Canada participates in U-15 International Development week in Canton (video)

A team from Canada was included in the “USA Football’s Under-15 International Development Week” in Canton, Ohio last week. Approximately 150 American, Canadian and Swedish football players aged 13-15 attended the festivities.

The young national team athletes conducted multi-country joint practices, gaining instruction during 7-on-7 competition and hearing from guest speakers on football qualities like teamwork and determination within the fun of the sport.

Canada’s Marquis Richards, 14, of Brampton, Ontario, savored the experience. The fullback-linebacker, whose primary language is French, found the hour-long joint session invaluable.

“It was really different because the coaches at home, they can only teach you so much, and the coaches here, they have maybe a little bit more experience or maybe things that our coaches didn’t know,” he said. “I really learned a lot from this practice.

“The (six-hour) drive to get here was really worth it. I’m learning a lot, and it’s a good experience to spend with my teammates.”

USA Football board members Merril Hoge and Desmond Howard delivered inspiring messages of football’s universal values to 13-15 year old football players from 24 states, Canada and Sweden as part of USA Football’s Under-15 International Development Week.

Hoge is a former standout NFL running back with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Chicago Bears (1987-94) and current NFL analyst for ESPN. Howard, a Cleveland native, was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame this past Saturday. He is one of just four players to earn both a Heisman Trophy (1991) and a Super Bowl MVP award (XXXI, Jan. 1997), joining Marcus Allen, Jim Plunkett and Roger Staubach.

The week-long celebration of a burgeoning international sport marks the first time in football history that players of this age from multiple countries have gathered for an event focused on football skill development.

Quote & picture from: USA Football

USA Football is the sport’s national governing body in the United States and is the official football development partner of the NFL and each of the league’s 32 teams.

Sixty-two (62) countries across five continents have a national federation dedicated solely to football.

U15 DEVELOPMENT WEEK: Video 1 v2 from Jason Ryan Creative on Vimeo.

U15 Development Week – Part 2 from Jason Ryan Creative on Vimeo.