Atlético Ottawa and Key Partners Bring Soccer to the Children of Odawa Native Friendship Centre

February 2, 2024 – Canadian Premier League (CPL) – Atletico Ottawa News Release

As part of Soccerlude 2024, Atlético Ottawa officially launched Atleti Equal Access, an initiative which aims to break down barriers to accessing the Beautiful Game at all levels. One of the inaugural programs under the Equal Access umbrella started this year, with free soccer practice brought to children from the Odawa Native Friendship Centre.

The relationship between Atlético Ottawa and the Odawa Native Friendship Centre dates back well over a year, when Canada’s Indigenous women’s soccer team captain, Victoria Marchand, visited Atlético Ottawa in 2022. Marchand, a Canadian Gold Medal winner from the 2017 World Indigenous Games, was born in Gatineau and generously took time out of her schedule to visit TD Place and speak with then-Club Captain Drew Beckie about the barriers faced by the local indigenous community to accessing sport.

Marchand moved across the country soon after, travelling to British Columbia to pursue her professional soccer career. She left with an introduction to Sheridon Baptiste, the Healthy Living Coordinator at Odawa Native Friendship Centre. Last season, Atlético invited a group of 50 community members associated with the centre to a match in order to experience the best live sporting atmosphere in Ottawa, and this year Atlético was able to take it one step further – thanks to the program’s fantastic partners.

Atlético has teamed up with St. Anthony Soccer Club (one of the valued members of the ‘Powered by Atlético’ system in place in Ottawa) to provide a winter curriculum of free-to-play Introduction to the Fundamentals of Soccer practice at their clubhouse for 20 kids from the Odawa Native Friendship Centre. Not only have fees for the field been waived for participants, but program partners SAF Performance and FITNTX have also stepped in to provide high-quality training focussing on physical literacy as much as kicking a soccer ball.

“This teaches them the fundamentals of soccer,” explained Ibrahim Soukary, Founder of SAF Performance. “Before they’ve even touched the ball they are treating the sport like an athlete would. Learning how to move your body, and how to make physical movements come first. And then from there, we teach them all the technical movements. This lays the foundation for them to be better prepared, to become better athletes and better soccer players.”

Three weeks into the program, Ibrahim and Mo Elcheikh Ali of FITNTX…