Ontario Soccer Association – Over 500 sports leaders from around Ontario attended development sessions in Guelph

The OSA Soccer Summit drew in its largest crowd to date with over 500 coaches, match officials and soccer leaders attending the premier development event in Ontario over the weekend. 

The crowd came to see speakers, over three days, from around the planet, which included: Anne Merklinger (CEO of the Own the Podium), Dr. Stephen Norris (CSO of Winsport), Nigel Best (Irish Football Association), Rob Gale (Canada Soccer national team head coach), Carol Anne Chenard (FIFA referee) and many more. 

“We’re thrilled with this year’s turnout,” said Johnny Misley, Executive Director of the Ontario Soccer Association said. “This is a real testimony of our talented list of speakers and a commitment of our province’s soccer leaders with the desire to improve..” 

This event offered comprehensive educational opportunities in the areas of coaching, high-performance sport, match official development and more. 

“The Ontario Soccer Association continues to strive to be leaders in not just our game but sport in general,” said Ron Smale, President of the Ontario Soccer Association. “Our membership is hungry for knowledge – from the grassroots to high performance – and we’re happy to facilitate that for them.” 

This year’s key speakers knowledge base encompassed not just soccer, but sport in general. 

“As a provincial soccer association we have to look to all sports for our high performance development,” said Gary Miller, Ontario Soccer Association Technical Director. “If we can take one nugget from here, and another bit of information from there, we’re all the more better off for it as a sport.”

The OSA Soccer Summit was also an opportunity for sporting vendors from across the region to connect with members of the soccer community.

“We’re very thankful to our presenting partners Footyprint.com, as well as our supporting partners at Sportscorp Travel and Academy Soccer Coach for their help in putting on such a great event,” said Bjorn Osieck, Ontario Soccer Association Director of Business Operations. “And we’re pleased to have had so many vendors attend to interact with attendees.” 

Visit our website for more information on the OSA Soccer Summit

Media interested in information or photos should contact:

Ben Rycroft | Ontario Soccer Association | Communications Manager | email: brycroft@soccer.on.ca | Office phone: 905-264-9390 ext 255 Cell: 647-237-4079 

About the Ontario Soccer Association

Founded in 1901, The Ontario Soccer Association (OSA) is the largest provincial sports organization in Canada. Its members include more than 650 Clubs servicing over 24,000 teams with 380,000 registered players, 70,000 coaches and managers, and 10,000 match officials. The OSA develops and delivers exceptional and sustainable programs and services throughout Ontario with the mission of providing leadership and support for the advancement of soccer in collaboration and cooperation with our membership, partners and other stakeholders. The OSA also operates League1 Ontario, a provincial semi-professional men’s and women’s league as well as the Ontario Player Development League (OPDL).