A story that we've been following for over a year now - the private academy fight to get recognition from the OSA - is about to take a major jump forward this weekend when the provincial board of directors reviews a proposal to recognize non-club academies.
After five years of lobbying by groups like SAAC and others, this weekend's decision will represent the first real move on the part of the OSA to bring private academies under their wing. And while there is more bureaucracy to wade through than ever, for the first time in a while there seems to be an appetite for change and that's lead by those at the top like OSA president Ron Smalle and Director of Organizational Development Bruce Henderson.
On a special Interview Only edition of It's Called Football, we're joined by Lino Terra, operations manager for the SAAC academies to speak about their fight for recognition at the OSA level, establishing pathways for academy players onto Provincial teams and explain how protective attitudes over personal fiefdoms continues to hold back development in Canada.
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The hosting service is having problems with the embedded show today. You can listen here and obviously on iTunes.
You can read more about the proposal before the OSA in documents here and here