SoccerTFC's latest signing signals new Canadian era

Beginning of Story Content

Thursday, Aug. 26, 2010 is a day that Doneil Henry will never forget. If you are a supporter of Canadian soccer, neither should you.

For Henry, it signalled the beginning of his professional soccer career with Toronto FC, when he became the club's first academy player to sign a professional contract.

For Canadian soccer supporters, it signalled the beginning of a new era.

Let me explain.

Henry is a kid who was let go by the provincial team program -- more on that in a minute -- yet the coaches in Toronto FC's academy spotted his ability.

By joining the academy, he was put into an environment where his ability was developed and allowed to flourish. Top quality coaching and training allowed Henry to maximize his potential and fulfill his dream of becoming a professional soccer player.

Before the arrival of Toronto FC in MLS (soon to be joined by the Vancouver Whitecaps and Montreal Impact), talented youngsters in Canada had very little chance of reaching the professional ranks. There simply wasn't an avenue for them to pursue that dream within Canada, and as such, many talented players were lost to the game.

That has, over time, had an adverse affect on our national team.

Change coming

We simply do not produce enough players of professional calibre to be truly competitive at the national team level. The arrival of academies in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal will begin to change that.

It isn't going to happen overnight, though. It will take time to put in place an effective player development structure that reaches out to communities and offers players a pathway to the highest level.

Not every talented player in Canada comes from Toronto, Vancouver or Montreal, and those three clubs, along with the provincial associations, must work together to identify and recruit the most talented players from across Canada, regardless of where they live.

I have previously written about our need to regionalize our player development system. That is something that I firmly believe, and everyone that I speak to believes the same thing. Now it is just a question of making it happen.

In Ontario, for example, a joint effort between Toronto FC, the Ontario Soccer Association and local communities is needed in order to implement such a system.

New system possible

I have spoken with Randy Ragan (chief technical officer of the OSA), Earl Cochrane (academy director of Toronto FC) and Stuart Neely (head coach of Toronto FC Academy) and they all agree that such a system can and will be put in place.

It is easy to point the finger of blame when a player slips through the system and ends up finding success in the game elsewhere. Owen Hargreaves is the perfect example of a player who was not selected for the national youth team program who went on to play in the World Cup with England.

Doneil Henry could have been another one of those players who slipped away when he was released from the provincial team program. When I spoke with Earl Cochrane, he made an excellent point that I fully agree with.

He said that identifying the top 10 players at any given age is not that difficult -- choosing the next 11 to 50 players is. That is because players develop at different stages of adolescence, and a kid at 13 can be a completely different player by the time he turns 15.

It is easy for a coach to overlook a young player who has not yet fully developed, and there is always a risk involved when trying to predict how a player's ability will evolve given the right coaching and training environment.

So it is not about questioning why Doneil Henry was let go from the provincial team and blaming that program for missing a player.

Expanding reach

Rather, it is about expanding the reach of that program so that more players are given access to good coaching and training. Increasing the scope of the provincial team program to include more than just 20 players at each age group will ensure that more players are given the opportunity to develop their potential to fruition.

The MLS clubs' academies should be the pinnacle of that program, and the goal of all of those involved -- coaches, players and parents -- should be a professional contract with a Canadian MLS club and a place on the national team.

If we can do that -- and I firmly believe that we can -- we will see a dramatic upturn in our ability to compete at the international level. And our Canadian MLS teams will have a steady stream of talented youngsters coming up through their academies.

End of Story Content

Back to accessibility links