By Dan Plouffe
Amir Bodden came dressed for the occasion – full suit and tie, plus stylish sunglasses. After all, you only get to make your managerial debut on the big stage once.
Bodden had been part of champion squads as a player in the past, and he wanted nothing more than for his Footy FC team from Confederation Court Community House to carry on that tradition at the season-ending Ottawa Community House Soccer festival.
And on Saturday, Oct. 3 on the sparkling new turf at Franco-Cité high school, the young leader got his wish when his squad topped the tournament with a dramatic extra-time golden goal.
“Our team’s effort was really good,” he shared in a post-game interview. “Thankfully we won with our teamwork and all our tactics and good decisions.”
Bodden says his business wardrobe selection was inspired by the big-league games he’s watched.
“There were a bunch of managers with the suit, so I just thought I’d try it for today,” he smiled, “and it paid off.”
Community, connection, and fun through sport remain the hallmarks of Ottawa Community House Soccer, a free program that runs throughout the summer in five low-income neighbourhoods and finishes with the festival where all the sites come together.
But now that it’s in its fourth edition, the festival has become a highly-anticipated event of its own, while the signs of the program’s lasting impact are on full display.
Bodden was one of several past players who have grown into coaches for the younger members of their community. Among them was Ibrahim Aden, who scored the winning goal in penalty kicks three years ago at the inaugural festival.
WATCH | 2023 Ottawa Community Housing Soccer Festival Champions League penalty-kicks final winning goal
This year, Bodden was just as proud to contribute to his team’s victory from the sidelines. He praised his players for their good passing, and for being resilient and attentive.
Confederation Court was the first OCH neighbourhood to welcome the Community House Soccer program, and Bodden was motivated to coach in part by the experiences he’s had with volunteer program leader Raz El-Asmar.
“He’s a great coach,” Bodden underlined. “We love that he does this (program) for us.”
Bodden added that the youth in their community play together all the time and have developed a strong connection, and that coming out on top of the festival is what they work towards “every single day and night.”
This year, it was Daniel Ntwari who played the hero’s role in the 4×4 “champions’ league” competition (similar to king’s court in basketball, where you have to win your way up to the top field).
Ntwari was proud that his team kept positive and supported each other after they fell behind 1-0, and was elated to see his shot hit the net for a 2-1 triumph.
“It was exciting for me because everyone was coming to me and I felt so excited,” he recounted. “It was a perfect day. Everyone was having fun. And it was a great moment to score the winner. I really loved it.”
The 2026 festival was the first year featuring an independent girls’ competition, and it had just as thrilling a conclusion, with multiple extra rounds of penalty kicks deciding it.
Chrispa Muluila said it was “really cool” to score the winning PK for her team, which also hailed from Confederation Court, although for her, the day was about something much more fundamental.
“I really enjoyed being with my friends,” she reflected, noting she appreciated the girls-only division. “Instead of it being so rough, it was actually kind of chill.”
Indeed, the girls were more likely to pause for a moment if someone fell, even if there wasn’t a foul committed, just to make sure they were OK. Make no mistake however, they still put forward their best effort, and the emotion of scoring a big goal was felt every bit as strongly.
Mareah Mugisha, a soccer player of four years who recently learned she’d made her school team at Sainte-Geneviève, soaked it all up.
“It’s really fun, and you can make friends,” said the member of the winning side, noting her team’s keys to success were “teamwork, no screaming, and encouraging people.”
Though Destiny Lacorse’s side fell one kick short of victory, she nonetheless revelled in being part of a penalty-kicks session with everyone watching.
“The shootout was fun, even though we got second place, it was so fun,” signalled Lacorse, who was proud that “we tried our best and we worked together.”
Zaynab Chaoui was most pleased that just about every player on her team scored and that everyone played a part.
“I was really happy about that,” she indicated. “If we all contribute to something, we can all celebrate and everybody can be happy. We don’t like anyone feeling left out.”
El-Asmar, who is the girls’ competitive director with the Atlético Ottawa Juniors club, was thrilled to see the rise in the number of girls playing after previously being sprinkled among mixed-gender teams.
“Girls bring that social part of it right away, and it really becomes about that,” he explained. “They become friends, and then they become so much even better as a team because they care for each other.”
This season was the largest season yet for the Community House Soccer initiative, with over 100 kids playing across five communities: Confederation Court, Russell Heights, Blair Court, Banff Avenue and new addition Debra Dynes.
The Ottawa Internationals provided the top-of-the-line venue for the festival at Franco-Cité as well as coaching for the Banff and Dynes programs, while Atlético Ottawa Juniors gave players jerseys, and an Ontario Trillium Foundation grant for OCH Foundation’s recLINK program allowed them to give soccer balls to players so they can play on their own too.
The festival may not quite be the FIFA World Cup yet, but if ever you want to see the power of sport, this is where you’ll find it.
El-Asmar found himself thinking back to when some of the kids were among the younger ones, at first playing a little tentatively on the periphery, then gaining confidence and launching themselves right into the middle of the action, and now continuing to coach once they’ve outgrown the program.
“They still want to be involved, and that just means so much,” he highlighted. “They wanted to coach their own team. That was pretty cool. And they were really serious about it. They wanted to show, “Hey, I can coach, I can lead, I can guide,’ and you know, at the end of the day, that’s what it’s about, right?
“If we can give back somehow, it’s the circle of life, like they say. It’s really awesome to see.”
2026 Ottawa Community House Soccer Festival Photo Gallery
This article is part of the Ottawa Sports Pages’ Inclusion in Sport series. Read more about local sport inclusion initiatives at: OttawaSportsPages.ca/Ottawa-Sports-Pages-Inclusion-In-Sport-Series/.
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