Half a dozen Ottawa South United Soccer Club players got a little taste of life in the pros recently as they took part in training sessions with Toronto FC. Matteo De Brienne (2002 OSU Force Academy) and Dylan Greene (2003 Force Academy) visited the Major League Soccer club in mid-August, while four members of OSU’s Ontario Player Development League program – 2003-born Danny Assaf, Bryan Sun, Antonio Carlini and Nana Nuama Mensah – spent another three days there just before school began.
“They all had a great time,” recounts OSU Club Head Coach Paul Harris. “They were all pleased to be given that wonderful opportunity.” To have such a significant number of players invited to train with the professional club’s youth academy speaks to the relationship OSU has been building with TFC, Harris underlines.
OSU Builds Links to MLS Clubs
OSU’s provincial-champion 1997-born team performed well in a friendly with TFC to initially help open the door to locally-brewed talent, and the club has stayed in touch with TFC staff, including Senior Kia TFC Academy Team Head Coach Michael Stefano, who saw some Force players in action while in Ottawa earlier this summer. The 2002 and 2003 Force groups also traveled to Montreal on the Labour Day weekend to play friendlies against Impact teams from the MLS club’s academy.
“We’ve obviously got credibility with how well our teams do and move players into the next levels,” notes Harris, highlighting past Force Academy members Kris Twardek and Vana Markarian, now with London, UK’s Millwall FC and the Vancouver Whitecaps of the MLS, respectively.
While in Toronto, the OSU players trained with TFC’s youth academy teams under the club’s renowned coaches, did video analysis work, toured the club’s facilities and overall received terrific hospitality from the club, Harris details.
“The training ground is magnificent – probably the best in Canada for sure and would rival some clubs in England,” adds the former Everton FC academy coach. “Here in Canada, it’s still very much an amateur game, so we wanted to show them what it’s like to live and train as a professional.”
It’s unlikely for players from Ottawa to leave home and setup shop with Toronto’s academy when they’re barely teenagers, but OSU is eager to help them progress to the next level when they’re ready, emphasizes Harris, noting that others in the soccer world sometimes would rather hold onto players in a quest for championships instead of doing what’s best for players’ development.
“We know that it might be (age) 16 before our boys leave, but we still want to try to give them that opportunity and an understanding of what it’s like in that professional environment when they’re younger,” Harris explains. “For some of our players, they found it hard, and some of them performed well. It showed them all the level they’ve got to get to.”
Getting exposed to the game at some of the highest levels can act as a motivator to push players accustomed to success locally a bit further, indicates Harris, noting that it’s only the top few even from academies that wind up with pro contracts.
“It’s such a hard sport to be successful in,” Harris signals. “But TFC is a realistic proposition for the kids if they can improve and compete and get to that level. This keeps them on TFC’s radar, and if some time in the future, they’re still at that level, when they’re a little bit older, they could look at moving down full-time or even sign down there. It’s another great opportunity that we’re creating for our players.”
—By OSU Force Academy