On Friday, May 14th, 2010, Toronto FC announced the creation of its Club Academy Program (CAP) – a technical partnership with progressive youth clubs in Ontario that meet Toronto FC’s standards for elite player development. The Nepean Hotspurs Soccer Club is honoured to be one of the 8 clubs in Ontario to have met the high technical standards established by Toronto FC, in selecting their CAP partners. Hotspurs President David Holder commented that “Some time ago, the Hotspurs formulated a model for coach and player development. It wasn’t easy, it wasn’t flashy and we took a long term view. As a result, we are extremely gratified that our approach caught the attention of Toronto FC.”
As announced by Toronto FC, the goal of the newly launched program is to provide a stable and continuous path of development for young, elite players from their introduction to the game to full-time professionals with Toronto FC. In keeping with the CSA’s Wellness to World Cup – long term player development model, the CAP promotes the need to target the training habits and environment of elite players in Ontario while creating a collective of full-time soccer coaches and managers whose primary goal is the development of players and coaches.
“This is a major step forward in helping to groom young talented soccer players and their coaches”, said director of the Academy Earl Cochrane. “Our plan has always been to find a way to influence the environment with which young players currently train and play and we feel this is the first step of many toward that. In addition, we have always wanted to go younger as an Academy and this is a far more progressive step than adding a team or two to the Toronto FC stable of teams.”
Hotspurs Club Head Coach Boris Bajagic (CSA National ‘A’ License) said "This affiliation is further step in our Club development. We are extremely pleased to have been recognized by Toronto FC for our commitment to coaching excellence, and our commitment to help our young athletes reach their fullest potential. For our players, the Academy presents a real opportunity to reach the highest level of play in North America.” Coach Bajagic added “More importantly, Toronto FC’s CAP is a unique commitment to the Canadian model of soccer development, and supports Canada’s national soccer objective through the LTAD program. We truly believe that our affiliation with Toronto FC, as opposed to foreign alliances, is the fastest and most appropriate approach to soccer development in Canada."
Quoting from Toronto FC’s CAP announcement “Working in coordination with the Toronto FC Academy, the CAPs will demand a premium level of training that will allow for involved players, ages 7 to 16, to be monitored and scouted in hopes of joining the Toronto FC Academy as full-time members. The CAPs will create training environments that simulate the professional experience that Toronto FC’s current Academy teams are accustomed to, and through club cooperation, will allow for friendly competition and collaboration for additional scouting opportunities. In addition, an exchange of coaching information, workshops and seminars will be provided to the participating clubs.
“We have so much talent in our province and across Canada but are losing them at influential ages and therefore need to find ways to help promote the game and their development,” said Academy manager and junior team head coach Stuart Neely. “We also cannot forget how much of an influence coaches and the training environments have on all aspects of a player’s development and it’s important that our programs influence that in a positive way.”
The following extract from the TFC Club Academy Program (CAP) prospectus outlines the primary goals of the CAP program:
- Partner with elite youth clubs in Canada who meet our standards for CAP
- Club may promote the idea that they are an affiliate of TFC Academy and that they are an essential part of our player development plans –specifically at the U7-U15 age groups.
- Because of the high level of training at the CAP, the players will remain with their club through the ages of 7-15
- Throughout the year, a series of scouting dates will be arranged and scouted/recommended players from the CAPs will report for further analysis.
- CAP coaches will be a vital part of this process
- Select U14 team put together for end of season overseas tour
Link to Toronto FC CAP video backgrounder: http://torontofc.neulion.com/tfc/console.jsp?catid=2&id=1902
The entire Hotspurs family is extremely pleased to be a charter member of the Toronto FC CAP program, and we look forward to working with Toronto FC, and the other CAP members. We offer our sincere congratulations to Capital United Soccer Club, the other NCR based CAP partner. For more information on the Club Academy Program, please visit www.torontofc.ca or contact the Toronto FC Academy directly.
