Soccer Canada
Jamar Dixon, who got his start at the St. Anthony Italia Soccer Club, was recently called up to the Canadian Men’s national soccer team. When Jamar Dixon pulled on a red and white jersey for his debut with the Canadian men’s national soccer team last month, it wasn’t just a victory for him. It was a victory for the people and clubs who helped him along the way.
“Jamar’s an example of someone who belongs to the whole community,” Mike Lanos, current head coach of the Ottawa Gloucester Hornets and a longtime friend of the Dixons, says. “He’s a collective of all the coaches and teachers he’s had. I think the community on the whole needs to take a bow.”
That includes a roster of clubs in Ottawa – including the Hornets and St. Anthony’s Italia Soccer Club – where the Orleans native got his start two decades ago.
“I’m just thankful for the support from Ottawa,” Dixon says.
Although the details of his early career are hazy, Dixon remembers getting used to playing and looking up to his parents, who are both athletes.
“I’m just a kid so I see the ball, and I see the net and I just want to play,” Dixon says. And he remembers one other thing.
“We won a lot.”
Those wins were mostly collected with the Hornets, where Dixon started playing at just four or five years old. In those early days he would scrimmage constantly, and jumped an age group to play with older boys.
Dixon was also willing to put in extra hours, something his parents encouraged. His mother played on Canada’s national netball team – a lesser-known sport akin to basketball – while his father, Mikey, also played soccer. They made it clear to Dixon that his dreams of playing on Canada’s national team would only become reality with ample hard work.
“They never said, ‘Oh, you’re better than everyone.’ Never,” Dixon says. “It was always, ‘You have to work two or three times as hard.’”
As Dixon grew into his teen years, his unrelenting commitment to the game developed into a competitive edge. Some doubted Dixon would make it to Team Canada, Jackie says.
“I’m an optimist,” she says. “To other people and to his father, I’m sure it was, ‘Nah, it’s a long-shot.’”
From Ottawa, Dixon went on to play four successful seasons with the St. Francis Xavier University varsity soccer team in Nova Scotia. He then made the leap to Europe to play for BW 90 IF in Sweden. He moved through two other teams, JIPPO and TP-47 before landing with his current squad, FF Jaro. Playing in Europe was, in his mind, the next step towards playing on Canada’s national team. “It’s kind of a chain reaction,” Dixon says. “It really comes in steps.”
Others saw it as another example of his unrelenting commitment to his dreams.
“It sounds exciting but wow, what a commitment,” Lanos says. “Not a lot of people have the gumption to stick it out.”
That gumption and success is what makes him a role model for younger players coming up through Ottawa’s soccer program, Lanos says.
Although Canada lost 1-0 to the U.S. during Dixon’s debut match in California on Feb. 5, he says it was exciting to be there for not just himself, but his country and his hometown.
“It was an amazing experience,” he says.
“A lot of the time when I touch the field, yes I represent myself, my country, my family. But also my city,” he says.