Since Jesse Marsch took over as head coach of the Canadian men's national team, almost every camp he's run on home soil has featured some kind of involvement from other coaches around the Canadian game. Current Canadian Premier League coaches Patrice Gheisar and Mauro Eustáquio have been spotted at Canada training, as have the likes of David Edgar and Martin Nash.
This past week, Pacific FC head coach James Merriman joined Marsch's staff in Vancouver to lend a hand to Canada's preparations for their Concacaf Gold Cup opener against Honduras, which they won 6-0 on Tuesday night.
He's back on Van Isle now, hard at work with Pacific ahead of their trip to play Cavalry FC this weekend. However, he's brought plenty of new ideas and a fresh perspective back with him to Langford, having seen first-hand what Marsch and co. are trying to instill in the national team.
"They have such a good group, a great culture within the team, really strong staff," Merriman said Thursday. "I very much appreciate the opportunity Jesse brought me into. ... They're very clear in the way they want to attack the game, the way they want to play the game, and they've got off to a great start."
It's not a one-way street, though. While Merriman may hope to bring what he learned with the national team back to Pacific, his time in Canada camp also allowed him to offer his own perspective and ideas.
Marsch explained earlier this week why it's been important to him, as a non-Canadian, to integrate a variety of voices from the Canadian coaching community to ensure the national team is a reflection of the country it represents.
"Each one has come in with something, not just there to watch and learn but to also give opinions and give us perspective on what they've been seeing, on what they think," Marsch said. "There's been a real appreciation, I think, that we've had such open environments, that we're inclusive, and in the end all of this is important in terms of the movement we're trying to make in this country, and the advancements we're trying to make in the sport in this country."
Marsch added that, although his primary job is to win matches and ensure the national team is at its peak when the World Cup rolls around, he's mindful that it's important to look at the bigger picture of Canadian soccer.
"It's been an important extension to make as a foreign coach of the Canadian national team," he said. "To make sure that the commitment to the game in the country and the people that are from the country is at the highest level. Even when recruiting dual nationals, the first thing I talk about it what it means to be Canadian, and how that resonates with them, what it means to them. Although I'm not Canadian I'm learning more every day, and in some ways I have a good perspective because I can learn and see and watch and listen, and come up with my version of what that means, then make sure we're reinforcing it with everything we do."
A consistent flow of information between all levels of the game in Canada will, Merriman explained, help improve the quality of coaching all around.
There's a wealth of good coaches in the CPL, so it's a positive sign that Marsch is tapping into that bank of knowledge.
"It elevates the coaching [in Canada]," Merriman said. "It brings what we're trying to do in the Canadian Premier League right through to the senior team, to Canada Soccer. We need to continue to work together across the country to develop players, to push players up to the next level, whether it's League1 or into the CPL and beyond.
"You see where the players are in the senior team right now, and the clubs they're playing in, the countries and levels they're playing at, and we're in such a good way, but we still have so much to do. [Marsch] has been amazing in terms of bringing people in, allowing that trust, and they've got a great culture building throughout the staff and the team."