Sports
04.12.2012 |
5
Editor: Drake Fenton
SOCCER >>
CIS to the MLS: The road less travelled Andrew Bates Senior Web Writer
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an a CIS men’s soccer player go pro after university? “I have no idea,” said Jason Gill last November. At the time, Gill was the captain of the UBC Thunderbirds and in his fifth and final year of eligibility. “I’m trying to pursue something with soccer, obviously...It’s definitely just trying to keep options open and see if something takes me somewhere, otherwise I’ve got a degree to fall back on.” Gill began his soccer career when he was eight years old. Up until high school graduation, he played for the Abbotsford Mariners, a local club with teams in the BC Premier League and the Premier Development League (PDL). He didn’t expect his soccer career to continue past high school. Then came a scholarship offer from UBC. His career took off from there. After his third year he was selected to represent Canada at the Universiade Games—an international university tournament—in Serbia. He was once again selected for the roster the following year. When the T-Bird captaincy opened up in his fifth-year, it was a no-brainer to give him the arm band. Recently, and for the first time, the United Soccer Leagues (USL)—the third highest professional league in North America—offered the CIS the option of inviting 4 players, out of 102 available spots, to its pro combine for second and third division teams. Gill was one of the four selected. While the offer was monumental for the CIS, it spoke volumes about the league’s prestige in the realm of North American professional soccer. In comparison, the NCAA’s top prospects are drafted directly into Major League Soccer (MLS). The door is open, if ever so slightly, for Canadian college players to enter the professional ranks. But is it worth it? If there is no direct path into the MLS, should players focus on a career slog playing in the lower divisions rather than chasing longer-term career prospects attached to their university degree? The Canadian Soccer Association (CSA) longterm plan stops developing players when they turn 20. In the CIS, that is the prime age for finding star prospects. “At that point, prior to this initiative, it was like...if you want to continue on with soccer, good luck and we wish you all the best,” said Pat Nearing, president of the CIS Men’s Soccer Coaches Association. But for Major League Soccer teams, players over 20 are usually late bloomers. “It’s something that we talk about a lot,” said Whitecaps scouting coordinator Jake DeClute. “Some guys develop late.” Some players from the Whitecaps Residency program do find a landing pad with the Thunderbirds when they graduate after turning 18. Five players from last year’s roster, including Gagandeep Dosanjh and Navid Mashinchi, are Whitecaps alumni. According to DeClute, the Whitecaps do still monitor those players, as they have the right to sign them outside of the draft. DeClute was adamant that the organization does a good enough job of finding BC players. “I don’t necessarily foresee it as this thing where oh, a guy’s a great player at a university and he’s not getting a fair look,” he said. “If there’s a guy who’s somewhere in BC who’s good enough, I think the club will be able to find him.” Ignoring Canadian university players almost cost Canada a member of its only national men’s team that has ever made the World Cup. “I made the mistake many years ago when I first came here of ignoring the players at SFU, which was the best university team at the time,” said Tony Waiters, who was the head coach of the national team when it qualified for the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. On that team, SFU graduate Mike Sweeney starred at left back. Waiters, who acts as a consultant to the USL, got Nearing and the CIS in touch with Peter Mellor, technical director for the organization, to ensure CIS players were included in the pro combine. According to Mellor and Waiters, the key to getting more invites to the combine for the CIS is getting players into the USL Premier Development League during the offseason.
Youngsters: U6 - U13 Players participate in local competitive leagues and participate in development camps.
Joining a club : U13 - U16 Clubs, high schools and the national player development program start scouting for elite training and begin to develop their skills. The Whitecaps look for players to join their Residency program, which starts at U14. The BC Soccer Premier League run an eight-team U13-U18 league to give youth players playing time.
Cream of the crop: U16 - U20 Elite players begin turning out for Canada’s U18 and U21 national teams and provincial select teams, and try to get in with semi-professional and professional teams. The Whitecaps Residency program kicks into high gear, playing in the United States Soccer Development Academy (USSDA) U18 and U16 leagues.
Graduating into the market: U20 - U24 Players ready to step into professional teams, like the best of the Whitecaps residency program, start fighting for spots. Whitecaps hopefuls will play on the first team or a reserve team, or as an over-ager in the USL Professional Development League (PDL). Residency graduates and those who stayed in the BCSPL who don’t make a pro team seek CIS spots. Thunderbirds players play in the fall in the CIS and in the summer for the fourth-division PCSL.
What now? U24 + Players graduate from the CIS and look to get spots in USL and NASL semi-pro and professional teams. Canada Soccer’s long-term development plan gave up on them at the age of 20. Where can they go from here?
“The problem is that there’s not a lot of opportunity,” said Waiters, who said the players were ignored by the CSA. “They tend to think, well, they’re playing at that level, they’re not going to do much more, which I think is totally untrue.” The four CIS spots at the USL combine went to AllCanadians who were graduating, including Gill. “This year it was really an experiment to see if the four that were sent could match up with the average player and they certainly did,” said Mellor. “We haven’t had any disappointments.” Mike Mosher, head coach of the Thunderbirds men’s soccer team, isn’t certain his aim is to develop players for the professional game. “When student athletes are coming into my program, the focus is certainly upon the academics,” he said. Getting players a degree is Mosher’s number one priority. “We’re going to give [them] a terrific soccer experience along the way, hopefully have some success in terms of championships and help to develop them as soccer players and as people.” The T-Birds scout clubs and high schools, with evaluation camps to pick up good players missing the academy cut. “Obviously we’re looking for quality soccer players, but also again, quality people. Strong people, strong character,” Mosher said. “I don’t want guys who are going to come here for a year, two years, and then they’re off, or there’s perhaps question marks academically because that’s not how you build a program.” The Thunderbirds do have a summer team, but it plays in the Pacific Coast Soccer League (PCSL), a league that consists primarily of BC teams and is a step down from the PDL. “The PCSL, for our purposes, provides a bang for our buck for what we’re looking to get,” said Mosher, who cites the imposing cost of travel associated with the PDL. “In non-traditional school days, our players are working a lot during the days.” In addition to Gill’s combine invite, Dosanjh and Mashinchi will be heading back to the Whitecaps over the summer to play as over-agers on the Residency’s PDL team. “Players are certainly able to go and do that, we try to structure it so that it’s best for the player,” Mosher said. “If they want to go and play in that league, in that environment, and commit themselves to more training than what we will do, [they can].” Mosher added that even though he works with 18to 24-year-olds, younger players offer more hope for development. “To be very honest, I think that more and more and more, the drafts and the combine will become less and less important in this sport,” he said. “Most of the better [MLS teams] are doing their own youth academies, and that’s where they’re going to produce their players. I truly believe that that’s the best system to produce professional soccer players.” But Mosher isn’t pessimistic. “I’m not saying that CIS can’t produce players, because there will be later bloomers,” he said. “What you have to come back to is what is the goal, what is the focus of your program? That’s to create a really well-rounded person, and that’s the best of both worlds.” “You have to base your thoughts logically,” said Nearing. “We’re talking about a very small percentage of players in the CIS and the NCAA who move on to professional careers. “Players have to come to the reality check too, of, ‘Do I want to play in the USL and make $27,000 a year?’...and have a lifestyle that’s very different from his teammates that are going to move on and take a job at Scotiabank?” So what did the USL pro combine do for Jason Gill’s chances? “I think I did okay,” he said. “I mean, I got a couple offers from some teams that wanted to invite me to their trials, but I figured I was in a different place in my life...I’m not doing soccer any more. “You gotta try and be realistic with yourself,” Gill added. “I wasn’t that great of a player coming into UBC but the environment that I trained in day in day out, that’s what made me a better player.” UBC is still a good program for players with a future in the game, according to Gill. “I think it’s a good mixture of both,” he said. “I mean, if their main desire is to play professional soccer, that can be achieved at UBC. Maybe you’re better off in the US, or whatnot, but you’re still getting a great education.” But Gill, who is looking for a career in accounting, cited the potential risk of serious injury. “I mean, I’m 23 years old. If I do play for a couple years, then I’m back where I started and looking for a job and trying to start my life all over again,” he said. “I have a degree now so I kind of would like to pursue that and move forward with my life.” U