By Emmanuelle Champagne
A few months after the founding of the new women's program at the Montreal CF Academy, the team has several goals in mind for their next year of competition.
The competition season officially begins in April. However, the team has a tournament scheduled for December. Julie Casselman, coach-e Julie Casselman, head coach of the women's program, says their main goal is to beat the Vancouver team. The players are keen to bounce back from their last defeat by the Whitecaps last summer.
Reinforcing the community aspect
In order to become a stronger team on the pitch, they need to be more cohesive. This is one of their main objectives, according to Laurence Leblanc, the team's central defender.
"At the start of the year, there are several new players joining the team. So we need to work more on the collective side of things," explains Laurence Leblanc, central defender of the CF Montreal women's team.
A competition season too short
The trainer-e of the women's program, Julie Casselman, feels that the 16-week competitive season is not long enough to allow players to improve adequately. Competition is necessary for the development of a-athlete's development. Without competition, it's more difficult to know what needs to be corrected or improved, or to identify an athlete's main strengths and weaknesses.-e athlete.
"If you compare them to players of the same age in Europe or the United States, they compete nine to ten months a year. Their learning development is clearly not at the same level", says the coach.-head coach of the women's program, Julie Casselman.
This is also the case for the team's central defender, Laurence Leblanc. Starting next year, she will be heading to the United States to pursue her dream of playing professionally. Despite her excitement, she remains realistic, maintaining a balance between her studies and her sporting discipline.
"It's important for me to keep up my studies while playing sport. But, if the opportunity presents itself to me, I'd definitely like to play professionally," says soccer player Laurence Leblanc.
