Aylmer Soccer Club launches unique and innovative sports project

 

The last two years have been particularly difficult for sports clubs, mainly because of the pandemic and the resulting slowdown in activities. For the Aylmer Soccer Club, its administrators, technicians and volunteers, the difficulty has been twofold. Long and arduous negotiations with the FC Gatineau to unite the two clubs in the west end of the city stalled and the project, although supported by the city, was abandoned last spring.
The goal was to create a regional level organization that could better respond to the growing needs of the community, including the construction of a dedicated soccer infrastructure, while respecting the Soccer Canada Club Recognition Program. All this considering that the Aylmer sector has known and still knows the greatest demographic growth in Gatineau, that the technical supervision of the club teams is already one of the best in the region and that our governance is exemplary.
Do we need to remember that 80% of our members are between 4 and 12 years old? That the number of players is multiplied by 3 or 4 during the summer season? That if the female sector occupies for the moment only 35%, we want to give all the place which returns to young girls who deserve it and who ask for it?
The CSA has always been eager to offer the best possible proximity service to the population of Aylmer. So, considering the situation, we decided to build a new sports project – that the brand new logo above illustrates - more in line with our values and the current soccer issues in the region. Its goal? To become the first and best school club in the greater Outaouais region, nothing less. This five-year plan is based on 5 axes: personalized training for educators on a year-round basis and in-house; providing financial and material resources to increase the number of female players; further enhancing the homogeneity and quality of the Development Centres established two years ago for 7 to 12 year-olds; to offer players after 13 years of age to continue playing competitively either at a local level (A), or to join partner clubs at a higher level to move towards the elite (AA, AAA); to get involved in the development of futsal, from elementary school to the Premier League, to allow everyone to play soccer all year round.
This new sports project is unique, innovative, and based on common sense rather than on excessive ambition: let's do even better what we know how to do, let's start from our strengths to offer the population the best possible service, with a long-term vision of the players and values that place the human element and inclusion at the center of our operations. Our consultations with members show us that the population is already responding favorably to such an approach. Summer registrations are already open on our website: www.aylmersoccer.qc.ca

Didier Périès
Secretary of the Board of Directors of the Aylmer Soccer Club