The all-encompassing soccer system that weaves through the national capital is finally complete as the area’s two largest club’s have stepped forward to set the missing link carefully into place.

The West Ottawa Soccer Club, and the Ottawa South United Soccer Club, in partnership with Ottawa Gloucester Hornets Soccer, have had their applications accepted to join League 1 Ontario. Founded in 2014, League 1 Ontario is a semi pro-am, standards-based, senior circuit, which is a stepping stone for graduating age-group players to world-wide professional leagues.

Soccer pitches, whether outdoor or indoor, are filled with youth and adults playing at a variety of competitive and recreational levels. But there was a key step missing in the local process to make it complete and allow the players to chase properly a pro career. While the Ottawa Fury USL team stands as the role model for pro soccer in the city, the jump from the U18/U19 level or university squads to the Fury is too great.

Enter League 1 Ontario, which is designed for top-calibre post-secondary school-aged men and women to experience a high-level semi pro-amateur circuit and be scouted for professional leagues.

In its first three years, 46 men and seven women have used their League 1 Ontario experience and exposure to sign pro contracts with teams in 22 countries, as well as the MSL and USL in North America. Canada Soccer also is aware of the talent, calling up three League 1 Ontario players to a recent national women’s camp and 10 League 1 alumni to the men’s national U20 team.

When the 2017 League 1 Ontario regular season opens this spring, the Ottawa United will be the 17th entry into the men’s league, which is divided into east and west divisions. Ottawa South United wanted to apply for a women’s team as well, but was restricted by the provincial league to only one application a year. The Manotick-based club hopes to apply for women’s membership for 2018.

West Ottawa Soccer Club, which hasn’t yet determined its official league name, will be one of three new women’s teams, giving the league a dozen members. They will play their games at Beckwith Park in Carleton Place.

Kristina Kiss, a nine-year Canadian women’s team player and 2008 Olympic squad member, attempted to enter a League 1 Ontario team in previous years, but couldn’t build a partnership with other clubs. Instead, West Ottawa, which is the second largest club in Ontario with almost 9,000 members, stepped out on its own for this important program.

“It is critical,” said Kiss, who will be the club’s inaugural head coach and will be assisted by Kwame Telemaque and Andrei Badescu (goalkeepers). “There’s a huge gap, especially in the women’s soccer pathway, from youth to semi-pro.”

League 1 Ontario will not start for the women’s teams until early May, but Kiss already has a list of 60 candidates who are keen on making the 20-player roster. Informal sessions are held every Tuesday and Kiss has noticed “great intensity” among the women. The league will continue into October.

Unlike the League 1 Ontario men’s teams whose players must be between the ages of 18 and 23, the women’s clubs have no age restrictions.

“This will allow experienced players to mix with youth and be a great learning experience,” Kiss added. “It is important to give them something to aspire to. Semi-pro is the carrot. They will not pay to play. The players will be rewarded with the best environment and the best coaches.”

When Kiss was part of the successful Ottawa Fury entry in the North American W-League, all of her expenses were covered by the team and that’s the philosophy she brings to the West Ottawa side.

“It is fully subsidized,” Kiss explained. “There are no travel expenses and the uniforms are provided. If they make the team, they’ve earned the opportunity to be treated like pros.”

As for Ottawa United, team officials haven’t determined its final budget.

“This is the missing line, especially in Ottawa,’ said Ottawa South United club general manager Jim Lianos. “This completes the pyramid.”

The Ottawa United team will play its home games at the Terry Fox Athletic Facility and MNP Park at Carleton University. Seventy players have registered for the official tryouts, which begin in the third week of February.

“We’re using this vehicle to keep developing the players,” added Lianos, who wants to build a competitive, top-half-of-the-standings team. “We had 28 to 29 boys and girls graduate to universities in Canada and the USA (but) we need to provide more for them.”

Traian Mateas, who has 34 years of coaching experience in Ottawa since coming to Canada from Romania, will serve as head coach of the Ottawa United main and reserve teams.

“First and foremost, I look forward to seeing the little ones coming to watch a game in the same jersey as the semi-pro team. When I came to this country, we didn’t work hard enough to create a culture with the club structure,” said the passionate former Romanian professional player.

“We need this big time for the children. I grew up with this. This is the way forward.”

Scorrar steps down

As a former distance runner, Doug Scorrar knew all about finish lines. With his road and track accomplishments well behind him, Scorrar, 68, completed another marathon of sorts recently, retiring as chair of the Ottawa Sports Awards Dinner.

For a dozen years, he worked hard as a board member and particularly the last decade as its budget-conscience chair.

“I think I’ve done my share,” said Scorrar, who also was a volunteer in the growing days of the Ottawa Race Weekend. “I was never able to acquire a sponsor (for the dinner) because that wasn’t one of my strengths. But what I was able to do was live within the budget and work hard to make ticket (sales) count.”

A new chair hasn’t been determined.

Rugby gold

Olympic bronze medallist Natasha Watcham-Roy (inset) of Gatineau started all three pool games and was a sub for the three playoff matches as Canada won the gold medal at the HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series tournament in Sydney. Canada, which is third in the overall country standings after the first two of six tournaments, defeated the United States 21-17 in the final.

Bishop wins

Nike’s Melissa Bishop of Eganville and the Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club opened her indoor track season by repeating as the women’s 800-metre champion at the JDL Fast Track meet in Winston-Salem, N.C. She finished in 2 minutes 2.49 seconds, narrowly missing her meet record of 2:02.10. Lions clubmate Adam Palamar also had that same feeling of being a repeat winner on the same track, when he captured the men’s mile at the John Thomas Terrier Classic in Boston in a personal best 3:57.39, which was 2/100s of a second off Steve Agar’s club record.

Squash honour

Volunteer archivist Jim Kenward of Ottawa will be inducted into the Ontario Squash Hall of Fame on March 30 in Toronto. Entering as a builder, Kenward served as editor of the Canadian Squash Racquets Association (now Squash Canada) annual handbook (1979-85), contributed articles to Squash Ontario magazines, produced tournament programs and wrote newsletters about the Ottawa and District open and junior scene (1978-86). The former Ottawa District Squash Association president also co-ordinated its city league from 1979-81 and is a builder on the Squash Canada Wall of Fame.

Queen’s court

Guard Michelle Istead is following a different path for her university education and basketball. While her father Patrick, mother Cathy (Vizena) Istead and sister Nicole (third-year guard) decided the Carleton University Ravens were the best choice, Michelle has committed to attending Queen’s University for 2017-18 and will play for the Gaels, who are the No. 4-ranked women’s basketball team in Canada this season at 16-0. Michelle, who is tenacious on defence and solid on offence, attends St. Francis Xavier Catholic High School and is an award-winning player for the Ottawa Nationals-GCBA in the JUEL of Ontario league.

Last words

Despite finishing second at the Canadian junior women’s curling championship in Victoria, Ontario skip Hailey Armstrong and Grace Holyoke of the Rideau Curling Club were named to the first all-star team as respective skip and third (based on pool-play shooting percentages), while lead Marcia Richardson won the fair play award ... Jake Weidemann of Ottawa won the men’s 5,000 metres and was third in the 1,500 metres at the Canada Cup No. 3 long-track, speed skating competition in Saskatoon ... David Lapins and Dusan Aleksic, both of Gatineau, have been named to Canada’s men’s water polo team for the Americas world championship qualification tournament this week in Trinidad and Tobago ... Goalkeeper Erica Howe of Ottawa and the Brampton Thunder of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League and forward Rebecca Leslie of Ottawa and Boston University won silver medals at the 2017 Nations Cup women’s hockey tournament in Fussen, Germany, as Canada lost 1-0 to Finland in the final ... Ottawa Fury goalkeeper Callum Irving earned his first cap for Canada and allowed a first-half goal in Canada’s 4-2 friendly-game win over Bermuda.