NEW GLASGOW
When he moved with his family to Canada from his birthplace of Scotland at age three, Noah Dignan could have done what a lot of Canadian kids do: play hockey.
But soccer that was his passion, a natural talent who’s been kicking soccer balls around since he was barely out of diapers. “It’s a sport that’s popular where I’m from,” says Dignan. “A lot of my friends don’t play it, so it’s unique.”
The New Glasgow resident joined North Nova United at age eight, and quickly reached the top competitive level for his age, playing Tier 1 level soccer for XFC U12 boys, based out of StFX University, when he was 10.
The following year, he was the youngest boy to be invited to try out for the provincial under 13 squad.
“Soccer is part of his DNA,” said his father, Mike.
Now, 14, Noah Dignan is training alongside the best young soccer players in Nova Scotia, and travels as many as three times a week to train with the Vancouver Whitecaps high-performance elite program in Halifax.
“It’s a youth academy for (the Whitecaps), players who are young,” says the soft-spoken Dignan, who will live with a Whitecaps teammate during the summer to allow for more training time with the Whitecaps.
“His dream is to be a pro and this opens the door a little bit. It’s an opportunity that thousands of kids around the world would kill for,” Mike Dignan says.
Last spring, he represented his province with a Nova Scotia team trip to Vancouver for a week-long training session with the U13 team, where they played four games against other provinces, winning against Saskatchewan and Newfoundland, with Dignan scoring the winning goals in both games.
After that, Soccer Nova Scotia got in touch with Dignan and urged him to consider the Whitecaps academy. He wasn’t able to join them last summer, but played with Nova Scotia’s U15 team in Vancouver earlier this spring, where he was selected for the “best of the rest,” a team made up of all the best players in the country who played against the current Whitecaps residency team.
He began formal training with the Whitecaps program in HRM within the past week and also plays for the U17 provincial team.
“They’re a lot bigger and stronger – it’s an honour to play with people that are older and have more experience.”
When asked if devoting too much of his time to soccer ever feels like a chore, he replied, “no – it’s way better than school.”
HFC starts registration on Sunday
The News
STELLARTON – Registration for the Highland Football Club (HFC) starts on Sunday.
It will be at the William M. Sobey Indoor Sports Complex in Stellarton, for girls U13, U15, U17 from noon until 1:30 p.m., and for boys U13, U15 and U17 teams from 1:30 until 3 p.m.
Registration dates will also be April 22 in Stellarton (3-4 p.m. for girls, 4-5 p.m. for boys).
There will be training sessions and games announced soon after, with league play set to begin next month.
There are also registration sessions being held in Antigonish over the next 10 days.
