Workout of the week...

In this segment I'm going to blog weekly on Carl's workout of the week.
This week Carl's favourite route in the gym is:-

- 20 mins on the treadmill
- Various ab routines
- Push-ups
- Pull ups

and last but not least, working with the ball. (for example keep ups, passing a ball with a friend, working on crossing and finishing etc.)

Stay tuned next week for Carl Workout of the week..   

Olympic Qualifying...

Starting Line up for Canada

Carl lists one of his most fond memories was representing Canada at Olympic qualifying in a recent interview with Carl he tell me a story of his experience. He starts of telling me how he received an email from the head coach of the Men's U-23 National team asking him to join the player pool at a training camp in Florida, at this point Carl had recently returned to Niagara to finish of the rest of the semester before returning to Montreal at the end of the school year, so when he received this email he knew that this would mean that he would have to miss more classes, none the less Carl realised that this opportunity comes by once in a blue moon  so he decided to pre-sue this opportunity.

At first Carl did not feel like he would have made the final roster for the tournament, so he felt that he would go down there for 2 weeks and not miss a whole lot of school, but not only did he end up making the team he ended up starting and Playing a full 90 mins for Canada in their first game of the tournament against El Salvador. Carl stated that this experience was something that he will never forget for the rest of his life, having the pride to represent his adopted country.

Training camp...

As days past by, and Carl started to come to terms with the reality that he could possibly play pro soccer, it finally came time for him to attend training camp.

When he arrived at training camp it finally hit him that this is real, playing alongside players like Brian Ching Greg Sutton etc. players that he's use to seeing on t.v., but being star struck didn't last long as he started to realise the reason for him being there in the first place, to fight for that contract.

Once training camp started Carl found that the pace was not something that he's been use to, as it took him some time to get accustomed to the level, but sure enough he found himself at home.

Below is a picture that I found on the Montreal Impact website of training camp, See if you can spot Carl...

Here is a clip of Carl's Skills... Enjoy!

Draft Day...

Draft day for Carl Haworth has arrived and like any other college athlete the suspense was building up as Carl was eagerly waiting his name to be called and to find out what team/ city he would call home. There was something different in this situation for Carl though, not only was he fight for a chance to represent Niagara in the MLS but he was striving to be the first Niagara soccer player to be drafted into the MLS.

As round after round went by, Carl hopes started to fade, but he had a sneaky suspicion that if he were to get drafted it would probably be by a Canadian team since early in the week Carl was told by his agent that he had spoken to a few of the Canadian teams and he had heard good things.

Finally in the forth round Carl saw his name, he was sitting with the coach of Niagara in his office at the time, and after he realized that the team that had Picked him was the Montreal Impact, he felt like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders, he was congratulated by his coach and immediately got on to the phone with his parents to share the good news. For any player to know that your on the verge of becoming a professional is like a childhood dream come through but for Carl to know that all his hard work that he had put in through out the years had finally payed off must have been a special moment. 

Life At Niagara

Carl Haworth was recruited to come to Niagara University in a tournament in Barrie. Upon arrival his Soccer Career took off, winning many individual accolades and helping the team make the conference finals for 3 of his 4 years. Carl list his most memorable was representing Niagara in the conference final game against Loyola.

Here is a brief highlight of Carl's Career here at Niagara.

ENJOY!!!

Carl...

Before I start going in to details of Carl Haworth's journey from an under developed boy from Barrie a town 45 minutes from Toronto, to playing division 1 soccer at Niagara University and sweeping up all the individual accolades that one can receive in Niagara Universities conference, to being the first player to be drafted into the MLS (Major League Soccer) in Niagara's history, to getting selected to represent team Canada at the Olympic qualifying, to finally now his fight for securing a contract with Montreal Impact. I am going to tell you guys a little bit about Carl and where he comes from.

Born in Southport, England, Carl moved to Canada with his family in 1990 and settled in Barrie Ontario, a small town 45 minutes from Toronto. Coming from a proud English family Carl was introduced into the world of soccer by his father and soon to be coach for the next few years.

Growing up Carl's favourite Professional club that he use to and still supports is Everton F.C of the English premier league, he looked up to this idols on the the team to mirror their skills in the games as a youngster, but he came across difficulties in the early stages of his development as he matured significantly slower compared to the rest of the kids he grew up with, and found it frustrating to play with kids that often times were bigger than him. Carl needed to adapt in order to progress in his development, he learnt that in order to be affective in games he needed to be quicker and more agile to keep up with the "bigger" kids.

Carl lists his favourite moments growing up was playing for the local soccer team, Barrie S.C. where he helped his team get promoted to the top league in just 5 years and eventually winning the prestigious Ontario Indoor cup.