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Two promising amateur soccer players from Laval were presented with $1,000 bursaries from the Montreal Impact soccer club during the Quebec Soccer Federation’s annual symposium held in Montreal last weekend. Matthieu Alfonzetti and Michelot Hyacinthe shared a $12,000 bursary with six other soccer athletes.
Hard work rewarded
“We are greatly involved in supporting the hard work of local athletes in trying to outdo themselves in their chosen discipline and we are proud to encourage soccer in Quebec once again this year,” Impact owner Joey Saputo said during a noontime awards ceremony and banquet held last Saturday at the Hôtel Auberge Universel on Sherbrooke Street East.
Saputo said local players are a precious resource to the Impact and they wanted to develop and bring forth their potential to the fullest. “By investing in youth through the bursaries program, we are showing that it is our will to see the pool of players from Quebec grow larger in order to assure a long-lasting effect in the sport.” Hyacinthe plays attack. In the past year, he was a silver medalist at the Canadian U-16 championships.
Both play attack
In 2008, he was a gold medalist at the Canadian U-14 championships. He is currently pursuing studies in Secondary 4 at École secondaire des Sources. Alfonzetti also plays attack. He, too, was a silver medalist in the 2009 U-16 Canadian championships. He received a gold medal while playing for the Conquérants de Laval at the Canadian championship for U-16 clubs in 2009. He is currently a Secondary 5 student at Laurier Senior High School.
Created in 2005, the Impact’s bursary program is managed by the Fondation de l’athlète d’excellence du Québec in partnership with the Quebec Soccer Federation. This year, the Montreal Impact became champions of the Premier Division of the USL for the third time in its history, while its farm-team, the Trois-Rivières Attak, won the first title of its short history in the Canadian Soccer League.
