May 29, 2014 League 1 Ontario--Introducing Toronto FC Academy (from League 1 Ontario website)

  
Introducing Toronto FC Academy
. Thu May 29 
Written By: Rollins, Duane  

Toronto FC Academy (TFCA) has a unique place within the League1 Ontario framework. 

On one hand, they are part of the highest profile club in Ontario. Toronto FC plays at the highest 
level of professional soccer in Canada, and the club has captured the  Amway Canadian Championship's 
Voyageurs Cup four times. 

TFCA has graduated several players to the senior team, including regular MLS and national team 
starter Doneil Henry. 

More recently, players like Quillan Roberts and Jordan Hamilton have gone from TFCA to star at the
Canadian international youth levels. Both of those players are now starting regularly for the Wilmington 
Hammerheads of USL-Pro, where they are on loan from TFC.

This is a club that has already established itself as a strong player in the Canadian development system, 
in spite of its relatively young age. TFCA has only been operating since 2008.

With many of the clubs in League1 having been around much longer than TFCA, there is bound to be some 
resentment in Ontario development circles about the quick success of the club. That was underlined 
recently, as some in the Ontario soccer community thought that maybe TFCA was moving away from operating 
within the Canadian system.

Whether those perceptions were accurate in the past is debatable. What is outside debate is the current 
commitment to being an ongoing part of the Ontario soccer community, says TFCA director Greg Vanney.

"I wasn't here before (this year)," Vanney says, "so I don't know what the relations were. I do know 
that we're not here to say we are the biggest, baddest, greatest club around. We are just one part 
of the community."

Vanney stresses that TFCA's goal of identifying and developing the best local talent for its senior 
team cannot be accomplished if they are acting outside the domestic system. That's why TFC is the 
only MLS team that has decided not to attach itself to the American academy system – a distinction 
that is not shared by the other two Canadian based MLS teams.

"We want to be a part of building this league," Vanney said.

Beyond a philosophical belief that they should be part of the community, TFC sees League1 Ontario 
as providing its senior academy with a significant challenge. TFCA will likely be the youngest team 
in the league, with many of the players three to four years younger than their opposition.

That competitive challenge will help grow the prospects as players. Ultimately, Vanney suggests, 
learning to win in League1 will teach the young Reds to win at the next level as well. 

Ideally, as part of TFC and the Canadian national team.

Toronto FC Academy open their League1 Ontario campaign at the Ontario Soccer Centre on Friday 
May 30 at 8 p.m. vs. Vaughan Azzurri. 

The club's home opener is scheduled for June 22, 1 p.m. at the Kia Training Ground vs. 
Internacional de Toronto.

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