On Wednesday, Canada faced Belgium at the World Cup, so as part of this global competition, I took the opportunity to catch up with our rising stars at the National Women’s Development Centers Competition currently being held at Laval Multi-Sports Complex. The competition brings together the three National Women’s EXCEL Development Centers based in British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec.
Photos Pierre-Paul Poulin
The missed penalty shot by Canadian player Alphonso Davies and his shot on the return which completely missed the net caused consternation in the members of the Quebec team.
Haden Thomas, Sariyah Bailey and Jayme Bialik are part of the BC-based center.
Janet Okeke, Jade Bordeleau, Felicia Roy and Coralie Lallier, from Team Quebec, have been selected to Team Canada U17.
Parents play an important role in the development of their daughters as we see Karine Gagnon and her daughter, Sandrine Brault, as well as Savannah Chenail and her mother, Annie Girard.
Coaches Felix Sauvestre and Jesse Acteson are flanked by Laurina Bilombo, Alex MacKay, Christina Salama, Jasmine Lim and Evelyn MacKay.
Vincent Mouton, Development and Programs Assistant at Soccer Québec, is accompanied by Elom Defly, Communications Manager.
The objective of the program is to allow player-students, including Rosalie Olou, Léa Larouche, Florianne Jourde and Esther Brossard, to aim for the best possible reconciliation of their sporting and academic goals.
Before their game on Wednesday, Laurence Leblanc, Karolanne Lafortune, Abygaelle Normand and Erika Gariépy watched the Canada-Belgium game.
The leaders of Soccer Québec, Olivier Plante, Luis R. Galvez, Nathanaël de Wilde, Maryse Castonguay, Pierre Marchand, president, Martin Des Groseilliers, Sonia Denoncourt and Mathieu Chamberland, watched the Canada match together.