Fri July 22, 2016 League 1 Ontario--League 1 Ontario Showcasing Regional Homegrown Development Programs Across Province (from League 1 website)

League1 Ontario Showcasing Regional Homegrown Development Programs Across Province 
07/22/2016, 6:30pm EDT
By Anthony Gallo

League1 Ontario prides itself with providing a stage for elite players 
to showcase their development, and as a vehicle to potentially advance 
players' careers, but it is the member clubs that must do the heavy 
lifting - developing players in-house is a long process and has 
unique challenges.

In the case of clubs outside of the major catchment areas around 
the GTA, for instance, they have to deal with a smaller player pool
compared to some teams in the more populous Toronto, Mississauga 
and Scarborough area.

However, rather than an impediment, these clubs have been able to use 
the unique attributes of their region to develop some very impressive 
local talents that are currently plying their trade in League1 Ontario.

League1 spoke to the technical staff at four clubs - Darby FC, 
FC London, Aurora United and Kingston Clippers - about how they feel 
about the project of localized player development.

"I think it's very important for the organization to invest in their 
own players, train them all year round and bring them to this league. 
Otherwise you always have to recruit players from here and there 
to compete," said Aurora United women's coach Ramin Mohammadi.

Technical staff at all clubs also agreed that League1 Ontario offers 
a necessary step for players to continue past the grassroots and 
elite youth levels, and indicated that the league can be a finishing 
school for players emerging from development programs and pursuing 
a career, be it university or professional contracts.

Kingston Clippers' technical director Chris Eveleigh cited 
a statement from Queen's University professor and Director 
of School of Kinesiology, Dr. Jean Cote, from the February Ontario 
Soccer Association (OSA) conference: "The smaller area you 
live in, the easier it is to become a top athlete in North America." 

Why?

"Because at every street corner there is a playing field, 
whether it's basketball, soccer or hockey."

Where space and pitch bookings can be a premium in the heavily 
populated urban areas, and teammates and families separated 
by distance, smaller cities like Kingston et al. can have ready 
access to facilities, and offer a viable free-play and personal 
training culture.  

Eveleigh further explained that since League1 Ontario has now 
given those players in small regions a chance to play against 
teams from larger areas on a regular basis, which includes 
an elite set of players working hard for university and 
professional contracts, athletes in regions are beginning 
to see a light at the end of the tunnel. 

"There has never been an opportunity for players in Kingston… 
and this is giving players an opportunity to compete 
at that [high] level," he said.

Kingston, an original member of League1 Ontario, has 
a good relationship with local university Queen's, as well 
as St. Lawrence College, and have developed players like 
Oliver Koren, Eric Koskins, Brittany Almeida, 
captain Andrew Martin, and Meghan Edwards. They also 
helped develop Toronto FC homegrown talent Jay Chapman.

For FC London and Aurora United FC - new teams in both 
the men's and women's divisions - one of the main reasons 
why they choose to join League1 Ontario was because they 
could compete at a high level and bring up more players 
with their pathway model.

"The reason why we choose to compete in League1, and 
to make FC London a women's team as well, was to showcase 
our local talent. And before we showcase them, we have 
to develop them," said FC London women’s head coach 
Michael Marcoccia.

"League1 bridges that gap between an elite level 17/18 
year old and senior for those wanting to continue to play 
at the highest levels," said FC London’s technical 
director Ian Campbell.

Both Marcoccia and Campbell offered impressive stats; 
99 per cent of the women's team and 83 per cent of the 
men’s teams are from the London area. Players like 
Jade Kovacevic (Canada U20 and Louisiana State University), 
Jenna Hong (Farris State), Cierra Thomas (University 
of New Brunswick), Nicole Nielson (Cape Breton University), 
Sean Fawsitt (Ryerson), Borna Juracic (Niagara University), 
Daniel Amaya (Fanshawe) and Elvir Gigolaj (FC Edmonton) 
have all been through the London pathway, and are 
locally developed players.

At  Aurora United FC, men's head coach and former 
Team Canada and Toronto FC player Jim Brennan mentioned 
that they have one of the largest memberships in Ontario, 
with over 4000 members. Aurora United pride themselves 
in developing local talents, and with the help 
of League1 Ontario, have done so with players like 
Alex Needs (Seneca College), Sarah Stratigakis 
(Canada U20 and Canada U17 MVP runner-up), 
Patricia Koutoulas (Canada U20), Sierra Henderson-Muchett 
(U17 camp) and Selena Magoni (Memphis University).

"These are young kids that are coming through and 
we are giving them an opportunity to fulfill their 
dreams, whether it be university, professional 
or the national team. We can give them a platform 
to move on to that next level. We want to help these 
kids as much as we can," said Brennan

Not only has Aurora United developed local talents, 
but they have been working with Swedish football 
management group, Lank Experience. Brennan said this 
partnership, "provides their players with 
an opportunity to get a different experience 
in another country." 

The Swedish group have sent striker Simon Adjei 
and midfielder Zakariae Mahrady to Aurora so they 
can learn from new experiences, and the experiment 
appears to be paying off - Adjei is leading the 
team in scoring with seven goals, with Mahrady 
right behind him on two goals.

Another new League1 Ontario women's team, Darby FC, 
has also come to the league with a predominantly 
local focus. The team from Whitby has at least eight 
players on their roster that are locally developed 
and have caught the eye of some post-secondary 
schools, including Shannon Lucas (UOIT), 
Rachel Armstrong (Durham College) and Ally Fracz 
(Trent University). They even have some talented 
younger players in Toria Chia and Selah Hopkins, 
who the technical staff tout as names to watch 
in League1.

Darby FC has a simple motto, "Excellence 
is a habit," and their goal is simple as well.

"We are trying to establish a complete pathway 
for the complete player," said women's head 
coach Mirco Schroff.

"We want to build future talent that is dominant 
on the ball, game intelligent, physically 
competitive and able to transfer their skill 
into a winning mentality under high 
performance standards."

However, Schroff knows that this process 
can take a long time.

"We are well aware that this process takes 
an enormous amount of effort and time, hence 
our priority is to check on specific performance 
measures with each individual to ensure that 
the player can have a positive impact on the 
competition in L1O moving forward," said Schroff.

All four of these clubs may be outside 
or on the outskirts of the GTA, but they have 
all developed local talents that have gone 
on to university or professional clubs.

Investing in the senior end of the pathway 
is a crucial step, providing an on-field example 
all the way down to an organization's youth 
prospects, and is a must in the overall 
development of League1 Ontario athletes, 
similar senior end provincial tiers across 
the country, and in furthering Canada's 
ambitions on the international stage.

back to 2016 League 1 Ontario Men's index

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