The Black Gold Soccer Academy is owned and operated by Jordan Jeffery. Here is his back story:
"I grew up in England and lived there for 20 years other than a brief year in Leduc in 2008. Some of my earliest memories are playing Football (Soccer as Canada likes to call it), I would always be playing in the house (much to my Mum's annoyance) and out in the streets every night after school. When I wasn't playing in the house and streets, I was playing for my club team SAS or Academy team Chivenor Soccer School. I attended Academy events with Plymouth Argyle who were a Championship team at the time and some Man Utd Summer Soccer Schools which pained me as a lifelong Liverpool fan.
"I knew from very young I wasn't cut out to become a Premier League player despite wanting to play for Liverpool one day. As much as I loved playing for my Club teams and on the streets, from an early age I was always Coaching. From 12-14 I was running street teams for the younger kids on the street I used to live on so I could practice what I saw as my future career.
"At 15 I moved to Leduc for a year, I played U16 for Leduc 2-3 nights a week and coached U12 the other 2 nights a week. As much as I enjoyed scoring goals and trying to compete for titles as a player, I felt this was the year with my first official Coaching gig that this was the way forward for me. I continued to play and still do to this day, but my primary focus is on being a Coach.
"A few weeks shy of turning 20 myself and my family moved back to Canada. We relocated to Saskatchewan and that is where myself and my Dad were combining Coaching duties with being Directors of the Soccer Board of the town we lived in. 4 years of 1000's of hours of volunteerism later, I was asked to become the Full-Time Technical Director of the organization which I accepted and continued up until I relocated to Alberta again.
"Being a Technical Director I developed a Provincial Travel League for the Province which even saw some Alberta teams travel down to compete in. I set up a partnership initially with the Vancouver Whitecaps where we created an Academy Centre that I headed up with Jonathon from the Whitecaps. After a couple years of this partnership, I was fortunate enough to connect with Celtic FC and create an International Partnership and created a number of programs as a result. I was able to play a part in the development of a number of athletes who went on to play at various levels from College/University/Semi Professional and Professional Academies.
"My goal has always been to return to Leduc and open up my own Academy with the Battle River District. I believe I can play a huge role in the development and rebuilding of this area. This is the start of the Black Gold Soccer Academy.
"I'm thrilled to be back in my Canadian home."