Home opener for the Chomedey Soccer U17 AAA was against the Fabrose Soccer Club at Laval Liberty soccer field.
Sunday April 17th, on a warm spring day, the Chomedey Soccer Club started the 2016 season. The home opener for the U17 AAA was against the Fabrose Soccer Club at Lavel Liberty soccer field. Shortly before the beginning of the official ceremonies, The Laval News spoke with Jimmy Patsilivas Vice President and member of the board of the Chomedey Soccer Club, about the upcoming season.
- What are the main objectives for the Chomedey soccer club this season?
- To give as much support as we can to the kids, they deserve our help to develop their soccer abilities and potential, we want to allow them to grow with our support on the field as well as develop in them the passion and love for the game of soccer.
- What is your biggest challenge this year?
- Our biggest challenge for this year is to unite all involved, parents and delegates around the club, for the children, run the club in the most transparent way possible, always keeping in mind we the club, are there for and because our young players.
- You have been registering players since February, how many players will you have this summer, including house league and competition, how does that compare to other Laval clubs and to the previous years?
- As a matter of fact, to date we have reached our objective which was to equal last year’s number of registered players. With that said, we are still finalizing our figures and the total count , we are very confident we will have a good number of players for this year.
- With the Chomedey Soccer Club’s growing reputation, have you seen an increase in transfer requests from players coming from other clubs?
- Yes we have seen many. With the new rules from the region, we have requests from a number of players from other clubs asking to join the Chomedey soccer club which makes us very proud. We are happy to have these players on board, they might think they are the ones gaining by joining our club but we in turn benefit greatly by these additions to our teams.
- Among the competition teams, which teams do you expect to do well this year?
- This year we have a U14 AA boys team coached by Boubacar Coulibaly, former honoured player from Université de Montreal, will be trying to qualifying them for the AAA level. We also have our very first U14 AA girls that will be trying to qualifying for the triple letters , coached by Eugenio Zuniga. Our first triple A girls teams, this is something extraordinary for Chomedey soccer. Next year I am proud to say, in all we will have 3 full teams, two boys teams and one girls, at the AAA level in a geographical area that is basically very small.
- In the house league, what will the Chomedey Soccer Club be doing to keep kids in soccer and off the streets?
- Our house league is the core, the heart of our club; it is what pumps the club, keeps us going. This year we are going to do our best, the utmost to ensure we give them the best services, it is a fantastic division. Believe it or not that is where we look for future good players , we can find the kids that have potential and bring them up to a higher division. Ultimately we owe the success of the club to our division three, our house league. We also do an extra effort with them to pass on the love for soccer, keep them playing on the field and off the streets.
- I see here on the field and on the player jersey some big corporate names as sponsors, how will these partnerships benefit our young athletes?
- This year is a very special year for us and our sponsors since we rekindled our passion and support for each other. We have great partners: Marchildon Orthotics; Passion Soccer; Diadora ;Caisse Desjardins de Chomedey and one special supporter taking on full sponsorship of the AAA team, Allô Mon Coco, represented by Tom Bountis. With such partners our lives and that of our players are that much easier, everyone can concentrate on playing and nothing else. At the end of the day what are partners give, comes directly back to the kids.
- Can you see the day where a local sponsor would ask one of your star players to endorse their product as they do with Olympic medallists?
- Absolutely, we have one of our U17 AAA boys that played for us two years ago who is now with the Montreal Impact Academy , so I could say, well on his way there. Also if he needs our support in the future we will be there to help in any way we can
- How do you see your personal future with the Chomedey soccer club organization?
- I think my time is done. I took on this challenge years ago, with the objective to strengthen the technical aspect of the club’s players, I have seen players develop, what I had set out to achieve is done. This will be my last year as Vice-President with the Chomedey soccer club
It is time for me to go and let new people take over and run the club. The CA and I have put in the foundation and it is structured in a very transparent way and, at the end of the day, I think, the best setup for our kids.
I wish everyone the best of luck in the future. As for me, I will be on the field, coaching, the passion that brought me to the Chomedey soccer club in the first place and my goal will be to achieve higher levels of coaching.
The club’s partners are involved and proud of sponsoring the Chomedey Soccer Club, when asked why they do it, Tom Bountis from Allô Mon Coco responded:
“We are a restaurant that thrives in Laval so I believe that we have to give back to the community. I myself started playing for a Chomedey team called Cosmos so it’s only normal that now, 33 years later we sponsor the club and put our logo on the shirts for 1200 kids to play soccer. It was a no brainer for us. The association needs the money, we support our youth and we have a sense of pride when we see 10 teams on a filed with our logo.
I wish them all the best for the upcoming season and hope they have fun.”
