Johnny Misley worked for Hockey Canada for 12 years, but he doesn’t consider himself a “hockey guy.” He insists he’s a “sports guy” with a strong entrepreneurial spirit.

And that’s one of the reasons why the Ontario Soccer Association hired Misley, who left Hockey Canada in 2010, as its new executive director last December.

The OSA’s website claims it is “one of the largest sport organizations in Canada, with more than 400,000 registered players, coaches, referees and administrators.”

Misley officially joined the OSA in Janaury, and he recently spoke to Sportsnet about his new job and what he hopes to accomplish.

Sportsnet: How did you ending up getting hired as the OSA’s new executive director?

Johnny Misley: I first caught wind of the opportunity through a colleague of mine and when I saw the job posting for the position I immediately started doing some research on the OSA. The more research I did the more that I started to see some really interesting assets to the organization that you could really do a lot with when it comes to the development of the sport. I had a few interviews and before I knew it I got the job.

What are some the assets you think the OSA has?

People. Organizations have to have good people and in a sport such as soccer there are a lot of passionate people that work from the national level all the way to the grassroots level. I came from a sport in hockey where passion for the sport and the ability to mobilize and care for the game runs quite deep. Soccer has that too, so that’s one of the things that drew me to it.

The resources the OSA has with respect to training facilities, the programming assets they have in terms of the long-term player development model that’s now tied into the Canadian Soccer Association’s model are key too. And of course, the business side of things. There’s a couple of pieces here that could be put together to help create some opportunities in the corporate sector so that we can be assisting more organizations. There are challenges within it, but challenges become opportunities to make the OSA a model sports organization.

What are some of those challenges?

The governance structure that is currently in place is a traditional model, and somewhat out-dated and not current. (OSA President) Ron Smale, as part of the strategic plan of the OSA, is leading the charge to create a new governance model to make us operate more effectively, allowing us to make decisions more swiftly. It’s important to be a more current organization in 2015.

What does the executive director of the OSA do?

We have a staff of about 35, but when you look at the operational network it goes right down the grass roots level. Essentially in my role, I’m responsible to make sure that we are operating day-to-day in ways that ensure our objectives and goals that drive us in our work plan are aligned to our strategic plan. So if we’re talking about growing the game as a strategic plan through the long-term player development model we have, we must make sure there’s a clear path from the grass roots level to the national team. My responsibility is to make sure that in this province that we are running programs that are clear and concise, and of value to our membership.

And then there’s the sound management of the organization and business development that needs to be done that I’m responsible for to make sure our programs are sustainable.

With most not-for-profit sports organizations, the typical funding is through membership fees and some government subsidies. We know that it’s very dangerous if you depend solely on those revenue streams. It’s important that even though we’re not for profit that we have an entrepreneurial spirit and market our assets and build relationships with the corporate sector to ensure we have revenue coming that will ultimately help us do more.

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What did you learn at Hockey Canada that you think will help you in your current role?

I was very fortunate for the 12 years I was with Hockey Canada to come in at a time when it was a changing organization. Murray Costello had just retired as president and Bob Nicholson moved up from vice president. When I started under Bob, he was very frank with us all, and told us he felt Hockey Canada was too dependent on government funding. I think it was 71 percent at the time and we had a budget of three million. At the end of it all when I left, through Bob’s leadership, it was down to 16 percent and we built revenues to about 50 million.

It’s that entrepreneurial spirit that if you have a brand and you market it well, you can be successful. So I’m going to try to bring that to the OSA. What I’m really looking forward to is what we have going on the governance side and the changes happening. This year we’re in the last year of three-year strategic plan that I inherited. We’re going to build a new plan that’s even better aligned with the CSA.

What do you see as the OSA’s role in player development in this country?

The CSA knows that the province of Ontario is the biggest province when it comes to soccer participation, and as such there are a lot of players that come through Ontario that funnel into the national team programs. The role that we play has to be a leadership role for the CSA in the development of players—a gold standard when it comes to the athlete development model.

Soccer has been very fragmented in this country. Very fragmented. Soccer is an emerging sport in the Canadian sports landscape. It’s always been present based on the pure passion and popularity for the game, but it’s becoming more sophisticated now and more organized. We’re getting into standardized programming now, especially in the area of long-term player development, which ties into Sport Canada’s long-term athlete developmental model.

We have to understand that at an entry level that modified rules and playing on a smaller field with a smaller goals in order to enhance skill development, that’s the way to go. It’s not about putting small kids on an adult sized field with adult rules in terms of developing them. That part of player development at the grass roots level is very important. It’s about having a place for a player to go into a standardized progression from the grass roots level into the national team programs, or the professional ranks. Player development has to happen by plan, not by choice or by accident.

We’re committed to the proper development of the athlete. If there are players who want to push themselves to excellence and make soccer their pro career, I want to make sure there is a real stable and thought-out developmental path that helps those players reach their goals.