When Ashley Lawrence and Kadeisha Buchanan were members of Brampton’s Brams United soccer program, practice always started with keep-ups.

At first, Lawrence could hardly juggle the ball with her feet before hearing the dull thud of it hitting the field. But at every practice her coaches challenged her to go again. First, she hit double digits with her dominant right foot. Then, on her weaker left foot. Gradually, the number increased. As it did, Lawrence became one of the most technically gifted players in her age group.

A little more than five years later, Lawrence and Buchanan, both now 20, are mainstays with the Canadian women’s national team.

Lawrence credits much of her success to the foundation she learned in Brampton.

“Now, I’m a versatile player because I can use both my feet; that makes me hard to defend,” Lawrence told the Star from Brazil, where she is currently competing with national team at the International Tournament of Natal.

The new faces of Canadian soccer — Buchanan, Lawrence and MLS rookie of the year Cyle Larin — are from Brampton. Home to the Brampton Youth Soccer Club, the Brampton East Soccer Club and the all-girls club Brams United, the city is a breeding ground for the Canadian national soccer system. Nine clubs in the city fielded 8,657 players last season, according to the Ontario Soccer Association. The big three youth clubs accounted for about 65 per cent of those players.

Products of the city’s soccer system earned six nominations in four categories of Canada Soccer’s yearly awards — Buchanan and Lawrence for women’s player of the year; Larin and Atiba Hutchinson for men’s player of the year; Sura Yekka for the top women’s player under 20; and Larin again for the top men’s player under 20.

In addition, Toronto FC’s Jonathan Osorio, Canadian women’s team member Adriana Leon, Queens Park Rangers’ Junior Hoilett and West Ham United’s Doneil Henry have ties to the city’s soccer system.

The depth of talent is a product of the city’s growth — Brampton’s population has more than doubled since 1991 — and diversity.

“We have people from every major soccer power in our community,” Neeraj Sharma, president of Brams United, said. “We have so many people passionate for the sport.”

Strong local clubs and accessible state-of-the-art facilities also play a part. The Brampton Soccer Centre, opened nearly a decade ago, was supposed to be a multi-sport recreation centre. But feedback from the community encouraged the city to instead create a soccer-specific site.

This isn’t the Brampton that Jason Bent, a former men’s national team player and the head coach of Toronto FC II, knew growing up. His indoor soccer days were spent in high school gyms or in specialized facilities outside Brampton.

That doesn’t mean the city didn’t produce good players in Bent’s generation. He and fellow members of the Canadian national team Paul Stalteri and Iain Hume are all from the area. But, Bent says, the new facilities help Brampton stay competitive today: “It really comes down to the type of programs that they do have and the availability of the amount of facilities that are present in Brampton.”

Donna-Lynn Rosa, Brampton’s director of recreation and culture, hopes to continue that growth. While the city has a “good number” of fields and stadiums, she knows clubs are looking for more, especially for indoor programs.

It’s why an upcoming parks and recreation master plan will in part look at the resources available to clubs. The city is also looking at developing a sports tourism policy, putting together a plan with sports clubs of all kinds to bring both local and international events to the area.

“Our goal with all sports is that athletes will play here from their start to their finish. It’s long-term athlete development. We want to have a place for them to play here throughout their career,” Rosa said.

The city is certainly coming of age athletically.

“It’s the young population,” Brampton East head coach Des Gardner said. “With that younger population people are interested in sports … so you’re getting a lot of those young people wanting to join.”

But the city’s success in developing its players is also making it difficult to keep them.

“What’s happening,” Gardner said, “is that — because it’s known out there in the soccer community that if you’re looking for players’ potential, Brampton’s the place — we’re getting our players being poached by academies.”

Still, all agree that the emergence of Brampton’s young soccer has done wonders for the city’s youngsters in town.

At Brams United, Sharma said, all eyes were on its former players during this summer’s Women’s World Cup.

“We gain momentum from the success of our women’s national team, especially with the Ashley Lawrences and the Kadeishas and the (Adriana) Leons and so forth, the girls that have gone through our club,” Sharma said. “That success breeds success. All of our players want to get to that level.”

Lawrence believes there’s more players to come from the club, given the fundamental training that continues today.

“With the generations coming forward, you’re definitely going to see one or two superstars coming out of Brams United.”

(Source: Toronto Star)