CF Montreal Women’s Academy | “It’s like a real family”

On one field, the girls are training. On another, behind, closer to the containers of the Port of Montreal, younger ones are having fun. And around the usual time of 10:30, the CF Montreal pros cross the long corridor between the two surfaces to head to their natural grass, at the back.

It was a busy morning at the Nutrilait Center as The Presslast Wednesday. And for Julie Casselman, head coach of the CFM Academy women’s program, this cohabitation is welcome.

“The girls see the pros every day,” she said during a 20-minute meeting with your newspaper’s representative after the session, in a classroom at the training center.

“It really gives you a complete sense of belonging. Not just to the jersey, but to the club, the infrastructure. The girls appreciate it. We, as staff, appreciate it enormously. We are part of the club 100%.”

Her star player Esther Brossard, who has scored 16 goals in 16 matches this season in Ligue 1 Québec, is of the same opinion.

“We train right next to the boys’ teams,” the 18-year-old forward told us towards the end of her teammates’ training session. “It’s like a real family. We’re immersed in a professional environment where everyone shares the same passion for the sport, and that pushes us to always aim higher.”

As high as the provincial championships, which they want to reach by winning the Quebec title. CF Montreal finished first in the championship standings, but now it needs to win two playoff games to secure a second title in two years. The first game, against Royal Select Beauport, will take place this Sunday, right here at the Nutrilait Centre.

A year of transition 2023

A step back is necessary here.

CF Montreal announced the introduction of the women’s program to its academy in May 2023. To do this, it took charge of the Women’s Excel Program (PEF), a national development center of Soccer Quebec that brought together the best players in the province from 15 to 18 years old. The PEF is one of the three “super centers” of development in Canada, along with that of the Vancouver Whitecaps and the National Development Center of Ontario.

During last summer’s transition, this arrangement mainly meant that PEF players wore the CFM jersey for its matches and training sessions, in addition to obtaining more resources and visibility. Its activities were, however, still grouped together at the Bois-de-Boulogne sports centre in Laval.

“Officially, this year is our first season with the Academy,” explains Esther Brossard.

And the biggest difference between PEF and CFM?

“Today, with the support of the club and the various partners, the girls pay absolutely nothing,” Julie Casselman tells us.

For comparison, before CF Montreal came into the picture, the costs paid by parents for their players could reach $3,500 per year, if the season included travel.

“Whether you like it or not, it’s one less issue for families, for parents,” says the woman who was previously the women’s soccer coordinator at Soccer Québec.

Until last September, she was the one who took care of “getting the girls into schools”, “organising the non-competition matches”, booking the buses and the planes.

“Now I’m 100 percent the coach of the program, so I don’t have to do all those nice side tasks anymore. I can really focus on what’s happening on the field with the team.”

With some success, so far: in 2023, the PEF/CFM under-18 girls won the Quebec title of Ligue1 Québec, a semi-pro circuit with adult players in particular. In 2024, it’s 10 wins in 16 games for Montreal, the best total of goals scored with 38, and a profile of favorites for the playoffs.

“The dream would be to have everyone here”

What is the daily life of a player in the CF Montreal Women’s Academy like?

This is a sports-study program, like the boys’. The club is associated with six schools in the greater Montreal area.

“They go to school in the morning,” Julie Casselman tells us. “Some leave very early.”

There is one who leaves her house at 5:30 in the morning to go there.

At noon during the school year, the players go to Bois-de-Boulogne, the PEF base camp that will have to continue to be used until the Nutrilait Centre is expanded. Casselman talks about the need for an additional field and locker rooms so that the entire CF Montréal “family” can be reunited on the site of the former Létourneux barracks.

“The dream would be to have everyone here, but there are infrastructure realities,” the coach emphasizes.

In the summer, during most of its season, the women’s team can enjoy the CN facilities, sharing them with the CFM reserve team, since the boys in the U15, U16 and U18 teams have time off outside of school months. This is the case on this sunny Wednesday in July.

During the year, the girls are looked after from 1:30 p.m. at the training center, either for training, or in the classroom for team meetings, or to continue their studies.

At 5 p.m., back home, and repeat the next day, five days a week.

“We have to prove that we belong”

According to Esther Brossard, this workload specific to the academy allows the team to obtain good results against teams with older, more physically mature players. Some have also been through the PEF.

“I think that with our technical and athletic qualities, we can compensate,” believes the gunner. “We are lucky to be in an academy and to train every day. It really resembles the environment that real professionals live in. In that respect, we benefit a lot.”

Casselman goes even further. She speaks of the “ambition” among her players to “prove to everyone that it is not because [qu’elles] are younger [qu’elles] cannot play”.

“It’s really in their speech, in the way they play. We have to prove that we have our place in this league, that we weren’t champions last year for nothing.”