Caledon Soccer Club will wait on government regulation

November 26, 2020 · 0 Comments

Written By Robert Belardi

One lockdown in March was one thing. Outdoor training for Caledon Soccer Club opened up in July. Only competitive teams were allowed to train and a deal, struck with the Brampton Fairgrounds that cost, well, a measly $90,000 for indoor training saw 10 players on either side of the pitch get some work in.

Sundays were free though. It was a huge investment and a noble effort by the club.

And now, the club and other sports organizations are back to square one. Caledon SC posted on Instagram this past Monday to highlight the restrictions for soccer laid out according to government protocol.

No indoor activities. No bubbles. No change rooms allowed. No trials and evaluations. It’s all up to outdoor training now, in which Technical Director and Club Head Coach Terry Madison says teams want to do that.

“We also have Humberview Field in Bolton,” Madison said. “Training outdoors. Some of the older teams are actually there Thursday night, Saturday and Sunday. We’re trying to talk to the Town right now to keep it open through December. Supposed to close December 1,” Madison said.

Everything is up to the government now, he said. He says he hopes that his teams can be back out on to the field in the Spring.

It’s difficult to imagine the hardship most of these players have had to endure. Having missed out on important time this year for their development, there’s not much room for opportunity to showcase players.

Madison says the U-16 girls’ team was invited out for the Dallas Cup and it wouldn’t make sense to go given the circumstances.

This also makes it difficult for scouts to dig through the ominous pandemic to find soccer’s next star. But, with video the newest method for recruiting players, Madison and Caledon SC have lived up to the task.

“We have a VEO camera. It basically goes up on a telescopic type pole and it has the whole field. We’ve utilized that for the games outdoor and used it for training indoor,” he said.

“We’ve been pulling highlight reels and we do Google Classroom with the girls every week and the one’s that want to get a video, we pull highlights for them and we put together a video for them.”

The club’s U-16 girls’ team have been incredible and most of the players are registered under the NCAA website.

Caledon Soccer Club has held talks with Queen’s University, University of Guelph, schools in Detroit and the University of Pittsburgh to come out and play.

Also, thanks to their coach from England, Lee Merricks, connections have been made with Chelsea F.C women to bring the girls out to England when all is well and a webinar is scheduled this week with Arsenal F.C.

Arsenal offers an in-house program to have the girl try-out and go to school. If they make the team, they can train with the U-21 team while earning their education.

“That’s the thing that we’re trying to open up these girls; to say, here is the opportunity. It’s not just going to university in the States,” Madison explained.

“We’re trying to show them there’s a lot of things out there for you. A lot of them want to do more. We’re trying to open this as much as we can for them.”

Predominantly for the girls, Madison is working on offering all of this to the boy’s program as well.

For now, all players will continue to train over Zoom and feel a virtual sense of camaraderie. It’s all they can do for now and the hope is once restrictions are alleviated, it’s time to get back out on the field and get noticed.