First of all we would like to warmly welcome your family to Canada First Academy. We look forward to having you as part of our CFA community. We are committed to providing a fun, nurturing and challenging environment to help our athletes to become the player they would like to be.
With entry into Canada First Academy each player commits to high training volumes, self training at home, proper nutrition and self responsibility as an athlete.
Welcome Note From The CFA President
Soccer - to me - has always been - and still is every day - the greatest sport.
It has always inspired me and rewarded me with countless moments of excitement, pleasure and sense of achievement and self development. It is a fast, dynamic, technical, and strategic game which can be simple in certain situations and extremely complex in others.
To become an elite soccer player requires - like any high performance activity in other fields - an enormous amount of effort, training, outstanding coaching and facilities, determination, persistence and last but not least, a strong, healthy body to prevent injury. On the course to becoming top athletes our kids will have to invest many hours of training. Therefore we are focusing on fostering individual, long term player development. This obviously requires a major commitment and a lot of passion for the sport by the athletes, CFA and certainly their parents.
Canada First Academy - founded in 2012 as non-for-profit organisation and based in Toronto - is determined to provide the optimal environment for the development of Canada's future top soccer players and create an organization that will be able to facilitate professional training for our athletes in top facilities all year round.
Rene Kwol
President and Technical Director
Our Unique Approach
What sets CFA apart is our unique approach and emphasis on individual development based on the actual development stage of the player not on age. Our player centric development plan ensures optimal education for each player based on their specific needs and talents. The approach is systematic, development specific and individual. We develop strong personalities with optimal techniques under pressure, high tactical skills, fitness and determination. CFA's program is derived from the successful Talent Development Program of the German Soccer Association DFB, which kindly supported CFA's program set up.
In CFA, players are assigned to teams and training groups according to their development stage, with expectations and challenges in place according to Long Term Player Development (LTPD) recommendations of the Canada Soccer Association (CSA) and the German Soccer Association (DFB). CFA is an annual program providing regular training throughout the year.
CFA’s teams are playing in the high level Ontario Academy Soccer League (OASL) under the umbrella of Ontario Soccer with full membership benefits. The players get challenged according to their actual needs: individual player development and quality of playing style has priority over game results.
Program Outline
In CFA all teams train using the same training philosophy with added personal touch by the coaches training style and soccer philosophy. CFA chooses coaches fitting its soccer strategy, personality requirements and high level coaching qualifications.
The match teams are staffed out of the different training groups and will incorporate players of different age groups and gender. Girls are placed in the regular CFA teams matching their capabilities. Up to age 15 all players are exposed to different playing positions to improve understanding of the game and develop offence and defence skills alike. Starting age 15 CFA will introduce position specific playing and specific goal keepers. Matches are played in the Ontario Soccer League or as friendly matches against other clubs and academies.
Goal Keepers have the opportunity to receive special goalkeeping training in addition to team training.
Team doctor and fitness coach collaborate to prevent, treat injuries and rehabilitate players.
Coaching Guideline
Training will be according to CFA Coaching Guidelines and yearly training plans plus elements required to address short term improvement in certain areas.
CFA training incorporates the ball as much as possible and optimises the amount of ball touches per player. The training has typically 3 elements: warm up, main training, scrimmage. The main training contains a mix of exercises, drills and small sided games focusing on a specific topic. One topic will be followed for several training sessions to allow for consistent improvement and allow enough time for adaption and learning. At all times we train both feet.
The training atmosphere is focused, fun and nurturing. The players are encouraged to self organise themselves and their training teams to foster personality and organisation development. The coach is mentor, friend, teacher and role model to our players. Older players take leadership and support the younger kids in their development.
CFA’s Holistic Long Term Player Development
Tactics (always in offence and defence)
1v1 situations
Player distribution on the field
offence/defence strategies
1-2 players up/down situations
standards
possession play
switching the game (sides and pace)
group tactics
Fitness
Speed over short and longer distances
Movement speed and coordination
Stability and core strength
Endurance
Injury prevention and proper warm up, cool down
Nutrition
Technique
1st touch in direction of play
Ball control of low and high balls
Dribbling and tricks
Passing over short and long distances
Heading
Shooting
Cross and finish
Goal keeping
Personality
Self responsibility
Self confidence
Risk taking
Positive attitude
Support and motivation towards others
Persistence
Discipline and concentration
Playing capabilities
Creativity and initiative
Solutions variability
Always involved in the game - even if far off the ball
Quick recognition and adaption of action
Anticipation
Visual Awareness
Swift change of direction
Fast and intelligent transition from Offence/Defence
Visual Awareness
Swift change of direction
CFA Vision
Establish a world class soccer education program with outstanding quality players
Establish a world class modern, combined soccer/school facility in Toronto
Supply athletes to our National Teams
CFA Mission
We strive to provide the optimal environment for our students to become confident,outstanding soccer athletes with strong personality, who also excel in their academic education.
The values we are looking for in ourselves and our athletes are:
Love for our sport
Professionalism
Desire to achieve excellence
Persistence and determination
Constant learning, improvement and development
Synergy and teamwork
Integrity and Respect
Academy Team Programs:
CFA’s Academy Programs are for talented, young soccer players who want to advance their game and are committed to training several times weekly.
Junior CFA: U7 – U10
Golden Age CFA: U11 – U13
Senior CFA: U14 – U19
International Professional Exposure
Players who have consistently demonstrated outstanding skills, reliability and persistence are invited to CFA trips to international top professional academies or adult teams for trial trainings.
In 2015 CFA players were training with FC Ingolstadt, 1860 Munich and FC Ismaning in Germany
In 2016 Bayern Munich in Germany
In 2017 SpVgg Unterhaching in Germany.
CFA teams will travel to international destinations to assess their capabilities and enjoy the soccer culture of other countries.
Accepting CFA Membership Invitation
When a family decides to accept the invitation to be part of CANADA FIRST ACADEMY they can expect to become part of a welcoming, friendly and soccer enthusiastic community. When we are on the field sometimes we will practice longer because we are having fun and the circumstances allow us to do so. So please leave extra time for pick up. CFA players have already decided that soccer is their sport and dedicate the full effort exclusively to CFA training and matches. CFA incorporates elements of other sports in its program.
Players are encouraged to take responsibility of their own development and follow the guidance of the coaches as their mentors. Self discipline, focus, passion, desire and persistence are a must.
Players and parents should recognise that players will be released from CANADA FIRST ACADEMY if the player does not fulfil the standards of the academy in behaviour, work ethic, training participation, reliability, discipline or skill level.
Player’s code of conduct:
• Must be punctual to all practices (10 min before) and games (45 minutes before)
• CFA players are not to participate on any non-CFA soccer programs without the express consent of CFA Technical Director
• CFA players are not to participate in activities that interfere with CFA Team Program’s schedule
• Must wear CFA outfits at all training sessions and games
• Must show discipline on and off the field
• Must show consistent attendance at practices and games, attendance status needs to be punctually and reliably maintained in team management tool
• Show loyalty to CFA and its members
• Must follow proper nutrition and place full effort into home fitness and technical work
• Be polite, respectful and courteous to CFA members, opponents and officials
• Take all CFA players serious independent of age and gender
• Be a leader and role model for younger kids, learn from older kids
• Embrace mixed age and gender CFA philosophy
• Abide from bad behaviour, bad language or bullying
• Players are supposed to contribute their best effort to team performance
• Show respect towards CFA equipment, help during set up and take down
• Show self organization and responsibility for individual development
Parents code of conduct:
Parents code of conduct:
• Parents should ensure that players arrive at least 15 minutes prior to practice start and 45 minutes prior to game start
• Inform the coaches of injuries or illness
• Maintain attendance to training sessions and matches at least a week in advance, in case of absence give short reason (in Team Management Online Tool)
• Must respect the coaches and their decisions and should show respect to officials and opponents. Coaches will not discuss game related issues, only player development
• Parents are not to coach the players or give advice to players during academy activities
• Give positive reinforcement and resolve conflicts by using the proper communication channels (coach, technical director)
• Show loyalty to CFA and its members
• Encourage players to exercise regularly at home and watch soccer online or on TV
• Try not to give extensive feedback to players right after practice or match
• Try not to put the player under pressure, foster their self development
Coaches code of conduct:
Coaches code of conduct:
• Prepare and deliver training sessions that are development stage appropriate, organised, high quality and fun.
• Follow CFA and CSA Coaching Guidelines for long term player development
• Provide a safe and encouraging, positive learning environment
• Prioritise player development and team overall performance over winning, without neglecting a winning mentality
• Ensure regular (every 6 months) player profile updates and give feedback to player and parents
• Be role model and ensure correct behaviour towards players, parents, officials and opponents
• Promote fair play
• Promote healthy life style and player self responsibility
• Arrive at least 15 minutes before practice and 45 minutes before matches
• Always wear CFA gear at all CFA events
• Scout players suitable for the academy, promote CFA
• Inform CFA about all non CFA soccer activities, ensure no regular scheduling conflicts
Announcements, Meetings and Communication
SOCIAL MEDIA
You can follow CFA on different social media where we will post news and upcoming events.
PARENT MEETINGS
From time to time we would like to inform about the strategic development of CFA and discuss with our membership possible alternatives. It is necessary that at least one parent per family participates in these meetings.
TEAM MANAGEMENT TOOL
All families need to maintain the CFA team management tool reliably and regularly to allow for good planning of games, events, trips and training sessions. The tool also provides an online CFA calendar.
PLAYER DEVELOPMENT FEEDBACK
Twice a year the players will receive a player profile to provide feedback and inform the parents about their development stage. Players need to ensure to be present at the profile sessions.
CFA Soccer Philosophy
We strive to play a soccer style dominated by technical play, where ball movement has priority over player movement
We try to play with the least amount of ball touches necessary, the first touch is always into playing direction
Everybody is an attacker and defender and is always accessible for passes - including the goal keeper
Goal Keeper is used as an additional player and needs good passing technique
The individual development has priority over team success
The ball never stops moving
We enjoy the game, treat each other with respect and support each other
We are always striving to dominate the game, creativity and action instead of reaction
We are able to master difficult technical and tactical tasks under high pressure
We demonstrate passion and desire to win without neglecting game quality
We have a performance oriented mindset and are highly self motivated
We are responsible for our own organisation off and on the field
CFA thanks our Sponsors
WELCOME TO CFA
Contact Address
rene.kwol@canadafirstacademy.com
+1 647 973 9555
Credits:
CFA Photographers