If there was ever an example of a good Canadian boy in Major League Soccer, Maxim Tissot might fit the bill.
Like other professional soccer players, he started at a young age, first kicking the ball around at five-years-old. But, only like a true Canadian would, he started playing… on the ice.
“When I was little, my father used to shovel out some space to make an ice rink at our chalet,” reminisced Tissot. “One day, my father took out a ball and we started kicking it around on the ice. We each had a goal to defend and I remember vividly that he’d be coming towards me and each time he had the ball, he’d dribbled past me. He’d go right; he’d go left… I couldn’t understand how he was doing it. I was fascinated. I had to try it and when I started doing it, I was hooked.”
Despite his love for kicking the ball on the ice, Tissot’s parents enrolled their child in figure skating, with the idea of eventually playing hockey, but Maxim wanted nothing to do with skating.
“I hated it,” he said. “I would run and sit in the corner and refuse to move. Eventually, my father got fed up and pulled me out. I was the one who asked my parents to join a soccer team.”
So, as the cliché goes, the rest is history. Tissot started playing organized soccer for the Volcanoes the following summer in his home town of Aylmer, putting those dribbling skills he learned on the ice to good use.
“When I started, I would never pass the ball. I’d dribble past everyone. I’ve always played defence, but I was fast, so I’d carry the ball all the way up the field, dribbling past players until I could put in a cross.”
From recreation player to competition
Learning the game and playing for fun eventually led to a chance meeting with a coach during a soccer camp. This coach noticed his skills and had Maxim skip a year to join his competitive team in Aylmer.
Despite playing against older kids, and still as a defender, Tissot scored a ton of goals for the four years he played competitively before joining the regional club FC Outaouais, where he played both regionally and with the Centre National de Haute Performance, from 14 to 16 years old.
Things didn’t come as easy for Tissot at this stage of his apprenticeship as he was forced to hear his coach call out his name as one of the cuts on his first tryout with the CNHP, while falling in and out of the Quebec provincial program.
After finally earning a spot with the U15 Quebec team, finishing in 5th spot at the nationals, he lost his starting spot a year later to someone who would become a familiar name… Karl W. Ouimette.
“We finished first at the U16 level, but I didn’t play that much because Karl arrived that year. I didn’t know him before that and was a little jealous because he ultimately took my spot on the team!”
From foe to friend
But the Tissot/Ouimette rivalry would eventually turn into a good friendship. How could it not, their paths have been forever intertwined since, from provincial team to the pro ranks.
“I know Karl a long time now. At the beginning, I may have felt a little envious of him, but he played well and he was a great leader. Karl eventually became the captain of the Trois-Rivières Attak. I was very happy when he became the first player from the Academy to sign a pro deal with the club in MLS.”
So at 17, following a number of failed tryouts, Tissot finally joined his friend with the Attak.
“We met Maxim for the first time when we were looking for young players to develop with the Attak,” said Philippe Eullaffroy, head coach at the time and current director of the Montreal Impact Academy. “He was part of the Quebec provincial teams, and although he wasn’t playing much, we were looking for players that we thought had potential. We weren’t looking for the best players at his age level, but the ones we thought could grow and develop into pros. Max was one of those players. We saw a young guy who had a lot of good ideas and intentions on the pitch, but who was unable to fulfill those intentions through the run of play.”
Tissot saw little time that season on the field, but he did start the work needed on his path to MLS.
Impact Academy
Tissot believes he began to truly develop as a player with the creation of the Montreal Impact Academy in 2012, when the team joined Major League Soccer.
“After two years with the Academy, I started to notice progression in my game. It was around that time that Philippe told me he saw me as a player who could become a pro. He helped make me the player I am today. I like to push up the line, but I didn’t know when it was the right time to do so. He taught me that.”
“Maxim was a player that would come in early and stay an extra 20-25 minutes after training to work on his weaknesses,” boasted Eullaffroy, who is also currently the head coach of the Impact U23 team. “He worked on his shot and his crosses, but also on the mental side of the game. He was someone who got down very easily if things were going well, but has become someone who can handle the big moments.”
With all the hard work, Eullaffroy’s faith in Tissot eventually paid off.
After being named Canadian Soccer League Defender of the Year with the Montreal Impact U21 team in 2012, Tissot signed his first MLS contract with the first team in March 2013, who along with Wandrille Lefèvre, became the second and third players to sign Homegrown deals from within the club’s structure.
Nothing for granted
Despite Tissot’s cheerful demeanor and propensity to smile, the 22-year old left back is not taking anything for granted.
12 MLS appearances and two goals in 2014 does not make a career, so Maxim Tissot knows there is a lot of hard work that remains if he truly wishes to establish himself in MLS.
Tissot readily admits that he needs to work on his defensive game and improve his upper body strength, but if he ever lacks motivation, he says he just has to look back on the sacrifices he and his family made to get him to where he is today as inspiration.
“From the age of 14, I lived away from home with a host family,” he reminisced. “Then, I lived in a dorm for three years before getting my own place, all the while away from my family. Aside from the emotional aspect of being away at such a young age, the financial part of trying to become a professional athlete was very tough. My family was always supportive. Even today, my mom comes to every game in Montreal and she even brings me home made food! I truly have wonderful parents!”
And his family isn’t the only ones behind Tissot on his journey.
“There was a sense of expectation when Max joined the first team because we had all been working for that very goal; to make him a pro,” explained Eullaffroy. “We were also very proud when he made his debut last season. It was the culmination of four years of hard work.
“Now, that work continues.”
