The Canadian Academy of Futbol (CAF) is on schedule with a mission to connect promising young players to professional soccer. .
A number of CAF members have already provided professional academy-style training through youth clubs and this interfacing of the CAF with the Canadian Soccer League level of competition is expected to pay dividends for youth players as the program progresses. The CSL announced last April it was working with the newly-formed academy to provide youth players the opportunity for sound player development while connected to a professional environment.
The CAF has established minimum standards for the programs now being offered by its member clubs, all in an effort to ensure a uniform and responsible approach to delivering the highest quality training in the communities where CAF is available.
Additional standards will evolve as CAF works with the governing bodies CSA and OSA to develop an elite training system that will best serve development of the athlete, while also meeting the requirements of the national/provincial team programs. Members of CAF will work with community-based youth clubs while adhering to the CSA’s Wellness to World Cup, Long Term Player Development (LTPD) framework.
Commencing in 2012, members of CAF will offer youth soccer development programs for boys ages under-11 to under-17. The age groupings will reduce the player pools to the top youth prospects and include regulations to ensure that equal representation is achieved by both ages in each grouping.
The academy-style programs are structured to provide high calibre skills training and professional development for promising players wanting to accelerate their progress in soccer. They will run 10 months of the year during the indoor and outdoor seasons and include regular competition amongst the CAF member academies. This will address the longstanding criticism from high level coaches that compared to most other countries, the Canadian outdoor season is too short.
Earlier in 2011, Pino Jazbec, the CAF administrator, said the CAF-endorsed Youth Development System is intended to be more than just somewhere to play. Jazbec for some time now has emphasized a need for Canadian soccer to bridge the gap and provide that missing next step for promising young players who find themselves with nowhere to go. ‘The Gap’ – a long-standing impediment to producing players for higher levels, including Canada’s national teams, has been identified as one of the reasons Canada has fallen behind in world soccer.
“The CAF program has a vital role to play in elite player development through its influence on programs offered by CAF members in their communities,” said Jazbec earlier. Recent discussions with CSA national teams’ scouting staff centered on improving the role of CAF coaches in identifying promising players and creating a formalized link between the two organizations.
The start of the programs will see teams from U11 to U17 training several times per week and teams with players selected from within the academy will play one game each week for the 10 months beginning in January. There will be some breaks between the seasons. The development of players will be monitored by the UEFA and Provincial-licensed coaches.
Players interested should contact the club in their vicinity or of their choice by email or phone, using the contact list below:
Mike DiMatteo: 416 891-5621 mdimatteo@scepterindustries.com
Leal Jose: 647 999-8484 leals@sympatico.ca
Josef Komlodi 905 829- 9740 headcoach.emsc@bellnet.ca
Joe Zaradic 905 850-0594 jzaradic@sympatico.ca
Ryan Gauss 519 630-8138 ryangauss@gmail.com
Andrew Crowe: andrew_crowe22@hotmail.com
Manuel Hernandez: mdjhernandezg@hotmail.com
Vojislav Brisevis: info@scwaterloo.ca
Brantford, Paris, Hamilton, Stony Creek
Gerry Crnic 289 880-3002 crocan@yahoo.com
James McGillivray 905 984-9118 james.mcgillivray@hotmail.ca
Armand Di Fruscio 905 680-0384 armanddifruscio@hotmail.com
Filip Rocca, Gino Berardi 519 818-6696 info@starsprosoccer.com
Jimmy Hamrouni 613 770-6400
Bruno Ierullo 416 240-1718 info@northyorkastros.ca
Isac Cambas 416 417-2349 sctorontopro@gmail.com
Tony De Thomasis 905 731-9800 cdt@dethomasfinancial.com
Dragan Bakoc 416 252-4762 doug@deltabelectric.com