New Ottawa Fury FC defender Colin Falvey has covered a lot of ground in the last year.

An important piece of two USL Pro championship-winning teams with the Charleston Battery in 2010 and 2012, Falvey added to his career highlights last season after the South Carolina-based club loaned him to the Kerala Blasters of the new Indian Super League (ISL).

The Blasters made it to ISL championship final where they eventually lost a close game, but Falvey’s winning background had him on Fury FC coach Marc Dos Santos’ radar and the native of Cork, Ireland was signed by Fury as a free agent earlier this month.

As Fury wrapped up its first day of on-pitch training camp at Gatineau’s Complexe Branchaud-Briere, Falvey said he was grateful for one thing in particular as temperatures outside the indoor sports facility hovered in the -30C range.

“Thank God that we train indoors,” chuckled Falvey.

“I’ve never lived in a climate like this, never really seen snow like this.”

And credit to the 29-year-old, “cold” wasn’t the first adjective that came to mind when asked what he thought of life in Ottawa so far.

“It’s very pretty,” he said.

“Obviously it’s cold, everyone knows that, but I’m new to it so I’m trying to embrace it.”

Falvey may also have to embrace being a bit less recognizable playing for the North American Soccer League (NASL) club as Fury works to grow interest in soccer in a relatively new market.

In India, Falvey said the excitement surrounding the new league was massive.

“It was absolutely unbelievable,” he said. “We couldn’t leave our hotel without security, we’d get absolutely mobbed.

“Some of the lads who I have played with have played in the top leagues around Europe and even they were blown away by it. It was a really nice feeling to have that (because with) the level we’re at sometimes we have to slug it out and a lot of people probably don’t even know you’re a footballer.”

With the Blasters, Falvey played to sellout crowds of 65,000 fans “with another 10,000 outside trying to get in.”

“It was the fifth most watched league in the world last year,” he said.

Though Fury’s attendance ambitions for this season at the 24,000-seat TD Place are a tad more modest than that, Falvey was excited to come here and play with former Charleston teammates Nicki Paterson, Tommy Heinemann and Ryan Richter.

On Monday, the players were all excited to be out of the TD Place gym and on a soccer pitch, even though this first session was more fitness-oriented.

“It’s good to get out here and get a nice (workout), get a nice sweat and just get on the grass a little bit,” Falvey said.

OLIVER ONE TO WATCH

Fury expects big things from Brazilian forward Oliver this season, but likely not as much as the 22-year-old expects from himself.

After a solid first season in North America with the expansion club last year, a few injuries prevented Oliver from really exploding, though he still managed to turn heads as he led the squad with seven goals.

But with a season under his belt spent getting used to the North American game and training on artificial turf, Oliver is more driven than ever coming into camp this year after some time off back home in Brazil.

Like his teammates, he was itching to get back on the pitch.

“We don’t have much time, so we have to work,” Oliver said Monday with Fury’s opening game a little over a month away.

“My first objective (for the season) is not suffering any injuries and I worked hard at that during the time off. I’m sure that the whole team will be stronger and we’re looking forward to a much better year than last year.”​

FROM THE PITCH

Fury will continue to train at Branchaud-Briere until the TD Place field is free of snow, which at this rate feels like it should be sometime in July ... Falvey said there are no shortages of “characters” in the locker room. Seems like he could be one of them. Asked about countryman Richie Ryan’s thicker accent, Falvey didn’t miss a beat: “He’s a little bit fresher off the boat than me,” he said. He then stuck up for Richter, who is often left out of conversations involving Heinemann, Paterson and Falvey’s championships in Charleston.

“Every time I get asked about former (teammates) it’s always Nicki and Tommy (and) Richter loses his head,” he laughed ... A familiar former Fury face was back training Monday with goalkeeper Chad Bush working out with the club. Bush turned down an invitation to sign for 2015, deciding to head to university instead.

chris.hofley@sunmedia.ca

Twitter: @chrishofley