Paul Hamilton

[Bxl Boy]

I watched the Canadian U18 club championships in Laval and I was very, but vey impressed by Paul Hamilton, central defender for the Calgary Foothills Irish.

Do some people here know him ?

Does he play for any of our national teams ?

I keep his name in mind, if scouting works well, I think he has a good future at an higher level.

[ditty]

quote:Originally posted by Bxl Boy

I watched the Canadian U18 club championships in Laval and I was very, but vey impressed by Paul Hamilton, central defender for the Calgary Foothills Irish.

Do some people here know him ?

Does he play for any of our national teams ?

I keep his name in mind, if scouting works well, I think he has a good future at an higher level.

I've coached him. Besides U-18, also played in the AMSL this summer with Calgary Villains. Currently a 1st year player at University of Cape Breton. Has never played for Alberta let alone been involved in the NTC. He's a classic "the whole is greater than the sum of the parts" player. Unbelievably strong in the air, hard tackler, good passer out of the back, can score goals.... Not super quick which may be why he's been passed over but he rarely gets beat at any level I've seen him play. He's a starter at UCCB this year so if they make nationals, he should get a look by whoever watches this tournament.

[Mpenza]

I've been quite impressed too.

If that guy doesn't make it pro, there's a big problem with scouting in Canada... I'm a regular at Montreal Impact games and I can honestly say I don't remember seeing someone tackle like that in the USL. Impressive player. I have never felt the need to go congratulate a player after a game, but yesterday, I went to him and told him he played a great game even though they lost 3-0...

Definitely a player to watch!

[loyola]

Playing with Cape Breton won't help him turn pro IMO. The CIAU rarely produces pro soccer players but he's still young for a college player so we never know.

Ditty: Do you think he should've been selected by Alberta youth teams or the NTC?

BTW, good to hear that some of us are attending those Nationals events, it's very nice for the players.

[Mpenza]

Well, Loyola, in this case, it's not a matter of the CIAU "producing" anything. The guy is ready to go up a level and just needs to be picked up by a pro team and put in their youth system.

I wish the Impact had a youth system.

[Daniel]

The thing is that youth teams are looking for the most talented while this guy doesn't seem to fit that mold. However, according to ex-coach ditty he seems to step up his game at each level. How does he know how high he can go? Scouting in the country is not made professionally (because there's nothing to gain professionally -$$$-), so players get passed over with very little alternatives.

It's also possible he just had an unbelievable game yesterday. Pro clubs with youth systems and a PDL set-up would help such players.

[Bxl Boy]

No, his unbelievable game was friday, with 10 Alberta players resisting against 11 from Ontario

Every ball that came in the centre of the defense was taken by him

Reding Ditty, it seems his speed his is main default, but for the rest, he has every quality a centre back needs

I'm wondering who scouted games at the nationals, because that guy should be high on his list !

[loyola]

quote:Originally posted by Mpenza

Well, Loyola, in this case, it's not a matter of the CIAU "producing" anything. The guy is ready to go up a level and just needs to be picked up by a pro team and put in their youth system.

I wish the Impact had a youth system.

My point was that playing CIAU won't help him in the long term. Playing in the NCAA would've been a better option if he wants to devellop as a soccer player. I haven't seen him but it seems from all comments that he's an interesting prospect and I'm not sure playing for UCCB in the CIAU is the best way to get notice.

As for scouting the Nationals Clubs championships I'm not sure it's worth it for the CSA (of course they can always send some scouts), scouting the Nationals with the provincial teams gives you a better idea of the players, better players and higher level of play.

[Mpenza]

Well, he didn't play an unbelievable game when I saw him yesterday. But I saw a lot of potential there. And I mean a LOT.

There's a guy from Lac Saint-Louis who learned a thing or two about respecting his opponent yesterday too. He started being an arrogant moron when LSL was up by 3, then had a meeting with that guy named Paul Hamilton who taught him a couple of things about behaving on the field... A few minutes later, he had to get out of the way because the Alberta Express was coming his way. Impressive. And oh so wonderful to see too... I wish he had caught him good. After that, we didn't hear a peep out of the guy.

All game long, Hamilton tackled like a madman, hard but always clean. And he didn't miss any of his tackles. Someone pick him up now, we can't let that guy go unnoticed and spoil yet another talent.

Honestly, I wouldn't be here talking about him if that guy wasn't something special...

[loyola]

Well, it's the Alberta coaching staff job to scout those players, wonder why he hasn't been on team Alberta at least once.

[Bxl Boy]

That's the problem with scouting here

There's only one team in charge of scouting, by area

If the team misses any player, he has no second chance with another one

[ditty]

quote:Originally posted by loyola

Playing with Cape Breton won't help him turn pro IMO. The CIAU rarely produces pro soccer players but he's still young for a college player so we never know.

Ditty: Do you think he should've been selected by Alberta youth teams or the NTC?

BTW, good to hear that some of us are attending those Nationals events, it's very nice for the players.

There's a combination of factors as to why Paul has never played for Alberta or been involved in the NTC. He's been somewhat of a late bloomer, he's really come into his own from about 15 on. I think (could be mistaken) he tried out for Alberta a couple of times; at U-14 and U-16 and was passed over. Since then I think he's just focused on playing with Foothills. The other factor, my opinion only, is that he wasn't a slick, super skilled player early in his career, is not blessed with great speed, and therefore was kind of written off. His Foothills team always had this same reputation, they've consistently been the top team in their age group for about 5 years now but have never had more than 1 or 2 players involved in the provincial program whereas the teams they keep beating have double or triple that amount. I can't recall the last time the Calgary NTC has pushed a player into a youth national team for more than one tour so I don't think he's missed out on much there.

The remarkable thing about him is that he seems to be the same player at virtually any level he gets pushed to. I coached him at the Ian Rush tournament in Wales and he was as good a central defender as any we saw. He stepped into the AMSL this season and instantly became a starter and impact player on a team that went to the provincial finals. By all reports, he's a key starter for UCCB, a team that's at or near the top of the AUS standings, I believe.

He had some interest from NCAA schools but I'm not sure it ever resulted in anything firm. I agree that CIS isn't a recognized road to becoming a pro but there are some who've done it, ie Mesut Mert, the Franks brothers, Imhof, Jazic?, Kurt Bosch here in Alberta.

My guess is that he'll return to Calgary this summer and play in the AMSL but if he continues to develop like he has the past few years, maybe he will get a sniff from the Impact or Whitecaps.

[loyola]

Thanks for that ditty, very informative.

Bxl Boy, there's other way to get notice (pro coaches, NCAA coaches, CIS coaches, etc..) so if you go under the radar, you might have another chance at some point. Reading ditty post it seems that this young man is playing with the best team in Alberta so he must have some exposure. While I agree that one of the problem is that it seems that only one group of scouts will look at you and make a decision I feel that there's other opportunities. Also it appears that this guy is a late bloomer that's tough to identify that kind of player, specially if he's playing in defence where technical abilities are less expose than a striker or a midfielder.

[becs]

I just wanted to say that it’s so amazing that Paul is finally getting the recognition he deserves. I may have a bias opinion, as I am his girlfriend, but I’ve never seen a more dedicated person in my life… If you want to see passion for the game, watch that boy play.

[Winnipeg Fury]

If we had the old Canadian Soccer league, a kid with this potential might have gotten the opportunity to show himself, and from there, anything could happen. With a player of this much potenial, something in Europe would not be unreasonable down the road. The sky was the limit.

Instead, we now have 2 pro clubs in Canada. With the import quoto out the window, this kid deosn't have a chance. MLS (the third) has no interest in raw talent like this.

Sadly, this kid has no hope of making it professional. An absolute shame, and the perfect example why my preference has always been a domestic league that plays a strong majority of Canadians, with the sole purpose of developing Canadian talent.

[RS]

quote:Originally posted by Winnipeg Fury

MLS (the third) has no interest in raw talent like this.

Do you have any proof to back up this statement?

[Mpenza]

quote:Originally posted by Winnipeg Fury

Sadly, this kid has no hope of making it professional. An absolute shame, and the perfect example why my preference has always been a domestic league that plays a strong majority of Canadians, with the sole purpose of developing Canadian talent.

Well there's always the almighty Toronto FC of the MLS. Thanks to our good lord Kevan Pipe for his fantastic vision on how to develop canadian talent. [)]

Well, hopefully we did the scouting for the big boys and someone will realize they're missing the boat here...

And becs, make sure Paul doesn't lose his passion for the game. He has to keep going, because he WILL get his chance. And darn it, I want to see him play again, because I enjoyed it very much.

[Guest Ed]

Proof is in the pudding Rudi. The MLS draft picks are all from the NCAA (other than Will Johnson - who was with Chicago clubs since he was a pre-teen).

[RS]

quote:Originally posted by Ed

Proof is in the pudding Rudi. The MLS draft picks are all from the NCAA (other than Will Johnson - who was with Chicago clubs since he was a pre-teen).

Is that why guys like Josmer Altidore (16 years old) and Quavas Kirk (18 years old) are currently getting significant minutes with their MLS side's first team? Not to mention the obvious, Freddy Adu...

Yes, those are only three examples, but there are quite a few others historically (Bobby Convey, DaMarcus Beasley, Danny Szetela, Michael Bradley, Eddie Gaven, etc).

Add in the fact that MLS is officially adding mandatory U-18 developmental sides next year, with more to follow, and it becomes apparent that 'raw talent' is precisely among the types of players that MLS is looking for.

[Guest Ed]

Well Freddy's a wrist scan away from his mid-twenties IMHO. That aside, I thought we were talking about Canuck players. The MLS only drafts Cdns from NCAA and we have 0 Cdns in reserve team systems, despite the fact that at the U20 level, we are on par with the US.

[RS]

quote:Originally posted by Ed

Well Freddy's a wrist scan away from his mid-twenties IMHO.

You're one of 'those' people, huh? []

Just watch Freddy speak in interviews and his mannerisms. It's clear he's a teenager.

quote:That aside, I thought we were talking about Canuck players. The MLS only drafts Cdns from NCAA and we have 0 Cdns in reserve team systems, despite the fact that at the U20 level, we are on par with the US.

Yeah, we are talking about Canuck players, in the context of Winnipeg Fury's comment that "MLS" (ie. Toronto FC) is not interested in young, raw talent.

How about we let the team actually sign a few players before we make those types of conclusions?

As for the past, young Canadians were never going to be chosen ahead of young Americans by MLS teams. That's just obvious.

[Grizzly]

There is no doubt that the scouting situation could be improved in this country. However, I find it stupid that the anti-MLS faction is using a thread praising a young soccer player who seems to have been overlooked by provincial and national talent scouts to try and further their anti-MLS agenda. In particular, how can one blame a team that hasn't even started playing yet for not scouting a guy.

[Winnipeg Fury]

quote:Originally posted by Grizzly

There is no doubt that the scouting situation could be improved in this country. However, I find it stupid that the anti-MLS faction is using a thread praising a young soccer player who seems to have been overlooked by provincial and national talent scouts to try and further their anti-MLS agenda. In particular, how can one blame a team that hasn't even started playing yet for not scouting a guy.

I don't think anyone is blaming MLS. It's simply not what MLS is about, and it is what the CSL was about.

Obviously that is why KP has stated that the plan needs more USL First Division clubs to work. It's also what Tony Waiters, Bruce Wilson and others have stated.

This kid would get to play first team in the CSL, no different than a lanky young Jason Devos did as an aspiring teenager. Most never make it big, but the odd one does.

Would TOFC have signed Pesch, Radzinski, Bunbury and Devos when they were 17, and have them playing first-team ball ? Not too likely. But that is exactly what the CSL was all about. Giving promising young Canadian talent the chance.

[Cheeta]

Just want to mention two things;

First. MLS is definately evolving. And hopefully (intentionaly or otherwise) for our benefit. But the experiment has barely started, so I'm not going to burn them up just yet.

And second. Good topic. Very interesting read with some range to it.

[RS]

quote:Originally posted by Winnipeg Fury

Would TOFC have signed Pesch, Radzinski, Bunbury and Devos when they were 17, and have them playing first-team ball ? Not too likely. But that is exactly what the CSL was all about. Giving promising young Canadian talent the chance.

Hypothetically, yes.

MLS teams have had no problems starting young, blue-chip talent like a 16 year old DaMarcus Beasley, Bobby Convey at 16, Michael Bradley at 17, and so on.

Those three guys mentioned are now at Man City, Reading and Heerenveen, respectively.

Of course, The young talent in MLS is spread around, and obviously TFC would not be putting all of the young talent on the field at once. Which why we ultimately need at least 3 teams in MLS, supported by a host of USL squads.