For five years, between the Ottawa Fury and Atlético Ottawa, Drew Beckie represented the nation’s capital on the pitch.

He helped the Fury reach the 2015 NASL Soccer Bowl and in 2022 captained Atlético Ottawa to a CPL regular season title and the 2022 CPL Final.

Now, two years removed from hanging up his boots following that 2022 season, Beckie is playing a key role in helping to identify, develop and construct a pathway for, the next generation of talent in the Ottawa region.

Last January, Beckie was promoted to the role of Director of Football Development and Player Engagement with Atlético Ottawa. In this position, he has been tasked with expanding the club’s Powered by Atlético Ottawa structure, and building the club’s partnership with Ottawa South United in Ligue1 Québec among other aspects of the Atlético Ottawa player development pathway.

“We’re at the top of the pyramid, and we’re a club that wants to better promote development for Ottawa and Gatineau,” said Beckie. “It hasn’t been good enough in the past. It really hasn’t, let’s be fully honest, and we have an opportunity now to change that.”

The Powered by Atlético Ottawa program now encompasses 21 clubs and programs (soon to be 22) in the local community. The program provides resources and opportunity for minor soccer clubs in the region from both Atlético Ottawa and parent club Atlético de Madrid.

Meanwhile, a few times per month, the club sponsors training sessions bringing together top talent in the Ottawa region. This not only gives the club the opportunity to identify and then track talent in the local area, but also these players’ experiences and professional-level training standards, and then sending them back to their respective clubs equipped with new skills and confidence.

Some of those players can then be provided a pathway to join the club’s Ligue1 Québec partner Ottawa South United, and further their development in an elite football environment. Ottawa South United’s reserves won both the league and the playoffs in the 2024 Ligue1 Québec reserve league.

Putting this in place has been a really collaborative process, says Beckie, particularly highlighting the important work of Stephen O’Kane, the head coach of the Atlético Ottawa development program, and Vlad Vršecký, who is the head coach of the Ottawa South United Ligue1 and U-19 teams.

“We have really created a pretty thorough structure so far that we’re happy with in one year,” said Beckie. “We still have lots and lots of work to do, but the community is working together to identify top talent together, which was never done before.”

An example of this already in action is 21-year-old Tyr Walker, a native of Russell, Ont. (about a half-hour outside downtown Ottawa), who has now played 24 times for the first team in all competitions. That included starting both of the Atlético Ottawa’s CPL playoff matches this year.

“He’s the blueprint for us, he was found through our Atlético development program, somebody that kind of came out of the blue, that had the great framework of what we want,” said Beckie.

One of the biggest differences that Beckie sees in this generation of Canadian players is the opportunity they now have to start their professional careers at home. When he was their age, players of his generation were forced to go abroad to seek professional experience in their teenage years, which was few and far between.

“I keep telling these guys, if you get 50-60 games by the time you’re 21, you’re flying,” said Beckie.”So you have to keep going. We have to keep doing that with young players and giving them opportunities. And some clubs do it better than others, and we need to improve on that.”

Asked what he wishes he was told by someone in his current role when he was an up-and-coming player, his answer is twofold. Firstly, he underlines the importance of embracing moments of difficulty, because if you can persevere they will make you better — and learn the consistency that is so critical to success at the pro level. He also underlines the importance of focusing on technical ability from a young age, and appreciating those who are willing to invest time in your development.

“Work on your technical ability every single day,” says Beckie. “If you’ve got a person that can train you one-on-one, or use a wall. Get comfortable on the ball, because that will serve you for many years. They just compound. You can work on the physical stuff later. I think people worry too much at 13, 14, 15 on their physical aspect. Yes, it’s important, yes you need to get the movements down, but the technical ability is far and away the top priority.”

As Beckie and the club look ahead to 2025, they will do so under new leadership. The club announced on Nov. 29 the appointment of Manuel Vega as its new CEO. The 33-year-old brings with him a wealth of experience from Puebla FC in Liga MX, most recently serving as the club’s Director of Corporate Relations, but also serving as the Director of Youth Development in the past.

“He’s come in, he’s been open with [Assistant General Manager JD Ulanowski] and me about building things in a certain way,” said Beckie. “We do it together. We’ve formed quite a great team already, and I think we have some very interesting candidates to bring in a head coach. That’s our priority at the moment, and somebody that will lead us in a new direction that we didn’t maybe have before.”

The Atlético Ottawa first team is looking to rebound from a difficult 2024 season where they were unable to turn a strong off-season of recruiting stars from across the league into silverware on the pitch. They finished third in the league table, despite leading the league for 14 consecutive weeks, and lost to Forge in the CPL playoff semi-final.

“To be fully honest, it’s a disappointing year for the team that we made,” said Beckie. “We had high expectations, we have lofty goals that weren’t achieved and that’s on both us as a staff and the players. Everybody needs to hold their hand up and say, ‘I need to be better’.”

But with several of those players, including CPL stars like Nathan Ingham, Manny Aparicio, Aboubacar Sissoko and Ballou Tabla back for next season, Atleti are looking to use the lessons learned in 2024 to propel themselves to new heights in 2025.

“We have a good set of guys returning this year that we can build off of,” said Beckie. “So we’re excited.”

Beckie is continuing to make sure that collection of talent is well stocked, both for the first team today, and with local talent coming through the development pathway in years to come.