After reading Ned Bekavac’s article “Curious exit at local soccer club” (Tribune, Jan. 12), we wish to set the record straight. The headline suggests that former executive director Alan Gould left the club under questionable circumstances. To be clear, Gould decided to leave Guelph Soccer of his own accord. During his tenure with the club, he accomplished many things, including the expansion of our club from a summer-only program to a year-round operation and the creation of KidsAbility, a special adapted play program for children with disabilities. Gould was also instrumental in the hiring of Ruben Flores, our accomplished technical director.
The article attempts to link Gould’s departure to questions about the qualifications and experience of Flores. In Ruben Flores, the club is very fortunate to have such an experienced and passionate technical director, coach and teacher. He has almost 20 years of coaching experience at all levels, and has earned top-level coaching accreditation in several countries, including Canada, United States, Brazil and Mexico. He came to Guelph Soccer in early 2011 from the Ontario Soccer Association, where he had worked since 2005 as a highly successful coach for a number of boys and girls provincial teams. Flores has worked tirelessly to improve our club, and anyone who has been involved with Guelph Soccer in the past year can see the tremendous positive changes he has made.
As Bekavac acknowledges, Flores is “a heck of a teaching talent.” Guelph Soccer and our community are extremely fortunate to have Ruben leading the technical direction of our club and teaching our children to love and learn soccer.
We regret that it took some time to arrange meetings between the Bekavac, Flores and Aaron MacGillivray, then chair of Guelph Soccer’s board. It is disappointing, however, that the Tribune declined a meeting with MacGillivray on Dec. 22 when some of Bekavac’s questions could have been answered, thereby avoiding the harmful speculation contained in the article.
At Guelph Soccer, we are focused on building a stronger community and encouraging our members’ lifelong involvement in soccer. We are confident that all of the club’s staff members and volunteers share this vision, and have the qualifications and experience to help achieve it.
David Woodcock
Guelph Soccer board member
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The fact that David Woodcock has seen fit to gloss over the fact that Flores’ resume (which is still visible on the Guelph Soccer website) is likely embellished to some extent is a bit more troubling than a weak inference that Flores’ qualifications and resume may have led to or been somehow related to Gould’s departure. As was noted in the Tribune, there seemed to be a great deal of reluctance on both the part of Flores and MacGillivray to respond to questions regarding Flores’s experience.
In your last paragraph you state that, “We are confident that all of the club’s staff members share this vision and have the qualifications and experience to help achieve it.” Does that include staff members who provide you with fanciful versions of resumes that you obviously didn’t bother checking?
If that’s the case, I’m Brazilian, played on the 1994 World Cup Team, and have experience in the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A and a variety of coaching certificates at all levels of proficiency in soccer. Should I submit a resume or just post it to your website?
Eagerly awaiting your reply,
Wadaboriboy
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What I wrote previously doesn’t mean for a second that Ruben Flores isn’t an infinitely capable technical director for Guelph Soccer. He obviously has a great deal of accredited experience and talent. I’m questioning why Woodcock doesn’t address the core issue. Flores is good enough without a possibly embellished resume to hire as a technical director. If there are issues in verifying portions of his playing career, why not just focus on what he’s done in Canada- which is certainly more than good enough to justify his hiring?
Hot debate. What do you think?
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