Grassroots soccer experts agree Canada needs to change how it develops female players

In the wake of Canada's crashout at the Women's World Cup, there is great consternation and soul searching among its supporters about what went wrong. How did a team that captured the country's heart with its heart-stopping gold medal two summers ago in Tokyo fail to launch beyond the group stage at soccer's most prestigious event?

Many are pointing at the team's ongoing battle with Canada Soccer, the national sport federation, over pay, preparedness and the resources devoted to providing a professional environment for Canada's best players. Although the two sides were able to broker an agreement, it came in the midst of the tournament and there were suggestions that bitterness and resentment over the drawn-out and public dispute remained.

There was also talk that Canada's disappointing result could be traced to the fact that there is no domestic women's league in Canada, pushing this country's best to play professionally abroad. 

The face of Canadian soccer for the last few decades, captain Christine Sinclair, touched on these things after Canada's 4-0 loss to Australia that eliminated them from the tournament.

"I think you're just going to continue to see teams reach our level, surpass us, whatever you want to call it if things don't change," Sinclair said after the July 31 match, a 4-0 loss to Australia. "If the resources are there, we are going to continue to fall behind. If this isn't a warning sign, I don't know what is.

"I think more of it is like a wake-up call for our federation — the lack of a professional league, the lack of support for our youth national teams."

WATCH | Sinclair says early exit a 'wake-up call' for Canada Soccer:

Those working at the grassroots levels of Canadian soccer, from where the development of the next generation of stars will emerge, echo many of Sinclair's concerns, and agree this World Cup result should make the sport in this country look at how it identifies and develops young female soccer players.

"Young ladies in these other leading countries are playing all the time," said Kim Brassor, executive director and co-founder of the Future Girls Soccer, the only all-female player and coach organization in Canada. "At dedicated academies there's kids that get trained for free because they're the best of the best.

"We don't have that environment here. Everybody loves soccer, everybody who plays soccer, loves soccer. Everybody that coaches soccer loves soccer. But it's a different approach."

Brassor, who has also served on the executive of the Ontario Soccer Association's Women's Committee and written a book called Reaching for the Rings: A Young Girls Guide to Growing her Game, said it's time to apply the same dedication Canada applies to building sustained excellence in hockey from an early age to soccer.

"There's nobody that's not dedicated to seeing the players get better," Brassor said. "But I don't think our culture makes it a priority and says OK, we have to make our priority to make our players the best of the best in the world."

Brassor said sustained success internationally begins with increasing the intensity and quality of training for girls beginning as young as eight.

"We don't train enough and we don't play enough, we don't play enough games. There's restrictions to what they're allowed to do and how many hours a week we can train, how many days they can do it," she said. "If you look at some of these other countries that are coming through the forefront, the performance that they're displaying right now. I'm sure if we went and looked at their soccer associations, the restrictions are not the same."