There were days Louis Beland-Goyette certainly felt cursed, alone, and completely detached from the rest of his teammates.

That’s an ugly combination, to be sure, and especially so for a professional soccer player trying to find a place not only with his squad, but in the game itself.
Rewind to last fall, and Beland-Goyette – now officially a member of Valour FC, but then suiting up with the Montreal Impact – was suffering through an emotional and depressing stretch.

“I had everything bad happen to me last year,” began the 23-year-old midfielder in a recent chat with CanPL.ca. “I had two injuries, back to back, and then I got released from my contract. That’s devastating. It’s why I now appreciate it more every time I go on the field because once you don’t have it you realize how much you miss it and how important it is. It’s your life.”

Beland-Goyette appeared in six games with the Impact in 2017, starting four, and carried the momentum of that season into 2018. But that’s when his luck changed for the worse. He fractured his right foot and rushed to return to the pitch after his recovery, and in the process, then suffered a torn quadriceps muscle.

“It happened 20 minutes into training right after I came back,” Beland-Goyette explained. “I shot the ball and I felt something. Actually, I heard it… it popped a little bit and you know right away. It feels like your leg is detached a little bit. Thankfully, mine wasn’t. In a way, I got lucky because I didn’t need surgery to reattach it.

“But it was an important time of the season. There’s never a good time to have an injury, but it came when there were opportunities to get playing time. It was really a bad moment for me, especially mentally, because I came back for a day… it was very hard, very draining. At one point you’re thinking you’re never going to come back. I got over it.”

Yes, chat with Beland-Goyette now about his story and he comes across as a poster boy for the power of positive thinking. He’s upbeat, engaging and genuinely appreciative of his opportunity with Valour FC.

Ask him to relive the details of the dark times before this, however, and it’s clear he’s had some mental and physical hurdles to overcome.

“I’m fit now and I have a contract,” he said with a shrug and a smile. “I appreciate things more, just stepping outside on the pitch makes a whole difference. My family, my girlfriend, they can all see it because, unfortunately, when you are injured you are down and when you start coming back and getting fit again it makes a huge difference.

“With my foot fracture, it was the little things… I couldn’t even drive because it was my right foot and I was on crutches. All of a sudden you can’t drive, you can’t go to the grocery store, I couldn’t do promotional stuff for the team.

“Mentally, it’s the hardest challenge for an athlete,” he added. “Being released is bad stuff, but when it’s an injury and you really can’t control things it’s just bad luck. You feel detached from the team because you have a different schedule from everybody. In Montreal, I would eat by myself. I would come in by myself, do my gym work and physio by myself without seeing all my teammates. You are further detached when they go away on road trips and you’re staying home.”

Beland-Goyette was been all-in on his recovery, especially after his release from the Impact. He trained every day dating back to last November and worked extensively with a physiotherapist to get his strength back.

And when Valour FC head coach Rob Gale came courting with an opportunity here in Winnipeg, he was all-in on that opportunity, too.

“I’m a big believer in Plan A… and no Plan B,” he said. “I put everything into this. I signed my first professional contract at 18. I was done with high school and I told myself I’m going all in with this. My friends and parents are all like that, too. It’s motivating and good to have that support.

“This can be a short career. I want to enjoy it and last year… it’s wasted. It’s in the garbage. Obviously I’ve tried to take some positives from it, some learning steps from it. But it’s why I needed a new adventure. I played six years in Montreal and for me right now this is the best move of my career.

“Most of all, I just want to be healthy, get the most games possible and get into a groove again. I’ve been doing this, as I said, since I was 18 and my friends who are successful are that because they are consistent. It’s not always who is the most talented, it’s who is consistently performing. If I do my job, these good things will come.”

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