USL Feature
Friday, January 27, 2012
BRADENTON, Fla. – It was a little over a year ago that the seeds were planted for players from Canadian Interuniversity Sports to participate at the USL PRO Combine presented by Umbro. Now the first set of players are getting the benefit of the agreement, with Dalhousie University’s Ben Ur, McMaster College’s Anthony Costa, St. Francix Xavier University’s Michael Marousek and the University of British Columbia’s Jason Gill all getting their chance to shine at IMG Academies.
“I think it’s a really good opportunity for me personally and also for the other Canadian players coming through the CIS,” Ur said. “I mean, if we do well, it’s good them because maybe then they’ll get a few more opportunities to keep on coming down.”
The opportunity came about thanks to a meeting at last year’s NSCAA Convention between USL National Technical Director Peter Mellor and CIS Men’s Soccer Coaches Association President Pat Nearing. Introduced to one another by USL Technical Advisor Tony Waiters, who took Canada to its only Men’s World Cup appearance in 1986, the two met and discussed what USL could provide to help CIS players reach a wider audience. To this end, Mellor offered the opportunity for four top CIS players to attend this week’s Combine.
For many Canadian players in the past, the path to the professional ranks often passed through American universities. In fact, there are a number of Canadian players present this week who attended U.S. Colleges, with Brad Rose attending Yale and Justin Hay attending Belmont for their college soccer careers.
“It was very important for me,” Rose said. “I always wanted to come to the U.S. to play, because I wanted that high level of competition as well as great academia, so it just worked out really well for me.”
While not yet at the same level as NCAA Soccer, the level of soccer in the CIS has grown in recent years. However, with the coaching available at the USL PRO Combine, Ur said he was glad to get the opportunity to learn from the experienced technical staff assembled for the goalkeeping component of the event.
“I had really good coaching at Dalhousie, and locally as well,” Ur said. “In terms of specifically goalkeeping, technically I think it’s been a bit lacking there, and getting in front of all these coaches here definitely helps my development personally, so that’s something I’m very happy about.”
Offering that sort of opportunity was the major concept behind the agreement between USL and the CIS. While the USL PDL remains the principle source for players that are invited to the USL PRO Combine, offering top-level players to the league’s teams is also a priority for Mellor.
“We’re looking to develop from our PDL for our professional teams the quality of players that we offer them in this combine, and obviously we put a great amount of importance on our PDL players, but our USL PRO coaches, they’re looking for the best players,” Mellor said. “We hope they can come from the PDL, but it doesn’t always necessarily work out that way, so if we can bring players in from Canada that are players who would normally get missed, and our clubs have interest, I think it’s great for the development of the league.”
Aiding the development of Canadian soccer is also something Mellor is focused on. While there is currently a moratorium on new USL PDL franchises in Canada, established clubs like the Thunder Bay Chill, Ottawa Fury and Toronto Lynx continue to compete successfully in the league. Mellor believes the league’s model, which allows for greater development of U-23 players and regional play, is one that benefits everyone.
“I would like to think that we are showing that we are very much here to help Canadian soccer develop, and we’ll do whatever we’re allowed to do to develop the possibilities of PDL teams and Super-20 teams too,” Mellor said. “It makes a lot more sense if you allow Canadian teams to come south over the border to play U.S. teams. It gives it a bit of flavor, too, and it cuts down on expenses and helps everyone develop the game the way it should be.”
While that is a discussion for the future, what shouldn’t be up for debate is the opportunity CIS players are getting this week.
“For sure, I think it can only be good things to come from this,” Ur said. “When my coach first told me I was coming I was definitely very excited, and I’m sure the other players were as well.”