October 28th CSL...CSL development story in Toronto Star (from CSL website)

CSL PROVIDES TRAINING GROUND FOR ATHLETES.......a focus on young players and their development in Canada
2010-10-28

What will emerge in future is the great pride that youth clubs can take from having athletes promoted to a higher level...

In the recent Toronto Star article of October 23, sports reporter Daniel Girard wrote an interesting story on the success of the Toronto FC Academy program in developing players. In it Girard notes about TFC Academy and the CSL:

"It's (TFC Academy) home to 50 of Ontario's best soccer players aged 14 to 19. Two teams of 25 - divided by maturation and ability rather than age - are headquartered at BMO Field, training daily in the big league facilities and rubbing shoulders with the pros they are trying to be. The top squad plays in the Canadian Soccer League against teams of professionals. The other suits up in the CSL's reserve division."

"Both youth teams made the playoffs - the senior side falling in the CSL quarter-finals, the juniors losing in the reserve division semifinal. On Friday, five members were called up to the Canadian under-17 side for games in the U.S. and Jamaica while three others will join the national U15 side for a pair of matches against the Americans."

"And, earlier this week, four teenagers - (Doneil) Henry, (Nicholas) Lindsay and Academy members Oscar Cordon, 17, and Ashtone Morgan, 19 - played and looked like they belonged as TFC beat Arabe Unido of Panama 1-0 in a CONCACAF Champions League match as the Reds closed out the home season. Goalkeeper Jon Conway said of the quartet after recording the shutout. "I think they're comfortable. They're prepared well."

"While new to Canada, soccer academies are the norm in much of the world. Unlike the NHL and most North American pro leagues which recruit young players through a draft, success in soccer is driven by finding and developing pre-adolescent talents in house... Teams develop their own players and can raise the quality of play regionally and nationally."

"Earl Cochrane, director of the TFC Academy and, since the firing of Mo Johnston in September, the club's interim general manager, wants the Toronto program to have the sway of academies run by FC Barcelona and Ajax of Amsterdam. This year's World Cup final featured 17 of their alumni. "Barcelona and Ajax are very much the consciousness of their country's football," Cochrane says. "We envision ourselves developing the reputation as Canada's team. When people talk about Canadian football, we want them to think of us."

"TFC captain and leading scorer Dwayne De Rosario called youth academies "a great idea" long overdue. In fact, he'd like to see them start with younger kids "before they develop bad habits." "We're headed in the right direction," says De Rosario, who turned pro at 19 with the Toronto Lynx before going to Germany for two seasons. "It's nice to see there's a professional team in their backyard, a real goal for youngsters to aim for."

"And the targets have increased in recent years. The Vancouver Whitecaps, who join Toronto in MLS next season, and the Montreal Impact, slated to become the league's third Canadian team in 2012, have started their own academies."

"Earlier this month, CSL side Portugal FC announced it was merging with the Toronto Eagles youth club to create SC Toronto. It will run an academy-style program with players aspiring to the semi-pro CSL side. It won't have a school component - at least not yet - and its resources will be far less than the TFC Academy annual budget of about $1 million, but Frank Cardona, director of soccer operations with Portugal FC, says it will improve the level of soccer locally and nationally. "There's only so many kids TFC can take under their wing," says Cardona, a former CSL player with the Toronto Blizzard. "We think there's enough kids out there that we can both benefit and better develop the game."

What we can take from this article is a re-affirmation of a long-held belief by many Canadian soccer luminaries that our system of player development must adapt to what works well around the world. The technical services available through professional and semi-professional clubs is far superior to those available through a typical youth club. "Canadian youth clubs do a marvellous job of introducing soccer to the hundreds of thousands of kids that play in the house league systems," states CSL Commissioner Domenic Di Gironimo who goes on to say, "The challenge that every youth club faces is convincing the vast majority of parents of house league registrants that there is a direct benefit for their child if their club invests program dollars into Rep Teams, Technical Directors, and professional coaches. The end result is that the best intentions of progressive club volunteers are often limited by a lack of committed resources necessary to achieve optimum elite player development. Professional and semi-professional teams have player development as a primary objective, thus avoiding any philosophical, political or budgetary conflicts."

The Canadian Soccer Association published new standards in January of 2010 for professional and semi-professional teams, among them is the requirement that these teams become actively involved in player development. This mandate was approved by the provincial association members of the CSA. All of the pro clubs and several semi-pro clubs have established in-house academies or academy-style programs. As the middle layer between youth clubs and pro teams or college, the CSL is an integral part of the player development system. The CSL is committed to be a positive and constructive force, working diligently to engage local youth clubs in this project, and become an important tool to provincial associations in their evolving player development models.

In the lead up to the CSA's Wellness to World Cup long-term player development plan, four of the Top-5 issues identified are critical features of the CSL's role including: increasing the number of qualified coaches and professionals working with athletes at all levels; providing a vibrant national system of training and extensive linkages to professional clubs; achieving proper ratio of training-to-competition at all levels; and creating more high-quality training environments. With almost half the players on the National U20, and U17 teams having spent time in the CSL the facts prove it is not just idle talk.

What CSL clubs bring is a commitment to train, develop, and promote the athletes from their community. With strategically planned CSL expansion, the objective is to provide opportunities within reasonable driving distance to all urban centres. The CSL encourages the entire soccer community to work together on a clear development pathway, as well as to establish a fully integrated nation-wide elite youth database that will provide a comprehensive tracking system of athlete development for training, scouting, and promotion.

"The CSL believes in a holistic approach to training athletes. We believe that young athletes should live at home with their family for proper social development and natural maturity. We believe that travel should be reduced to permit athletes sufficient time to focus on their academic studies as well. We believe that athletes should receive the highest quality of coaching and instruction on training, conditioning, and nutrition," continues Di Gironimo

The significant work done on long-term player development across the country has opened the minds of many with regards to our traditional system of athlete training, preparation, and promotion, which is currently delivered mainly by volunteer parents as coaches through youth clubs. The concept of having pro/semi-pro teams involved with older youth development is the oldest and most prolific system utilized in the world, but remains new to many in Canada.

"It is easy to understand that some organizations perceive this concept as detrimental to their clubs because they may lose a few top athletes to the player development system of pro/semi-pro clubs. A greater effort must be made to assure youth organizations that in fact they have so much more to gain through a united player development effort. Better training opportunities for the youth in the community, experienced technical services for their clubs available through relationships with the pro/semi-pro clubs, and increased opportunities for other youth to play at the Rep level. If we start with the improvement of training at the house league level, the increased quantity of athletes capable of competing for Rep will provide an endless flow of quality players to maintain Rep soccer healthy and vibrant. No one loses with a collective player development approach," professes a passionate Di Gironimo.

The total impact in any one region will likely be less than 50 or so athletes in total, as per the example through TFC Academy. With some regions sporting registrations of 20,000+, the movement would affect a mere 0.25% of players. "What will emerge in future is the great pride that youth clubs can take from having athletes promoted to a higher level of play and achieve athletic scholarships, placement on Nationals teams, careers in the CSL, or perhaps at the professional level in Canada or abroad, as well, collectively as a nation we can then all take enormous pride in having our national teams qualify regularly for World Cups, knowing that we have each contributed to this advancement of the sport in our country," closes off Di Gironimo.

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