Maintaining the number one status
as the best ranked club in the country
at the U-15 level isn’t quite as simple
as you might think.
It becomes quite gruelling to try and
withhold a reputation by kicking the
ball around cones in your basement
without touching grass at all.
For the past few months that’s what
it was like for the U-15 Caledon Cy-
clones girls’ team. Much to the appre-
ciation of Manager Cosimo Mazzaferro,
the girls were training extensively five
times a week on Zoom calls, working on
technical ability on the ball.
The girls also participated in run-
ning and biking sessions which were
tracked by the club. Mazzaferro says
this method motivated the girls to be
better.
“They all can see what everyone else
is doing. They kind of thought, ‘this girl
has run five kilometres I have to run
six,’ or ‘this girl ran five kilometres in
30 minutes I have to run it in 28.’ They
motivated each other during the break
as opposed to waiting for soccer to come
back. We kept them as fit as possible.
Now, there were different levels. Some
girls were more engaged than other as
is normal with any team. But for the
most part, we had our Zoom calls we
had 15 girls on the call consistently out
of 20,” Mazzaferro said.
Before the province shutdown, the
goal was to win a national title.
Not knowing the national tournament was going to be cancelled, the
coaching staff continued to motivate
the Cyclones to remain in tip top shape.
Now, it’s all about revisiting the
fundamental aspects of the game twice
a week and rekindling chemistry on
the pitch. It’s about enjoying cadences from the coaching staff, the sweet
sound of the ball off the first touch and
the jovial conversations amongst one
another.
One of the newest girls on the team,
Eliana Rocha, said this is one of the
most welcoming teams she has ever
been on and appreciates how well the
girls connect on the field.
“A lot of other teams kick and chase
and I feel like that’s not how you are
supposed to play soccer. I feel like we
connect very well.”
The striker/midfielder, transferred
to the Caledon Cyclones this past sea-
son from the Woodbridge Strikers. She
says she wants to be a part of the “best
of the best” in order to fulfill her future
aspirations of one day, playing in the
United States on scholarship.
In practice, the girls are permitted to
continue working on technical abilities
while remaining as far apart from one
another as possible. For the past four
weeks, the club has been working on
passing and moving drills. This past
workout, the club finally saw some
shots on target.
The hope is with stage three, the
girls are allowed to begin scrimmaging
under the OSA rules. The next step is
exhibition games which have yet to be
considered.
As the season moves forward with
training, Mazaferro says he is awaiting
a decision to be made for a tournament
to be played in the Fall. Hopefully the
decision will be made in the coming
weeks.
Cyclones player Hailey Greco said
she is thrilled to be back with the club
and looks forward to finally getting
back into game action.
“I hope we get back to games. Be-
sides that, I hope we can get back to
training and back to where we were.
Be that number one team that we were
and I hope that we can get back on the
field again and love what we do.”
Currently, Mazzaferro and another
coach Dimitrios Kalogerakos are look-
ing for an experienced coach as a play-
er or with NCAA experience.
Kalogerakos says they are simply
looking for someone that is the “right
fit” more than anything else.
Tryouts will be held in September
for a spot on the team. For further in-
formation, please contact Mazzaferro
at 647-530-2937.
Full article here.