The OPDL Spotlight Series, presented by Toronto FC, highlights stories, teams and initiatives from around the league.
This week features comments from Derek Bridgman, General Manager of Cambridge United.
Cambridge Youth Soccer is very exciting to have been included in this season's crop of new OPDL Licence Holders.
The OPDL has afforded the club the opportunity to showcase some of the most talented U13 players in Cambridge and the surrounding area.
How has your preparation for your inaugural OPDL season been?
The club's preparation for OPDL began long in advance of the application process.
Cambridge has worked very hard to build a successful program in both the Recreational and Competitive streams.
Our OPDL athletes have had no problem adapting to the physical demands of the OPDL program thanks to our Technical Staff, OPDL team coaches and our Sport Performance Partner, Next Level Performance Training.
What are you most excited about for your players, now that they are a part of the Talent, Development and Performance environment of the OPDL?
We are very excited to challenge our players against the best players in Ontario on a weekly basis.
We are also very excited that the western portion of Ontario has now been included in the OPDL and many of some our rivals from our Regional League (WRSL), including Waterloo and London Whitecaps have made the jump to OPDL alongside us.
What do you hope to bring to the OPDL as a new License Holder?
We hope to show the rest of the OPDL the tremendous work ethic that our male and female players possess.
Our coaches and players have worked tremendously hard since the teams were formed to make sure that we could meet and exceed the demands of the OPDL.
How do you feel your Administrators, Match Officials and Technical Staff will benefit from their involvement in the OPDL?
The onfield product is just the tip of the iceberg of what OPDL is all about.
Coaches, players, administrators, technical staff and match officials are now held to a higher standard than non-OPDL licence holders.
Our participation in the OPDL forces all of our programming to conform with Ontario Soccer regulations, creating consistency amongst the Grassroots and High Performance programming of other OPDL Licence Holders.
Bio
Derek Bridgman has been the General Manager of CYS since 2007. He is excited to continue the growth of the club with inclusion of OPDL.
Derek Bridgman
General Manager, Cambridge United