Liam Drozdz poses with his medal at Carleton University on Nov. 3.
Centretown resident Liam Drozdz competed with the East Ottawa Generals tyke team this season in the club’s first ever bid for the National Capital Amateur Football Association championship.
Although the Generals lost the final game on Nov. 3 to the Gloucester South Raiders 33-12, nine-year-old Drozdz says he felt very special playing for the team, which in 23 years has never advanced past the quarter finals.
Drozdz was a new member of the team this year and knew little of the game before signing up.
The tyke, who is in Grade 4 at First Avenue Public School, said his proudest moment was when he was awarded the medal. “I was wearing it on for three full days straight.”
The club has struggled since it joined the league in 1991 to simply operate and gain players from the inner city communities of Ottawa that it serves. The three biggest areas for the Generals to draw from include Vanier, Lowertown, and Sandy Hill where Robinson Field, its home turf is located.
The NCAFA is made up of 17 different clubs who can field up to five teams ranging from tyke to midget, eight to 19 years old. The Generals consist of four of the levels in the program, but the club had to fold its two oldest age groups this year because of declining participation.
“Our objective is just to field teams, not to win games and certainly not to go to championships,” says Mark Quinn, president of the Generals.
Sixteen teams competed at the tyke level in the league this season. The Generals played eight regular season games before advancing to the quarter-finals.
Quinn said his club has never filled a full roster and has had to take cuts from other teams in order fill the minimum requirement of athletes. Finances and lack of knowledge of the sport are the big obstacles for the Generals, he added, as the club draws from areas of the city with high immigrant populations and low incomes.
He said Drozdz’s learning curve was truly amazing and that he was fast to pick up the game. Drozdz was first positioned on offence but asked his coaches if he could give defence a try. “We gave him that opportunity, and he quickly became almost our defensive captain.”
Sauve says the program tries to take the stress out of playing a new sport and make it enjoyable, and that as a coach he aims to teach respect, integrity, hard work, and having fun.
Like most the of players on the team, Sauve had never played football before he started coaching the tykes two years ago.
“We were the little train that could,” he says, adding that it was a wonderful experience to see the players’ facial expressions after making it to the championships. “I think the kids played their hearts out.”
He hopes this achievement creates a buzz in the Ottawa communities from which the team draws players and that the surprisingly successful season encourages more children to come out.