PAXTON
WHAT’S IT TO YA?
Photo: Ararsa Kitiba
Interview: Gisoo Kim
The football world loves grassroots clubs. Often, understanding grassroots movements as a community mobilizing to meet a demand. All it takes is one person to get the movement started. For someone like Paxton Phillips, she wanted to ball with her friends.
Paxton is from the Kanienʼkehá:ka, or Mohawk, territory of Kahnawake, which lies off the island of Montreal to the South-West. As a youth, Paxton had played house league soccer in Town (Kahnawake). As she grew older, she wanted to play at higher levels while representing where she came from.
With no senior-level club football in Town, Paxton created her own: the Arrowheads. A women’s football club in which Paxton created and designed the brand. The club grew, and Kahnawake’s support for the Arrowheads became more than just a brand.
DARBY caught up with Paxton right before her match in the VDMSL Montreal community soccer league, at Concordia University’s Stinger Dome.
What were your earliest memories of playing soccer? Was there a moment you realized you loved this game?
I played house league in town. House league is for ages 3 to 8. Minor is U9 to U16. There were four teams when I used to play; now it’s a little different. There was a red, yellow, blue and green team. We all just practice and then play against each other. Up until you were old enough to play on the travelling teams. I don’t really remember the moment that I knew that I loved it.
I remember not feeling competitive at first, but the red team, specifically, their coach, became my minor league coach when I was 16, and that's when I went to the Indigenous Games. He was a type of coach who, if you missed the net, you did 10 push-ups. I thought that was crazy because I came from the yellow team, it was like we were giving Hufflepuff vibes.
So I was scared to be on the red team because it was giving Slytherin. But they were good, and when I started playing with them, I became so much better. I saw the competitiveness in them, and I got a little scared but also a little intrigued. I went from house league and right to minor league. I never stopped and kept playing until now.
Paxton is from the Kanienʼkehá:ka, or Mohawk, territory of Kahnawake, which lies off the island of Montreal to the South-West. As a youth, Paxton had played house league soccer in Town (Kahnawake). As she grew older, she wanted to play at higher levels while representing where she came from.
With no senior-level club football in Town, Paxton created her own: the Arrowheads. A women’s football club in which Paxton created and designed the brand. The club grew, and Kahnawake’s support for the Arrowheads became more than just a brand.
DARBY caught up with Paxton right before her match in the VDMSL Montreal community soccer league, at Concordia University’s Stinger Dome.
What were your earliest memories of playing soccer? Was there a moment you realized you loved this game?
I played house league in town. House league is for ages 3 to 8. Minor is U9 to U16. There were four teams when I used to play; now it’s a little different. There was a red, yellow, blue and green team. We all just practice and then play against each other. Up until you were old enough to play on the travelling teams. I don’t really remember the moment that I knew that I loved it.
I remember not feeling competitive at first, but the red team, specifically, their coach, became my minor league coach when I was 16, and that's when I went to the Indigenous Games. He was a type of coach who, if you missed the net, you did 10 push-ups. I thought that was crazy because I came from the yellow team, it was like we were giving Hufflepuff vibes.
So I was scared to be on the red team because it was giving Slytherin. But they were good, and when I started playing with them, I became so much better. I saw the competitiveness in them, and I got a little scared but also a little intrigued. I went from house league and right to minor league. I never stopped and kept playing until now.
Did you watch soccer growing up?
No. Even now, I'm not going to lie. I am not big into watching soccer. I don't follow it. If you ask me who my favourite player is, everyone is going to roll their eyes, but it’s David Beckham.
Did I think he was cute when I was a kid? Yeah! Did I watch Bend It Like Beckham 800,000 times? Yeah! That’s my favourite soccer player, and I don’t care. That’s the extent of my soccer knowledge. With how many teams I coach and how busy I am, I don't have the time to sit down and tune in. I am physically in the soccer world.
What inspired you to create Arrowhead FC?
There was no senior league in town. So after U18, we tried to do a senior team, and it folded after a season. We had no girls. We had to forfeit all of our games. We had to fold the team mid-season. As punishment, we weren't allowed to register a team for a year or two.
So then I had to go play elsewhere. I went to play for Mercier, Chateauguay, and Rive Sud. I decided I wanted to play back in town for the winter season. But there was no Town team. I realized how simple it is to register and get your friends together and pay the registration fee. It started with messaging all my main soccer friends that I went to the indigenous games with.
We stayed in the 7v7 league in Chateauguay. When the 11-aside summer season started, I filled my team to make a full squad. When it went back to the winter season, I had too many girls for one 7-a-side team, so I had to make two teams. When the next summer season started, I had too many girls for one 11-a-side team. So it doubled every season to accommodate every girl who wanted to play, and it turned into this.
Why call it Arrowhead FC?
We’re the Kanienʼkehá:ka, which means People of the Flint, so it’s a flint arrowhead.
No. Even now, I'm not going to lie. I am not big into watching soccer. I don't follow it. If you ask me who my favourite player is, everyone is going to roll their eyes, but it’s David Beckham.
Did I think he was cute when I was a kid? Yeah! Did I watch Bend It Like Beckham 800,000 times? Yeah! That’s my favourite soccer player, and I don’t care. That’s the extent of my soccer knowledge. With how many teams I coach and how busy I am, I don't have the time to sit down and tune in. I am physically in the soccer world.
What inspired you to create Arrowhead FC?
There was no senior league in town. So after U18, we tried to do a senior team, and it folded after a season. We had no girls. We had to forfeit all of our games. We had to fold the team mid-season. As punishment, we weren't allowed to register a team for a year or two.
So then I had to go play elsewhere. I went to play for Mercier, Chateauguay, and Rive Sud. I decided I wanted to play back in town for the winter season. But there was no Town team. I realized how simple it is to register and get your friends together and pay the registration fee. It started with messaging all my main soccer friends that I went to the indigenous games with.
We stayed in the 7v7 league in Chateauguay. When the 11-aside summer season started, I filled my team to make a full squad. When it went back to the winter season, I had too many girls for one 7-a-side team, so I had to make two teams. When the next summer season started, I had too many girls for one 11-a-side team. So it doubled every season to accommodate every girl who wanted to play, and it turned into this.
Why call it Arrowhead FC?
We’re the Kanienʼkehá:ka, which means People of the Flint, so it’s a flint arrowhead.
For people who don’t know, what are the Indigenous games, and what was your experience like going to them?
In the broadest and easiest way to explain it, the Indigenous Games are kind of like “our Olympics.” It’s the North American Indigenous Games, with groups from all over North America competing in a variety of sports. It happens every three to four years.
It’s the biggest tournament that our indigenous athletes get to compete in. It gets put on TV, and there are fundraisers for it. It’s a whole big thing. I went when I was 16, it was in Regina, and we won gold. So that was really cool. Two years ago, my friend Amber and I coached the U16 girls in Halifax.
Why do you think soccer so popular among women in Kahnawahke?
In Kahnawahke specifically, soccer, other than house league, doesn’t really have a team for boys. House league is girls and boys; this year, we’re having a U9 boys team.
There’s not enough interest to make a fully committed team because lacrosse and hockey are so big. The lacrosse season is at the same time as soccer. So the culture in town became that girls play soccer and boys play hockey and lacrosse.
In the broadest and easiest way to explain it, the Indigenous Games are kind of like “our Olympics.” It’s the North American Indigenous Games, with groups from all over North America competing in a variety of sports. It happens every three to four years.
It’s the biggest tournament that our indigenous athletes get to compete in. It gets put on TV, and there are fundraisers for it. It’s a whole big thing. I went when I was 16, it was in Regina, and we won gold. So that was really cool. Two years ago, my friend Amber and I coached the U16 girls in Halifax.
Why do you think soccer so popular among women in Kahnawahke?
In Kahnawahke specifically, soccer, other than house league, doesn’t really have a team for boys. House league is girls and boys; this year, we’re having a U9 boys team.
There’s not enough interest to make a fully committed team because lacrosse and hockey are so big. The lacrosse season is at the same time as soccer. So the culture in town became that girls play soccer and boys play hockey and lacrosse.
What is the relationship of the team with the community?
The majority of our players come from our community. Our community gets involved. We’re naturally a proud group of people, especially when it comes to athletics or anything sports-based. We have a pretty good fan base. You see people wearing our merch around town. As I said, it grows every year, and it’s getting younger too.
Even in the house league we played in as a kid, our players are now coaching it, and I am managing it. You see our brand working its way down to the youngest players because the house league wears our logo and jerseys. We have a strong partnership with minor soccer, and our players serve as coaches for the minor soccer team. The community is everything in what we do.
What is your vision for the future of Arrowhead?
I have a few of them, but my biggest goal is to play the highest competition that we can. When I first made the team, we played in the Association Régionale de Soccer Sud-Ouest (ARSSO) league in the South Shore.
My main team, my FC 1s, destroyed every team in the league, and it was a little too easy. So I looked around and found VDMSL, so we started playing D1 here. That is also how we found the Lac Saint-Louis soccer league, so we played there, and it was a higher competition. With that team, my goal is to win our way to the top and hopefully make a Ligue 1 Quebec women’s team.
More achievable, smaller dreams, just having enough teams so everyone can play. There are a lot of soccer players in Town, it’s kind of crazy. To keep up with the demand is kind of hard, but I’m glad we’re able to do it. I just want the spotlight put on the female players of our community cause we’re really good.
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The majority of our players come from our community. Our community gets involved. We’re naturally a proud group of people, especially when it comes to athletics or anything sports-based. We have a pretty good fan base. You see people wearing our merch around town. As I said, it grows every year, and it’s getting younger too.
Even in the house league we played in as a kid, our players are now coaching it, and I am managing it. You see our brand working its way down to the youngest players because the house league wears our logo and jerseys. We have a strong partnership with minor soccer, and our players serve as coaches for the minor soccer team. The community is everything in what we do.
What is your vision for the future of Arrowhead?
I have a few of them, but my biggest goal is to play the highest competition that we can. When I first made the team, we played in the Association Régionale de Soccer Sud-Ouest (ARSSO) league in the South Shore.
My main team, my FC 1s, destroyed every team in the league, and it was a little too easy. So I looked around and found VDMSL, so we started playing D1 here. That is also how we found the Lac Saint-Louis soccer league, so we played there, and it was a higher competition. With that team, my goal is to win our way to the top and hopefully make a Ligue 1 Quebec women’s team.
More achievable, smaller dreams, just having enough teams so everyone can play. There are a lot of soccer players in Town, it’s kind of crazy. To keep up with the demand is kind of hard, but I’m glad we’re able to do it. I just want the spotlight put on the female players of our community cause we’re really good.
