is a very important thing,” she said. “If you have something to talk about, reach out to people. People really do care. People could listen.”

She hopes the field will stand as both tribute and reminder.

“It’s okay to express your feelings. It’s okay to cry. It’s okay to talk about stuff.”

The new soccer field on the left. (Mosquito Grizzly Bear’s Head Lean Man First Nation/ Facebook)

A nation’s pride, a family’s healing

The new Bryton “Smally” Wahobin Memorial Field sits beside the Solomon Stone Memorial Field, the first of two community-built pitches on the First Nation. Both honour late athletes whose influence reached far beyond sport.

Coun. Sandy Wahobin led the project and said the idea took shape after the community hosted the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) soccer tournament in 2023.

He recalled how the nation’s first memorial field — named after player, coach and bus driver Solomon Stone — brought people together but left women without a tournament of their own.

“Every time we had a tournament, we only had one field,” Wahobin said. “The ladies kept saying, ‘Well, when are you gonna have a women’s tournament?’ And that’s when it came to life in my mind — we need another field.”

“We’re known for soccer — other reserves are hockey nations, but us, we’re a soccer nation.”

Coun. Sandy Wahobin stands on the new soccer field at Mosquito Grizzly Bear’s Head Lean Man First Nation, a project built in memory of Bryton Wahobin. The field’s base is complete, but the community plans a formal grand opening next spring once the soil has settled. (Kenneth Cheung/battlefordsNOW)

Construction took about three months and cost just over $100,000, funded entirely through the nation’s own-source revenue. More than 500 truckloads of soil were hauled in from other infrastructure sites.

“It was a lot of work,” Wahobin said. “But when I went back to it, I had the full support of Chief Tanya. If it wasn’t for her helping me, we probably wouldn’t even finish it this year.”

He said the field will open in spring 2026 with a ribbon-cutting and the first tournament.

“Our goal next year is to host FSIN in our nation.”

While the base of the field is complete, he noted it still needs time for the soil to settle, the grass to establish, and the surface to level out before the grand opening.

‘A soccer nation’

For Chief Tanya Aguilar-Antiman, also known as Tanya Stone, the new field represents what can happen when leadership and community pull in the same direction.

She said council members were each assigned their own development portfolios — with Councillor Sandy Wahobin leading the soccer field project — and that collaboration is what turned plans into progress.

“It’s definitely a very exciting time for the nation, where we are completing tasks and seeing them become a reality … to see an idea become a reality is an amazing feeling.”

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She said working together has helped change the perception that little can be accomplished within a two-year term.

“Everybody has a role, whether it’s from staff to leadership to membership, and things roll out. … It’s really important to work together to work towards that big picture.”

Aguilar-Antiman added that soccer has long been part of the community’s identity.

“I can probably say the last four or five generations, soccer has been well known and nation to nation, people recognize [MGBHLM] as a soccer community.”

And she hinted at even bigger plans ahead.

“We are looking at a school that will specialize in soccer, so a soccer academy is coming in the future. It’s another way of demonstrating that pride within that sport.”

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Kenneth.Cheung@pattisonmedia.com

by Kenneth Cheung

‘He’d be happy’: new soccer field at MGBHLM keeps young athlete’s spirit alive

A nation’s pride, a family’s healing

‘A soccer nation’

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