By Dan Plouffe
FC Capital United Soccer Club, along with the Ontario Soccer Association, put a new spin on their free Family Day soccer clinics as they reached out to new Canadian families in particular for the event that featured young players from age four to 12.
“It was a very, very fascinating day,” says Capital United vice-president Anne Lavender. “We had almost 100 kids from across the world – all new Canadians.”
Capital United’s coaches led sessions where they taught basic skill development, and then there were some games, of course, where youngsters got to play with some new friends in a team sport setting.
“It’s an opportunity to help them integrate, and have fun,” Lavender explains. “And in some cases, there may be some real talent out there.”
In a survey conducted by Capital United, they found only four kids who attended the event previously played with a local soccer club.
“Hopefully when they see there’s something of interest, we can connect them and their kids to different clubs across the city depending on where they live,” adds Lavender, whose club collected donations for the Ottawa Food Bank. “We really enjoyed the partnership we had with the Ontario Soccer Association. We felt they had the same values as us, which is putting the players first and focusing on the children.”