As training camp continues through the end of the month for the Ottawa Fury FC, the city’s new professional soccer team is not only working at finding success on the field, but also making a connection with the city.
Players came together in Ottawa in late February and visited several Ottawa schools, meeting with students, offering soccer advice, and getting to know their new home.
While the team has not yet visited any Centretown schools, club officials say the plan is to engage with residents across Ottawa as much as possible during the season.
“A club is something that doesn’t exist without a community, without our fans, without our supporters,” says Fury FC forward Tom Heinemann. “We’re all in this together.”
Heinemann most recently played with the Vancouver Whitecaps of Major League Soccer.
“It was nice, it was a good experience. It’s nice of them to take the time out of their day to come talk to us,” says Jordan Hassin, Grade 10 student at Louis Riel High School, who spent an afternoon with the players.
Fury head coach Marc Dos Santos says fan support is the base of any successful sports organization.
“It’s not a cliché and it’s not being political, but we have no strength as a club without having the community, the people of Ottawa embrace this team,” he says.
Looking at the group of students practicing with his players at the Louis Riel Dome, he says it’s easier for youngsters to dream about being professional soccer players when there is a team in the city.
“If you’re playing and nobody’s watching, you feel like ‘I’m never going to become anything in soccer,’ ” he says. “But having a pro team brings the dream to more kids, and that develops a soccer culture.”
Club officials are ensuring that the team has a strong local presence. It’s headquartered on MacLaren Avenue and will play home games at Carleton University’s Keith Harris Stadium until TD Place Stadium is completed.
Martin Fuentes, the head coach of the developmental team at St. Anthony’s Soccer Club in Little Italy, says a local team will make it easier for young players to pursue professional soccer.
“The kids, I feel, will have more motivation, maybe this is their first dream, playing here in the city,” he says. “Now, there is a professional team in Ottawa, the kids will for sure say ‘I want to play there.’ ”
Daniel Renna, the director of the development program at St. Anthony’s, says the club would like to connect with the Fury FC and help develop the type of players that the professional team needs.
Dos Santos says the feeling is mutual. He says the Fury FC’s youth academy will allow the team to find and develop potential professional players directly in Ottawa.
“We’re building some bridges with other clubs. Not only will our academy players be seen by us, but also other academy players from big local clubs in Ottawa,” he says.
Heinemann says that both the youth academy and the ability to come see professional soccer will bring more young Ottawa kids to the game.
“It gets eyes big, their eyes light up and they get excited. It’s something that they want to be a part of,” he says.
Renna agrees, saying professional soccer will help grow the game in Ottawa.
“You need to have your idols close to you,” he says. “You can’t watch him on television once a week or twice a week.”