The link between the BWSC and BWFC has come together through soccer camps run by the BWFC International Soccer School and Dave Bailey (glasses). Boys were at the camp run at Jack Garratt Park In Bolton last week with football coaches such as Luke Ogilvie (below), while the girls are there this week. Photos by Jon Yaneff When the Bolton Wanderers Football Club came to Ontario to play the Toronto FC in the annual Carlsberg Cup last Wednesday (July 21) at BMO Field in Toronto, it was a great opportunity for the English Premier League team to experience the connection with their Bolton, Ont. counterparts, the Bolton Wanderers Soccer Club.

The Wanderers FC would beat TFC, 4-3 in a shootout after the game ended tied at 1-1, to wrap up their North American tour, as 600 people from the BWSC came out to support. July 21 was proclaimed ‘Bolton Wanderers Day’ in Caledon by Town council earlier in July.

Last Monday (July 19) the BWSC under-14 boys’ rep competitive team got to attend a private training session with the BWFC, as they took pictures and received autographs.

“I spoke to the chairman (Phil Gartside) and he couldn’t believe it,” said BWFC International Soccer School Program Manager Dave Bailey, who helped acknowledge the link between the English Premier League team and BWSC Feb. 4 when he came to Ontario to strengthen ties between the two clubs. “He was outside the stadium (BMO Field) when all the kids were there and he said, ‘this is great.’ This is what it’s all about.” It’s helped take the (Bolton Wanderers) brand globally.

“The best way I can describe it, is we had people that followed (BWFC) throughout their North American tour and this was the game they were excited to see,” he added. “They wanted to see TFC. They wanted to see Toronto. But, on top of that, they wanted to see this little town of Bolton, Ontario with 27,000 people in it. Our stadium (Reebok Stadium) holds 28,500 (by comparison).”

The BWFC International Soccer School also ran a soccer camp at Jack Garratt Park for BWSC boys July 19 to 23, while the girls’ camp is this week (July 26 to 30) with approximately 200 BWSC players participating between both weeks. Ages for the camps have ranged between seven to 15 years of age.

“The kids have just had a great time,” said VP of competitive soccer at BWSC Paul Scarafile, who helped form the connection between BWFC with BWSC President William Hay and BWSC Head Coach Billy McKenna. “There’s similar things being taught compared to our academy, but it’s a different voice. Our kids are definitely absorbing it.

“We want people to know there’s strong connection between the two clubs and that it’s just not us sharing a name between the premiership team,” said Scarafile. “We are affiliated and you can see that through these camps.”

The BWFC voice is far more intense, while the soccer camps are designed primarily for skill development and are run by Bailey, as well as his team of coaches. The theme they’re basing the training on is passing and receiving.

“Our stats show that since 2002 there’s been a 20 per cent increase in passing/receiving,” said Bailey, who began with BWFC 10 years ago when the club was promoted back to the Premier League in 2000-01. “Passing and receiving is how you create space and how you create space for others.

“The tempo and intensity we want them to train at – it’s difficult when you’re not used to it. It’s very difficult for some of these players to take that on board. We’re trying to create players to fit round pegs and holes and so we have to show them the harsher side of football and letting them understand that and that requires tempotempo tempo.”

The BWFC International Soccer School runs soccer camps and programs all around the world, including East to West through Canada, as well as Australia, Africa, Tanzania, Egypt and the U.S.A.

The connection will now continue when Bailey returns to Bolton, Ont. to develop BWSC instructors with coach education.

“Those sessions will be designed to further educate our coaches, so we can give that same information to the kids,” said Scarafile. “We hope that will be an annual event.”

During March Break 2011, the BWSC under-14 boys’ rep competitive team will head to England to play some BWFC Academy teams.

“We’re looking at this as a real long-term partnership,” said Bailey. “We really want to help develop this club (BWSC), which is already on the map, but let’s get it on a world map and let’s get everyone aware of it, hopefully.

“You just never know, one day a player from BWSC Ontario could end up playing for BWFC of the English Premiership – the most exciting and greatest league in the world.”