Soccer royalty in this province stopped by Tuesday to build on an already-solid relationship with the Prince George Youth Soccer Association.
Bob and Dan Lenarduzzi, brothers who serve respectively as CEO and director of soccer development for Vancouver Whitecaps FC, visited Prince George so they could attend the PGYSA's annual general meeting on Tuesday night. As well, the Lenarduzzis wanted to check in on the progress being made at the Whitecaps FC Northern Academy Centre, which was formed in partnership with the PGYSA last March.
"Bob and I wanted to come up to show some support for the partnership as part of the AGM," Dan said Tuesday afternoon at the PGYSA's indoor facility on Winnipeg Street. "It's an opportunity for us to spend some time with the board members, meet some of the membership and also point out where we're going with the [Northern Academy] program."
The Whitecaps FC Northern Academy Centre held two camps in July -- one for the general public and one to evaluate players interested in joining the academy. Currently, 83 boys and girls are registered in the academy, which has a mandate of providing club-level training for those who are serious about developing their skills. Prince George's Sonny Pawar is the academy's head coach and uses Whitecaps FC developmental philosophies during training sessions. Pawar also receives regular support from Whitecaps staff members.
"We're progressing very nicely," he said. "Obviously it's always nice when we get coaches or administrators such as the Lenarduzzi brothers up to Prince George to support what we're doing here at the Northern Academy. We're about three quarters of the way through the fall phase of our academy yearly programming and it's going extremely well. The players and parents seem to be very happy with the programming and we're quite satisfied with the quality of play as well as the coaching staff."
Dan Lenarduzzi said the goal now is to build on the foundation that has been put in place in the past eight months.
"Right now we're bringing coaches every month from Vancouver to not only work with the prospect players but at the same time provide some general benefits for the membership -- like to the coaches [by holding] coaching sessions," Dan Lenarduzzi said. "Secondly, we're working now on identifying some players to potentially come down to Vancouver to train at our academy there."
As well as Prince George and Vancouver, academies have been established in Nanaimo, Vernon, Nelson and Saskatoon.
The Whitecaps compete in Major League Soccer and recently finished a season that saw them fall just shy of a playoff berth. However, they set new benchmarks for wins (13) and points (48). Dan Lenarduzzi said all Northern Academy players may get the chance to attend a Whitecaps game next season.
"We're looking at bringing the whole academy down for a weekend," he said. "So they'll come down, we'll train several times and we'll go watch an MLS game. We hope to set that up for this spring and summer."
Dan Lenarduzzi said a long-range plan is to expand the footprint of the Whitecaps FC Northern Academy Centre.
"The north has so much potential and the partnership with PGYSA has allowed us to set up a foundation and structure here," he said. "Eventually our goal is to create some satellite programs in Williams Lake and Quesnel -- some of the other areas -- to help stream the better players into the Prince George area. We'll be working on that as we go along in the next six months."
And how long until a player with northern roots suits up in an MLS game for the Whitecaps?
"Hopefully as soon as possible," said Bob Lenarduzzi. "I think we just keep doing what we're doing and I think it's just a matter of time before that happens. We would love nothing better than to have someone from the north come and make it through to our first team and ideally make it through to the national team and beyond."
The Lenarduzzi brothers are scheduled to return to Vancouver today.
See The Citizen later this week for more with Bob Lenarduzzi.
