Kleinburg Nobleton Soccer Club introduces new technical director
Jason Beckford has deep roots in English professional game

YorkRegion.com
Oct. 15, 2015
By Tim Kelly

The Kleinburg Nobleton Soccer Club has passed the ball on to a new technical director with deep roots in the English professional game.

Jason Beckford, who emigrated to Canada three years ago and most recently was working with the Newmarket Soccer Club, spent nine years playing with eight different clubs in England including Manchester City, Blackburn Rovers and Birmingham City, scoring four goals in 53 matches.

Beckford, 45, was forced to retire in 1996 after a knee injury cut short the 5-foot-9 forward’s career. But he went on to become a student of the came turning his sights on to management. He took over Mossley and helped lead the club to a pair of promotions from 2003-2007.

Married to an accountant who has family in York Region, Beckford said he and his wife decided to come to Canada a number of years ago “because of the lifestyle here.”
As technical director of KNSC, he’ll have oversight of all soccer operations including recreational, competitive and high-performance including Ontario Player Development League (OPDL).

That includes 1,680 players includes and approximately 160 coaches.

He had been working for the Football Association, “back home in the Manchester area, as an adjudicator and sports lecturer at a college,” when the bug bit to come to Canada.

Just lifestyle, not football at all. I was already working for the FA back home, as an adjudicator in the Manchester area, licensing coaches for them and I was a sports lecturer at the local college; my wife is an accountant so we both had good jobs.

“I reached out to the Ontario Soccer Association and they pointed me in the right direction,” said Beckford, who was happy to continue coaching and teaching.

He did notice a huge difference between coaching soccer in England and coaching in Canada.

“No disrespect to anybody but the quality’s different because obviously we’re dealing with the best players in the northwest of England or in the Manchester area, so we were getting the cream as it were and I was working in a professional environment.

“Here, you’re dealing with a lower level and that took some adjusting to, and also, I was coaching girls, and that was something I’d never done before until I came here. All those things need adjusting to,” said Beckford.

He is quick to say there is talent in York Region, however. What he does find lacking is quality in the coaching ranks.

“The weakness tends to be in the coaching. No doubt, we do need better coaches and there has to be a pathway and environment for players to develop in,” he said.

Beckford has also noticed that here in Canada there is too much emphasis on team first, skills later. He said the reverse is necessary.

“People want to develop teams here, but you have to develop players first and foremost, as a byproduct of that you will get better teams because your players will be better. If parents are looking for a conducive environment for learning - I don’t mean soft - but a competitive environment where players get the opportunity to make mistakes, that’s what I’ll be doing at our club.”

For more information on the Kleinburg Nobleton Soccer Club, visit www.knsc.ca.