Get To Know Your TSS Rovers: Tim Hickson

[AFTN]

Get To Know Your TSS Rovers: Tim Hickson

If WFC2 had existed several seasons before it did, then Tim Hickson’s footballing journey may have taken a slightly different path from what it did for the Whitecaps Residency alumni.

Hickson was part of the Whitecaps U18 side that lost a heartbreaker in the 2012 USSDA Championship game against Dallas, playing in 30 of the ‘Caps matches that season, starting 23 of the games, and captaining a very talented team that produced three MLS players and launched a number of pro careers elsewhere.

Hickson had played PDL the previous two summers with the Whitecaps U23 side, making 10 appearances in 2010 and 11 over the 2011 season. But therein lay the problem for the defensive midfielder. By playing in those matches, alongside paid professionals from the Whitecaps MLS squad, Hickson burned his NCAA eligibility, and with no pro deal with the ‘Caps forthcoming and limited options for where he could play, there weren’t a lot of paths open to him.

After weighing up his options, Hickson chose the college route, staying in Canada to play CIS soccer with the University of Alberta Golden Bears in his hometown of Edmonton.

Hickson played his youth football for Edmonton’s Southwest United SC, captaining the team and winning three Alberta youth provincial championships through the age levels. He also won a silver medal in the Alberta men’s provincial championships with Edmonton Green and Gold in 2009.

Hickson’s youth career earned him a month’s trial with English Premier league side Middlesbrough’s academy in March 2009 and he joined the Whitecaps Residency program later that year, travelling and touring with the team to play matches in Mexico, Germany, and the US over the next two years ahead of their first, and highly successful, USSDA season in 2011/12.

After a year on the outside, Hickson made the decision to get an education, heading to the University of Alberta to study history in the fall of 2013. Fast forward 12 months and he was named captain in his sophomore year, a position he still currently holds as he gets set to head into his final senior year this fall.

After missing the start of the 2016 season, Hickson made nine appearances for the Golden Bears in Canada West play last year, adding one assist, as Alberta wrapped up the Conference Championship and booked a place at the nationals in Guelph.

Hickson played every minute at the nationals as the Golden Bears won their first CIS/U Sports men’s soccer national championship (the Sam Davidson Memorial Trophy) since 2006, and the fifth in their history, beating UQAM 1-0 in the final.

These guys tho!! @usportsca National Champions! #GreenandGOLD #UALBERTA https://t.co/YS7r3bnuLR pic.twitter.com/JG00l46lsq

— UAlberta Athletics (@BearsandPandas) November 13, 2016
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Hickson (front and centre with the trophy above) has represented Canada at U18 level and was part of the 2015 Summer Universiade squad in Korea. He was also part of the Calgary Foothills PDL squad for their inaugural 2015 season.

Now 23, Hickson heads back to Vancouver and the lower mainland for the upcoming PDL season with TSS FC Rovers. With one year left in Alberta, he’ll be certainly hoping to make an impression again on the Whitecaps and any other keen suitors. His experience and leadership qualities will be important to the team’s initial success, and it would be no surprise to see him named the TSS captain for the season to come.

Read Further on AFTN.ca

 

[Dude]

For all those pundits that don't understand how big a deal it is that we have no pathway in Canada, they need to read this.

WCFC and the other Canadian clubs with their 2nd div USL sides is OK; full fledged CPL with U23 affiliations would be better.

Thanks- enlightening.

 

[GoF]

I didn't put this in the profile piece as it didn't seem the right place for it, but will be chatting with Tim about it in an interview piece, but after the Caps stuff didn't end up with a pro contract he suffered depression and mental health and addiction problems, which he has overcome and is now a great advocate for with the Uni of Alberta. You do have to wonder if a better pathway existed could that have been prevented and who knows how it affected other players in the past that just didn't make it.

http://globalnews.ca/news/2559500/i...ke-a-thon-raises-awareness-for-mental-health/

 

[Dude]

The three local men's premier leagues are littered with guys where, had they had the benefit of being footballers in counties with proper pathways to proper domestic professional leagues, would be professional footballers.

I always say I'd never trade my birthplace just for having had the chance to grow up playing in one of those nations. That's never changed, there is life beyond this game....but that doesn't mean we can't change the fate of future footballers. His talent hasn't been wasted, because it sounds like he has a very bright future- with or without football.

 

[Dude]

That's a great article. Looking forward to your interview. Keep up the great work telling these stories.

 

[ThiKu]

I didn't put this in the profile piece as it didn't seem the right place for it, but will be chatting with Tim about it in an interview piece, but after the Caps stuff didn't end up with a pro contract he suffered depression and mental health and addiction problems, which he has overcome and is now a great advocate for with the Uni of Alberta. You do have to wonder if a better pathway existed could that have been prevented and who knows how it affected other players in the past that just didn't make it.

http://globalnews.ca/news/2559500/i...ke-a-thon-raises-awareness-for-mental-health/

An all-too often outcome for young men in pro academies that don't get offered a contract. http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/28950665. I am not sure the solution as I don't have direct experience obviously.

 

[ThiKu]

The three local men's premier leagues are littered with guys where, had they had the benefit of being footballers in counties with proper pathways to proper domestic professional leagues, would be professional footballers.

I always say I'd never trade my birthplace just for having had the chance to grow up playing in one of those nations. That's never changed, there is life beyond this game....but that doesn't mean we can't change the fate of future footballers. His talent hasn't been wasted, because it sounds like he has a very bright future- with or without football.

The Canadian Premier League, will resolve this to a degree in the first few years (sounds like 6 teams, maybe 8) but once it reaches 12-14 there shouldn't be too many situations like this moving forward. The kids who are good enough, should get offers. It sounds like there will be a quota of CanCon.

 

[Dude]

That's the hope, to allow the talent here to actually make a go of of this game. We can't keep just having the outliers "make it" overseas- or to MLS where they get scraps- and expect overall improvement of the national team professional level in this country.

I have full respect for the guys that have made it, especially in the pre-MLS years, because by all accounts there is no way they should have. There just isn't enough of them, and for the most part, doors are closed to them moving up to the higher levels...thus, careers stalled.

I've read that article before featuring Josh Payne. A bit different, because in their case, the players can always fall back a level or two and still be in a situation where they are pursuing a footballing career, and pulling in reasonable wages to do it. That said, I get it, and that's a common problem across all professional sports.

 

[ThiKu]

That's the hope, to allow the talent here to actually make a go of of this game. We can't keep just having the outliers "make it" overseas- or to MLS where they get scraps- and expect overall improvement of the national team professional level in this country.

I have full respect for the guys that have made it, especially in the pre-MLS years, because by all accounts there is no way they should have. There just isn't enough of them, and for the most part, doors are closed to them moving up to the higher levels...thus, careers stalled.

I've read that article before featuring Josh Payne. A bit different, because in their case, the players can always fall back a level or two and still be in a situation where they are pursuing a footballing career, and pulling in reasonable wages to do it. That said, I get it, and that's a common problem across all professional sports.

indeed!