His passion for soccer survived 3 years in a refugee camp. Now this St. John’s player is pushing for the pros

Felly Elonda is one step nearer to reaching the very best degree of Canadian soccer, however the younger participant’s love of the sport started removed from the fields in St. John’s the place he honed his abilities.

Elonda was born in Congo and spent three years in a refugee camp in Zimbabwe earlier than shifting to St. John’s at 10. 

“The love of soccer for me has at all times been there, even within the refugee camp. Every time there was a sport on, me and my buddies would all go to somebody that had a TV to only watch a sport,” he mentioned.

“For those who see one thing on TV like Ronaldinho, or Robinho, [Didier] Drogba, you see them doing these loopy issues on the sphere. So after the match, you all go outdoors, naked toes … and simply attempt to imitate what they have been doing on TV.”

Holy smokes, this man is basically, actually good.– Ian Osmond

In St. John’s, Elonda started enjoying soccer at Leary’s Brook Junior Excessive and was noticed by Ian Osmond, a coach with the Feildians Athletics Affiliation.

“I used to be dropping my son off to the junior excessive soccer observe and I mentioned, ‘I will stick round and watch it for 5 minutes,'” mentioned Osmond.

“I noticed this skinny child on the sphere, I might by no means seen him earlier than, and by the third contact of the ball, holy smokes, this man is basically, actually good.”

Osmond went on to educate Elonda with Feildians for six years, a time which the younger participant mentioned helped him to develop his abilities on the pitch.

“It was new to me as a result of rising up it was very disorganized, proper? It was simply me and my pals outdoors kicking the soccer ball round.… There was at all times a ball round, or if not, my pals and I’d at all times seize plastic luggage after which simply wrap it throughout collectively and make it right into a soccer ball and simply go outdoors and have a kick,” Elonda mentioned.

“Once I had that chance to hitch Feildians, it was utterly new to me. I wasn’t actually used to enjoying in an organized sport … however over time I bought used being round that setting and it has paid off.”

That setting helped Elonda attain an under-23 improvement program with HFX Wanderers FC of the Canadian Premier League.

Creating younger expertise

This system is a brand new initiative to present improvement alternatives for younger gamers from Atlantic Canada and set up a path to the CPL, the highest degree of Canadian soccer and the nation’s solely absolutely skilled league.

Elonda joined this system’s first coaching camp in November and made an impression with the membership, getting invited again to coaching classes and incomes a spot within the under-23 staff’s beginning lineup for a sequence of video games.

“They actually preferred my enjoying type. They preferred my motion on and off the ball and so I had the chance once more to be referred to as up for this last camp and to be a part of the U-23,” he mentioned.

The younger midfielder additionally had a current brush with some European expertise, becoming a member of a staff of Atlantic college all-star gamers that bested the under-23 squad from Sunderland AFC, who play within the second tier of English soccer.

“I used to be like, ‘Whoa, me, Felly will get to play in opposition to Sunderland, European gamers.’ These are the gamers that we will be watching on TV within the subsequent couple of years,” he mentioned.

“For us to get a giant consequence like a 3-0 win over Sunderland, it is large.”

Elonda is now again in Newfoundland and Labrador getting ready for the season with the Memorial College Sea-Hawks and persevering with the push to play professionally.

“My aim has at all times been to attempt to attain that skilled degree and to attempt to check myself and to be in that setting the place I can thrive as a participant, as an individual,” he mentioned.

‘Fairly a journey’

Elonda’s former coach referred to as him “a wonderful younger man” who has the talent to pursue that skilled soccer aim.

“Fairly a journey. Simply so, so happy with him and it makes me proud as a coach simply being a part of it,” mentioned Osmond.

“Not solely being his coach to be trustworthy with you, he is develop into a part of my household, too. [I’ve] gotten very near him over the previous couple of years.”

There’s some additional inspiration for Elonda seeing a star participant like Alphonso Davies lead Canada’s males’s nationwide staff again to a World Cup for the primary time since 1986

Davies, 21, was born in a Ghanaian refugee camp after his dad and mom fled the civil battle in Liberia. The household got here to Canada when Davies was 5, finally settling in Edmonton.

“I take a look at that and I see it as a motivation. I take a look at them, I say, ‘In the event that they did it, if they’re doing it, why cannot I?’ And so day by day I attempt to be higher, as an individual and as a soccer participant,” he mentioned.

“Particularly now, being on this setting with the Wanderers, you get to see that, hey, this new degree of soccer is attainable. I can do it. I am not far behind from these gamers.”

For extra tales in regards to the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success tales throughout the Black group — take a look at Being Black in Canada, a CBC venture Black Canadians could be happy with. You’ll be able to learn extra tales right here.

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