Canadian coach Drew Ferguson has gone to great lengths to recruit players

TORONTO – The goalies of Canada’s cerebral palsy soccer team were warming up last September for a game at the University of Toronto, and someone in the bleachers was mimicking their every move.

As the goalies shuffled side to side, so did the fan.

“I was looking over my shoulder like ‘Who the hell is that crazy bugger over there?’” said Canadian coach Drew Ferguson.

A week later that crazy fan, Damien Wojtiw, was training with the national team, and Wednesday he played in net in Canada’s 8-0 loss to world No. 3-ranked Brazil at the Parapan American Games.

“I’d been out of the game for a long, long time,” Wojtiw said of that day last September. “I was trying to move the feet a little bit, and just kind of show (the coaches) that I had the enthusiasm, I had the interest and the ability to help them out maybe.

“I inquired if I could be a part of the program, and before I knew it, there I was, training with the guys. It’s incredible to be on the other side of the fence.”

The 33-year-old from Toronto played for the Islington Rangers growing up and reached the provincial level. But the six-foot-two ‘keeper has cavernomas — clusters of abnormal blood vessels in the brain — which bled twice in his 20s. He said it’s similar to having a stroke: tremors, some visual loss, and he stutters once in awhile.

“After my brain injury I had to step away for awhile, and I finally felt strong enough to come back to it, and this is the result,” he said. “I’m absolutely loving every minute of it.”

Para-soccer is for players with cerebral palsy, brain injuries, or stroke survivors, Wojtiw said. It’s played seven-a-side, with a slightly smaller net.

Wojtiw’s swift ascent from the bleachers to the national team might sound far-fetched, but it’s not that unique for a Canadian program that has trouble unearthing talented young players.

Ferguson, who played professionally for 13 years and was a member of Canada’s national team, will go to great lengths to recruit players.

One player he found while checking into a Holiday Inn in Vancouver. He noticed the desk clerk appeared to have cerebral palsy. Another player he spotted walking across the University of Toronto campus.

“There was a guy walking in front of us, 23 years old, and we went up to him ‘Do you have mild CP?’ He said ‘Yeah.’ Have you ever played soccer?’ He said ‘Yeah, I used to play as a kid,’” Ferguson recounted. “That boy was 100 yards away from a tournament of CP soccer players, and he didn’t even know it was on.

“Awareness is the biggest problem.”

Both the hotel desk clerk and the U of T student are now with the national program, but aren’t a part of the Parapan Am team.

Canada’s captain Dustin Hodgson grew up playing able-bodied soccer, and then at the age of 20, the Vancouver native noticed an ad on the Canadian Soccer Association website for the cerebral palsy program.

“I had never really talked about my disability with my mom because she always just treated me as a regular person,” Hodgson said. “I went downstairs and said ‘Do I have CP?’ She said ‘Yes, why?’

“She said I should try out. I went to an all-paid three-day training camp in Toronto, the first night we played a soccer game and I played the first half and scored four goals, and the second half I scored five.”

Now 31, the defender has been a key part of the team ever since.

Canada is 1-2 on the Parapan Am tournament, their lone victory coming against world No. 8-ranked United States. Unfortunately, they lost their best player Trevor Stiles to a serious knee injury in that game.

Ferguson sat most of his starters Wednesday, knowing a victory against Brazil wasn’t in the cards. He’s looking ahead to Thursday’s match against Venezuela — a key game if Canada is to play for bronze.

Liam Stanley and Sam Charron, two of Canada’s top players, are also sitting on yellow cards, so Ferguson didn’t want to risk playing them.

Unfortunately for Canada, Brazil — 3-0 on the tournament — started its top players, and punished Canada’s young side. Passing and moving with the fluidity Brazilian soccer is famous for, the Brazilians were up 6-0 by halftime at the U of T stadium, which normally serves as an international field hockey venue.

While Canada, ranked No. 10 in the world, can’t qualify for the Rio Paralympics, Ferguson said the future for his team is bright. Four of his players here are under 20.

And the spotlight Paralympic sport is enjoying this week in Canada can only help his efforts to help unearth more players like Wojtiw.

“That’s what you hope for,” Ferguson said. “We’ve already received two emails from people saying they’d seen it on TV.”