FLETCHERS LAKE: Scott Firth is looking to make the most of his second trial with Toronto FC.
Firth, of Fall River, began playing soccer after his mom and dad enrolled him in the Timbits soccer program with his brother back when he was five years old.
Now, he is on the edge of making the pro soccer ranks if he can impress the Toronto FC coaches enough.
“Getting invited back to TFC is a big achievement and I’m looking forward to doing my best once again while I’m there,” said Firth in an interview with The Laker. “Having this opportunity is not something everyone gets to have and I’m very grateful for it.
“To me, having this second trial means that there must have been some kind of interest in my abilities on my first trial and that helps me work harder to become a better player for this next opportunity.”
It wasn’t easy to get this far, said Firth. He had to sacrifice a lot of time and miss out on social events.
“For many years I was training once a day if not twice to get better and better at soccer. All of this training takes a lot of time out of your day,” he said. “It really was eat, sleep, soccer.”
In the meantime, he has suited up with the Halifax Wanderes FC team during a friendly against Fortuba Dusseldorf. He expected to be locked to the bench. However, Halifax’s coaches had a different plan for him.
“When coach Stephen Hart announced I was going to start the game I was surprised because I’m the youngest player on the team. To be in the starting 11 is a big deal,” said Firth. “Playing in this game meant a lot to me as I could look in the crowd and see hundreds of faces that I recognized, anybody from friends to teammates.
“Seeing their faces gave me chills because all these people that I knew were watching me play the game that I love.”
And now he hopes to continue that at the highest pro level possible with Toronto FC.
