Niagara United teams up with Juventus Academy
From left: Mike Folino, Juventus Niagara Director; Tony Carbonara, Juventus Niagara Director; Sebastian Giovinco, former Juventus and Toronto FC player; Ernie Scervino, Juventus Niagara Director; Brian Panunto, Juventus Niagara Director. SUBMITTED PHOTO.
Niagara United Soccer Club has entered into an affiliation agreement with Juventus Academy, Niagara and Juventus Academy, Toronto in an effort to give players in Niagara a new pathway to success.
Ernie Scervino, president, Juventus Academy, Niagara and club technical director for Niagara United, feels the agreement will be a game changer for local soccer players.
“This will provide players the highest level of training, safe structure and high level coaches to develop and establish good habits for the players and allow them to understand what it takes to get to the next level,” Scervino said. “It’s an exciting moment for our club.”
The agreement will be a boon for all players across Niagara, Scervino said.
Back row, from left: Vince Chieca, Niagara United President; Mike Folino, Juventus Niagara Director; Tony Carbonara Juventus Niagara; Ernie Scervino, Juventus Niagara Director; Brian Panunto, Juventus Niagara Director.
“This is an absolutely amazing opportunity, not just for the Niagara United Soccer Club, but for all the soccer clubs in the Niagara Region. It will provide opportunities for all the players to be able to have different experiences, memorable experiences, and also play at the highest level and also be identified by some of the top teams in the world.”
Scervino, a native of Niagara Falls, worked at Toronto FC Academy for four years and was part of a group that had earlier brought a supplemental training program to Niagara. That program was dissolved based on decision of TFC, so Scervino and his group created this new model.
“It was months and months of meetings. This project has come to fruition and we have grown together as one big family,” he said.
The program will start off at Niagara United with U13 boys and U13 girls teams which have already been selected based on tryouts of players from across the region.
“I think it’s great,” said Paolo Sirianni, who will coach the U13 girls squad. “We all have our own experiences in the sport but now you are getting much more resources to support, in our case, the girls. It gives them many, many opportunities.
“It’s life lessons. I’m going to learn a lot more, the players will learn a lot more, our technical director is going to learn a lot more, and we’re going to have a united group. It’s not just my coaching staff, it’s a United coaching staff of many, many individuals to support these players.”
Vince Chieca, president of Niagara United, loves the concept.
“Right now, we know we’re going to keep our players,” he said. “I’ve seen academies before. A lot of places give you false hope. They tell you this and tell you that. It’s not going to happen here. We give them the opportunities to play in these tournaments and world cups.
“It’s good for the club because the coaches at our club now, even though they aren’t directly in this program, they are still going to have the methodology to learn from this program and to teach other groups, other ages. That’s important. We want to make sure it’s not for just travel, but that it trickles down to house league.”
Scervino feels there is room for expansion.
“This is going to grow. We have one location now in Niagara with NU as an affiliated club and we have rights from Fort Erie to Hamilton so our goal is to be able to eventually have satellite facilities in the Hamilton/Stoney Creek area. Start here small working with a Niagara group and then build accordingly,” he said.
For more information, check out @juventusacademyniagara on Instagram.
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From left: Tracy Singer, Vice President of Niagara United, Ernie Scervino, Technical Director of Niagara United, Vince Chieca, President of Niagara United, Victor Satei of Director of Football Juventus Academy Toronto. Photo by: BILL POTRECZ.
