By Kaitlyn LeBoutillier
Ottawa soccer shone bright as George Nelms Sports Park served as a centralized site for 18 Ontario Player Development League matches on July 6 and 7 in Manotick.
The host Ottawa South United Force went undefeated in all their OPDL league matches, while the West Ottawa Warriors recorded three wins and one loss, and Ottawa TFC posted two victories and a defeat.
Overall, 13 of 15 local teams have records of .500 or better as the OPDL season nears its midway point, while the other two were just one game under.
Four of OSU’s seven teams sat first in the OPDL east division standings, which has become a fairly regular occurrence since the OPDL youth high-performance league kicked off 10 years ago in 2014.
“We have always been a successful high-achieving program since the beginning of the OPDL league,” highlights David Fox, OSU’s high-performance director who joined the club just as COVID hit. “If I look back at when I first arrived at the club, I felt there was a feeling that we were punching above our weight trying to compete with the top Toronto-based clubs.
“I think the further progressions we have seen on both the boys’ and girls’ side of the OPDL program are in part due to a change in mentality – that actually we need to set the standards for everyone else.”
OSU’s girls’ squads earned a solid string of OPDL titles in recent years, with 15 stars recruited to join the National Development Centre in Toronto, and the club’s boys’ teams have reemerged into league powers as well. The Force lead the U14 boys’ division at 6-1-1, while their U17 boys’ team is perfect at 7-0.
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The defending-champion Force U15 boys are in third at 6-1-1 and are getting ready to compete in the inaugural national player development league championship from Aug. 13-18 in Edmonton.
“What is most pleasing is we are now achieving consistently good results across all teams, boys and girls, and we feel we are fielding teams that will compete at the top of the league in all age groups,” Fox adds, noting that a key to success has been placing more top coaches with U9-U12 teams.
OSU and Ottawa TFC are first and second in both the U14 and U16 girls’ divisions. In their Sunday match against FC Durham, the Ottawa TFC U16 girls held a strong lead at the half.
Coach Jordan Lundin encouraged her players to try new strategies, take risks and focus on being aggressive while they had the chance. They responded, and finished with a convincing 9-1 victory.
A few days earlier, a former teammate of Lundin’s was officially nominated to represent Canada at her second Olympic Games.
There was a buzz for Team Canada permeating throughout George Nelms, with Vanessa Gilles soon set to enter the Olympics as reigning championships, and fellow local product Jonathan David was helping the men’s team to a groundbreaking semi-final appearance at Copa America.
“Any time the national teams are successful, it helps to raise the profile of the game in Canada,” Fox underlines.
In a development session during the OPDL weekend, OSU skills coach Anthony Legendre asked if any of his players had watched the Canada vs Venezuela match, and what they had noticed about Venezuela’s goal – using Canada’s successes on the global stage not only as a point of inspiration, but also a learning opportunity.
“Young people become more engaged with the wider game and [national athletes] as role models undoubtedly play a role in young players becoming more engaged in long-term development and dreaming of emulating their favourite players,” Fox echoes.
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