The OSA News Bulletin  

Soccer is currently the most popular organized team sport in Canada with over 865,000 registered players. Ontario comprises almost 50% of this total. Currently, one out of three children in Ontario play organized Soccer, two out of five players are female and over a million parents and other family members play supporting roles.

The Ontario Soccer Association was founded in 1901 and is the largest provincial Sport organization in Canada with over 650 Clubs servicing some 24,000 Teams with 500,000 registered Players, 70,000 Coaches and Managers, 10,000 Referees and countless Volunteers, Parents and Supporters comprising a direct, multi-cultural community reach of over 1,000,000 citizens.

The Association develops, supports and delivers Programs and Services throughout Ontario in partnership with grassroots Communities, District Associations, Municipal, Provincial and National Governments, University, College, School and Professional Soccer organizations.

An overall goal of The Ontario Soccer Association is to assist with the development of Soccer for the benefit of its members and stakeholders while promoting Soccer as a healthy lifestyle choice which encourages community involvement at all levels.

To this end, the top strategic initiatives include:

• Play Soccer (promoting Soccer as a lifestyle)
• Facilities Development (increasing capacity)
• Grass-roots Coach Preparation & Certification (involving community volunteers)
• Grass-roots Referee Preparation & Certification (promoting community interaction)
• Regional Training Centres (facilitating excellence)

The OSA works in affiliation with key International, National and Multi-jurisdictional partners:

• Toronto FC
• The Canadian Soccer Association
• The National Coaching Certification Program

The OSA works in partnership with key provincial agencies:

• The Province of Ontario, Ministry of Health Promotion
• The Province of Ontario Trillium Foundation

The OSA works in partnership with major Corporate Sponsors:

• BMO — Bank of Montreal
• Farley Group — Air Supported Structures
• Field Turf — a Tarkett Sports Company
• Play Soccer presented by Rogers
• Sports Injury Rehabilitation Centres
• Umbro Canada
• Via Rail

The OSA comprises 2 Corporate Divisions:

• The Soccer Centre (Ontario)
• The Soccer Hall of Fame and Museum (Ontario)

The OSA operates a state-of-the-art training, competition and events facility:

• The Ontario Soccer Association manages and operates the Ontario Soccer Centre facility as a high-performance training venue for our Provincial Boys and Girls U-14, U-15 and U-16 Teams and Ontario’s U-17 Canada Games squad. It is also the National Training Centre (NTCO) for Ontario’s talented Team Canada prospects.

• The Ontario Soccer Centre provides opportunities to play, coach, officiate and experience Soccer for more than 700,000 participants every year. The Staff’s expertise and extensive experience in Facility Management and Event Promotion combined with its understanding of the Soccer Community as a whole support the continuing development of Soccer at all levels in Ontario.

The OSA operates the Soccer Hall of Fame and Museum:

The Soccer Hall of Fame and Museum is a showcase for Soccer heritage in Canada.

The OSA Members

District Associations

1. Durham Region S.A.
2. East Central Ontario S.A.
3. Eastern Ontario District S.A.
4. Elgin Middlesex S.A.
5. Essex County S.A.
6. Hamilton & District S.A.
7. Huronia District S.A.
8. Lambton Kent S.A.
9. Niagara S.A.
10. North York S.A.
11. Peel Halton S.A.
12. Sault Amateur S.A.
13. Scarborough S.A.
14. Soccer North District Association
15. Soccer Northeastern Ontario
16. Soccer Northwest Ontario
17. Southeast Ontario S.A.
18. South-West Regional S.A.
19. Sudbury Regional S.A.
20. Toronto S.A.
21. York Region S.A.

Associate Members

1. Canadian S.L.
2. Central Girls S.L.
3. Central S.L.
4. East Region S.L.
5. North Region S.L.
6. Ontario Colleges Athletic Association
7. Ontario S.L.
8. Provincial Indoor S.L.
9. Soccer Academy Alliance Canada
10. Ontario Soccer Referees’ Association
11. Ontario University Athletics
12. Ontario Women’s S.L.
13. Ontario Youth S.L.
14. South Region S.L.
15. Western Ontario Youth S.L.

FIFA Grassroots Soccer Course

As part of the OSA LTPD initiatives and always looking for best practice, we are pleased to announce that in partnership with CSA, FIFA will be visiting from June 12th to the 15th to run a coach education course.

The four day course is designed to instruct the 30 attending coaches how to work with players from 8-12 years of age. The course will focus on small sided games, skill stations and individual player development as opposed to team development. It’s also exciting for the 250 local club players and players from two neighbouring schools who have been invited in to participate in the activities.

Following the course it is expected that the 30 technical leaders will take the learning’s from the course back into their communities and share and implement the best practice within their district and clubs.

Filed under: Administration