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Four OPDL Charity Shield Winners Crowned As Development On Display

By OSA News, 11/05/16, 12:30PM EDT

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The best of the best in Ontario were in action at the OPDL Charity Shield on the weekend.

As the champions from the east and west U-14 and U-15 boys and girls divisions took on one another, in a one game winner-take-all, the future of soccer in Ontario has never looked brighter.

"The OPDL Charity Shield not only offers a chance for our conference champions to come together to determine a Charity Shield winner, it's an opportunity to see the good work our member clubs are doing in developing talent in the province," said Gary Miller, OSA Technical Director. "As we phase in new age divisions every year, we will continue to see the talent level grow and we will see OPDL players graduating into the provincial and national team ranks."

The OPDL is the province's standards-based, youth high performance league that combines top level competition with strict high performance training standards. Those standards are ensuring that Ontario develops players for the future by design and the OPDL's talent was on full display for Paul Stalteri, Canadian U-17 Men's head coach, who was in attendance.

"Ultimately, our scope for success is: how many players are we developing for our provincial and nationals teams? How many players are we moving into university scholarships? How many players are we moving into pro environments? These are the goals of the OPDL program and I'm happy to say these are showing early, positive results," Miller said.

While also an integral opportunity to showcase the immense talent found within the OPDL before fellow OPDL members, scouts and families, the Charity Shield raises money for Ontario charities.

Every dollar accumulated through the $5 admission rate will be donated to Ontario charities, as chosen by the winning teams in each match.

On the day, over $2,900 was raised and that money will be given evenly to Sick Kids Hospital (Vaughan U-14 and U-15 Boys), Breast Cancer Foundation (Ottawa South United U-14 Girls) and Holland Bloorview Concussion Centre (Markham SC U-15 Girls).