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As it approaches the time of year where every league in continental Europe is in season, especially after a World Cup, there is a sense of a new beginning. Players transferred, contracts signed, and every club has a chance to exceed their positions from the season prior.
Audio Interview:
For 23-year old Julian Uccello of Maple, Ontario, the start of the 2010/11 campaign is also a new beginning. After wracking up countless games and goals in the lower levels of Italy's football leagues, he has earned a spot with F.C. Crotone in Serie B, bringing him one step closer to the dream he set out on eight years ago - to play competitively in Serie A.
Having secured trials with Manchester United and Bolton at the age of 14, a year later Uccello would find a home to continue his footballing development in Italy, first being brought over by Lazio, but in the end signing on with A.C. Milan.
Like a handful of Canadians before him, Uccello would sacrifice his teenage years to go overseas to see if he could make it professionally in Europe. However, there is the side of this story that often doesn't get told and for every 15-16 year old who makes such a huge leap, like the De Guzmans, Brennans, Peters and Edgars, the fortunes of the player is intricately tied in with the support and guidance of the parents.
For Frank and Bartolina Uccello they saw Julian’s crossroad, although younger than most, as the same choice many teenagers make at one point in their lives.
“It’s a sacrifice that you make, because it’s his profession,” says Julian’s mother, “Just like your child leaves for University, continues on to study medicine and goes far away – you’re taking sometimes over ten years of your life to pursue your dream. It’s the same thing with Julian so he could get where he wanted to go.”
With the introduction of Toronto FC and now Vancouver and Montreal following suit, not to mention their academy programs, there are now more viable professional options for a young Canadian footballer. However, eight years ago the decision to stay in North America would have been a more difficult one. With no Canadian MLS franchises, a player would be counted as an international and needed to be worth their weight in gold to take up one of these slots. This would be the choice posed to the Uccellos, to stay here in North America and try to break through, or take the gamble and make it overseas.
"At age 15 it was a really tough decision. I had many scholarship offers in the States to all different kinds of schools," explains Julian, "To come to Italy was a big sacrifice for me and especially for my family and my fiancé who I am still with now for nine years. It's something that was important for me because in order for me to succeed in soccer I needed to get to Europe, as the MLS wasn't as big as it is now. It was hard on my family and friends. My Dad and my Mum and everyone else basically brought me up with soccer and basically put a lot of time and effort into making me who I am today and I thank them for everything that they have done. For them to allow to allow their son - because basically at 15 years of age they have to allow me - to go and experience this. They always gave me the choice to come home if I didn't like it or didn't feel comfortable. From the day that I got here, with the way that soccer is here, I just loved it and couldn't come back home."
For many parents, getting into a post-secondary institution immediately is often the priority for their child. However, the Uccellos have what can be seen as a very patient outlook on life.
“We looked at it from a point of view that Julian is a very smart kid. We had scholarship opportunities, but Julian’s passion was more the European side of things. He wanted to be there. At that time the MLS system was not really up and running to where it is now.” Julian’s father Frank continues, “As parents we felt we could postpone his education, and that really, it’s never too late to learn. We wanted to see how he’d survive for the first couple of years and then from there see if he would stay on this course or lean more towards his education.”
The first few weeks, especially at 15, can be very difficult away from home. It can often be seen that this is what will make or break a youngster, as they try to settle in and come to terms with friends and family being so far away. For most young Canadians, the move overseas likely would be to a country where the language barrier is not a factor, but for Uccello, even with this obstacle he knew then it was the right move.
"It was hard because, you know, being Canadian and not knowing the language, it was tough the first couple of weeks," describes Julian, "But I got here and the players at Milan were very nice and very comforting and a lot of guys knew English, which helped a lot. After two months I learned the language, was cooking on my own and had my own place and all that stuff. I have nothing bad to say about Italy and I never will. It has made me the person I am today and I can only thank all the clubs who have had me in the past for making me who I am today."
Aside from the culture shock, is also the football shock. As much as Canada develops young players in numbers it is often thought that around the age of 14 is when the approach to training here differs noticeably from those nations where football is priority number one. Where Canadians are able to compete with almost every nation until this age, the change in methods, not just for training but mentally as well, is where the big European footballing nations take the game to another level and see these youngsters not as boys, but as men preparing for a potential career.
"The training and the coaching is very different. It's just a different mindset. It's very much just all soccer, soccer, soccer. Whereas in Canada you will have players that are playing soccer in the summer and hockey in the winter and you never have a team for a full year. Training-wise you have to be fit. They train you until your legs fall off basically for the first two weeks of preseason, which helps you for pretty much the whole rest of the year. Ball control and all of the technical aspects are basically hammered into you when you are young so that as you get older it is basically there and you already know automatically what you have to do when playing."
For the Uccellos, the main priority for Julian's development was playing time. The allure of A.C. Milan and reaching the top division for many would be hard to resist as the reality was he would need to be loaned out to the lower divisions in order to get the minutes needed to improve. More often than not, going against the instinct to play and sign on with a bigger club results in sitting on the bench, loaned out and never making a name or impact at any level. However, both Julian, his parents and their agent were steadfast in the approach of patience and that being a part of a club day in day out and involved in the first team would be paramount to him one day being an integral component of a team at Serie B, and possibly even Serie A.
Frank Uccello explains, “We had a one track mind as parents, as player, as agent and that was he must play. He cannot be sitting on the bench. If we were faced with the choice of going from Milan to a Serie C team and he would be sitting, it would be a detriment to him because there would be no opportunity to establish a history with his name. You really can’t go anywhere if you don’t establish your name. You sometimes have to take one step back to move two steps forward. He went to Savona, which allowed him to play all the games that he needed to play.”
"Moving from Milan to a Serie D team wasn't discouraging at all,” adds Julian, “Knowing that I was coming from a youth Milan team, I knew going to the first team was impossible. Being in Serie D, I was there to grow up. Being 15-16 years old I was going there to train, play, get better and, in time, things were going to happen. You have to have a lot of trust in your agent, a lot of trust in your coach and a lot of trust in the President of your club that you are with. If you have that and you play well, every door will open for you."
“There have been opportunities to jump, but we chose not to,” finishes Frank, “It’s not money, it’s the passion and more about playing than sitting. Especially when you’re an outsider trying to climb up the ladder. Even with an Italian background, you’re still the Canadian who’s playing in Italy.”
The Uccello’s patience and persistence finally paid off. After eight years, over one hundred and fifty games, over seventy goals, and a scoring title, Julian worked his way and built a name that earned him a spot on playoff contending club in F.C. Crotone. His steady progression and achievement of a significant goal is a testament to the philosophy of patience that his family adheres.
“After every year I look at what I have done and see if I was pleased or wasn't pleased with what I achieved,” Julian outlines, “After eight years I have not once said to myself that I wasn't pleased with how my year went. Of course, I always wanted to move up, but if I was going to move up and then not play, then I knew I would rather stay where I was. Even coming home in the summer, where some players don't do any training when they are on their offseason, I would wait a week and then start training again in order to get ready for the next season. It's always been twenty-four hour a day soccer, soccer, soccer for me and that is what has got me to where I am today.”
The road taken by Julian and decisions made by himself and his family to get where he is today gives confidence that the future is bright. Many would want it all as soon as possible, but his steady ascension of skill, results, building a reputation and making a name in Italy can only be seen as coming from a virtuous path, one of patience that is beginning to pay off.
“At the end of the day he’s lived a life of what I would describe as of gratitude and fortune,” says Frank, “All I wanted to do was help him fulfill his dream. I put a lot of time in coaching him for the first ten years and once I’ve committed to that end of the passion and assist him to getting where he wanted to go – from there on it was his passion alone.”
Julian concludes, “I think that every decision that I have made has been the right decision. Being the right decision in some cases opens one door and closes another. With respect to where I am right now, I think every door that I have taken to this day has brought me to where I want to go.”
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