GKSSA teams playing friendlies against Kingston FC

This coming Saturday, the GKSSA's A Division winning team, Soccer Plus FC, will be facing off again a squad of players from Kingston FC's lineup in a pre-season exhibition game, the first on Kingston FC's schedule.

A second game will follow next Friday against Portuguese Benfica, the 2012 Carmine Lanzo, Sr Cup and playoff winners.

Jackie Tessier trying out for FISU's Team Canada (Updated)

The 2013 FISU Summer Universiade takes place this July 6th through 17th in the city of Kazan, in the Republic of Tararstan, part of the Russian Federation. One of Kingston's top female soccer players is hoping to be part of the women's team that Canada is sending and headed off today for the final round of tryouts.

Jackie Tessier, fresh off her fourth season with the Queen's Golden Gaels, and a third national medal in a row, left today for Burnaby, BC for a chance to make the final roster of twenty players that will be heading to the games this summer. She is following in the footsteps of Brienna Shaw and Riley Filion who played with the women's team in Harbin, China in 2011.

CSL v CSA - Sport Arbitration?

Over the last few weeks, Support Local Soccer has talked about the ongoing issues between the CSL, CSA, and OSA, discussing how this could affect local athletes involved with the Kingston FC team.

The latest news from the Canadian Soccer News is that the CSA has re-affirmed their decision to sever ties with the CSL, leaving them unsanctioned.

The report also states that the CSL has plans to go to the Sport Dispute Resolution of Canada to mediate the issue.

New Kingston Dome news?

During last night's Kingston City Council meeting, recreation and leisure staff reported that after two years, they are still waiting for work to proceed on the Westbrook Dome.

The Quarry Sportsplex closed in 2011, the last time there was an indoor facility available in the City of Kingston.

City staff suggested to Council that they continue to monitor the Westbrook Dome project, but also begin looking for a possible private sector partner to install a dome on the new turf field being built at John Machin Park this summer.

Kingston FC tryouts - UPDATE

Kingston FC had their first evening of tryouts last night, and despite the blustery weather, a number of prospects showed up.

Unfortunately, due to a recent by-law issue, the West Campus turf field was closed and the lights cannot be used until they comply with local by-laws. As such, the tryouts moved down to Tindall Field on the main Queen's Campus.

OCAA and OUA response on student-athlete eligibility

As a followup to the recent stories about the CSA's de-sanctioning of the CSL David Rowaan of SoccerWire Ontario spent a fair bit of time recently talking with officials in the OUAA, OUA, and CIS trying to get a firm handle on their stances on student-athlete eligibility if they took part in the upcoming 2013 CSL season.

Kingston FC preparing for 2013 - Open Tryouts (Updated)

Today, the CSL announced that they are preparing for the new season, despite the de-sanctioning announcement from the CSA in February.

Along with this announcement, they confirmed that the TFC Academy team had withdrawn from the league, as this would be due to issues discussed previously.

The season is expected to start late April, the league's earliest start, with Kingston FC's home opener taking place on May 5th at the Queen's West Campus field.

CSL issues: Effects on Kingston FC?

With the news this week that the CSA was not sanctioning the CSL for the 2013 season, there has been a big scramble between the CSA, CSL, and their member teams as everything tries to figure out the plans for the upcoming season.

Earlier this year on January 31st, CBC Sports released a report that the CSA had cut ties but the CSA made nothing public about the situation. On February 3, the CSL put out a press release that essentially accused the CBC story of lying. Just over a month later, the CSL confirmed the de-sanctioning in another press release on March 5th.

So... what's the deal? What does this mean to the teams? What does this mean to Kingston FC and its local players?