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The camps began in July throughout the Edmonton area and Fleming brought out big names in Canadian coaching circles to help with the team development aspects. Former national team head coach Stephen Hart and former national youth coach Robert Gale were on hand to lend their expertise. Gale was recently named head coach of Winnipeg-based Valour FC, while Hart has taken charge of the Halifax-based HFX Wanderers of the new Canadian Premier League.

“In our team camps, we tailor the curriculum,” Fleming said. “I met with the coach prior to camp to go over what their strengths are and their growth opportunities are on their team, and we tailor that curriculum for that week and we also mentor the coach during the week.”

Developing coaches is an important part of growing the game in Canada. The men’s national team failed to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, and to date, have only qualified once for the tournament, in 1986 in Mexico. Canada lost all three of their group games in that tournament and failed to score a goal.

With the 2026 FIFA World Cup being awarded to a joint bid by Canada, the United States and Mexico, there is an urgency to improve the progress of the men’s national team. Canada is expected to earn an automatic berth into the 2026 tournament but are still required to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

“I’ve been involved with soccer for about 25 years, and just in that time, the amount of progress and growth has been great, but there are still things to do better and there are still things to improve upon,” Fleming said. “I remember doing coaching courses way back when at Alberta Soccer Association, and you basically stood up there and you lectured to those coaches. Now, they’ve really designed them to be much more accessible to coaches and there is also more of an adult methodology in terms that the adults are very much engaged.”