Royals Profile: Steve Kowlessar

There is a famous quote from Johann Cruyff that stipulates that the game of football is simple, but it is very difficult to play simple. It follows that the best compliment I can give Steve Kowlessar as a player is that he plays simple; he plays with such simplicity in fact that when he is shielding a ball, making a pin-point pass, or scoring on one of his booming shots from 40 yards away from goal, he looks as though he is hardly breaking a sweat. Steve is a quiet player on the surface, often he will show up for training or a game and lose himself in the crowd, finding his way to a football and quietly going about warming up by himself on the side. If you're not careful you might miss the fact that he is even there at first. Hardly what you would expect from the son of a Guyanese father and a Quebec-born mother. But underneath that calm demeanor lies a man with a steely survivor instinct; once the whistle blows Steve is a fierce competitor, and should he ever find himself behind on the score sheet or feel hard done by an opposing player's rough play, his Caribbean and Gallic passion shines through in spades with flashy play, bone-crushing tackles and a flair for late-game dramatics. Steve is a player that leads by example, and believes that actions speak louder than words. His biggest asset is his ability to play high quality football on a consistent basis, but should the situation call for something out of the ordinary, Steve has that rare ability to raise his game to an even higher level. As he now enters his third year with the Ottawa Royals, you feel it's time for Steve to take over as one of the Premier players in the province and lead the blue & white back to provincial glory and another run at the elusive Men's amateur National Championship.

By Dom Rochon