First semi-pro season a learning experience for Bonivital grads

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This article was published 27/07/2011 (5483 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

They grew up in St. Vital, playing for the Bonivital Flames, and now four young soccer players have a year under their belts in the best under-23 league in North America.

Ivan Garcia, Kris Nordman, Greg Kulczycki and Dylan O’Connor all developed into accomplished players on St. Vital fields — and thanks to the formation of WSA Winnipeg for the 2011 season, were able to test their talents against elite competition.

The club played in the United Soccer League’s Premier Development League, a 64-team semi-pro feeder circuit for pro leagues including the USL, North American Soccer League, and Major League Soccer.

While many of the opposing teams brought in players from abroad, and were loaded with NCAA players on summer holidays, Garcia said the level of competition didn’t overwhelm the local side.

“I noticed there was a step up, but it wasn’t huge,” said the 23-year-old captain who grew up playing for Dakota and Greendell community centres. “We showed we were able to play at that level, we were the youngest team in the league, and the only team that was all local players.”

The players all said their 3-12-1 record wasn’t indicative of how competitive they were in many of their games.

“Having an extra year under our belts, getting to know each other better and always being on the same page is something we’ll be better at next year,” said Nordman, a 21-year-old centre back. “If everyone has a productive off-season and keeps working on their skills things should go well.”

For Nordman, who had been playing for Internazionale of the Manitoba Major Soccer League, the magnitude of being a part of Winnipeg’s highest-level team since the Fury hit him in Des Moines, Iowa, during a game against the hometown Menace.

“There was about 3,500 people at the game,” he said. “Before that, I had never played in front of more than a couple hundred.”

A smaller crowd of about 500 greeted the Winnipeggers in St. Louis, but the players said they experienced trash talk unlike anything they had heard in their lives.

Kulczycki, 18, said disappointing attendance (usually around 200 or 300) for home games was likely a result of people only looking at the scores and not understanding how competitive WSA was.

“Right off the bat, in our first game, Thunder Bay scored in the 85th minute (to win 1-0),” said the midfielder. “I’m sure they were surprised it took them that long. Almost every home game was a close match.

“The score of a game doesn’t always describe what actually happened.”

Another challenge facing WSA in its first season was the travel requirements of playing eight games on the road. Not every player was able to take the time off work for road trips, and some — who are recent immigrants to Canada — didn’t have the paperwork they needed to cross the U.S. border.

“Having more players who are able to travel will be a huge thing next year,” Garcia said.

avi.saper@canstarnews.com