“The North Toronto Soccer Club’s mission is to provide soccer players, coaches and parents of North Toronto the opportunities to learn, play and mature through the game of soccer, regardless of age, gender or capability. The Club objective is to ensure that these opportunities are obtainable in a fun and safe environment, while promoting the development of soccer.”

Competitive Mission Statement

The Competitive Program provides an environment where players can develop technique, skill, creativity and game-understanding to their full potential. Long-term player development drives all coaching activities at North Toronto Soccer Club and is thus core to the design of the Competitive Program.  Coaching programs are crafted to suit the specific needs of each age group, ensuring that all players are given the opportunity to maximize their potential in a supportive environment that matches their level of commitment and their stage of development. Complete soccer players are developed in the program through a holistic approach involving the four key aspects of athletic training: the technical, the psychological, the physical and the social. We believe that long-term love of the game arises from the enthusiasm of coaches who foster the development of technique, skill, game sense and creativity. Soccer coaching encourages crucial life-skills, including teamwork, dedication, perseverance, discipline and hard work. The starting point for all soccer development is mastery of the ball.    

Strategic Overview

The impending transformation of the Ontario Soccer Association Competitive Structure presents the club with an opportunity to refurbish our Competitive Program. The successful development of players to their full potential must be our primary objective and we are taking necessary steps to reach that goal. These will include creating and implementing:

·         A playing philosophy

·         A clear program outline

·         A structured season schedule

·         A common system of play

·         A player assessment process

·         Continued player support – goalkeeping, fitness for example

·         NTSC Academy

·         Coaching structure

·         Player exit routes – TFC, Universities

·         School-club links  

Playing Philosophy

Soccer should be played with an efficient, economical, measured, possession-based approach, where pass quality combined with intelligent and timely support and movement lead to progress and penetration through the thirds of the field to provide goal-scoring opportunities if counter attacking possibilities are denied.

To defend effectively and efficiently; a team should display a controlled, calculated and assertive approach where all players contribute and have a clear understanding of the tactical strategy being used to regain possession of the ball.

The game style will allow and encourage all players to contribute to the attacking phase with variety, audacity and with considered risk taking and in the defending phase with understanding, assertiveness and decisiveness.

The playing philosophy presented provides meaning and direction to the North Toronto Soccer Club Competitive Program vision of an incremental, uniform technical and tactical system to our teams.

The skilled coach will be able to bring the playing philosophy to ‘life’ through understanding and applying the strategies and tactics of attacking and defending, as well developing a thorough knowledge of the anticipated positional requirements of the future game through periodization of training.