Shamit Shome Prepares For First Professional Season With Hometown Eddies

Shamit Shome, a product of the FC Edmonton Academy, is poised to pull on an Eddies jersey for his first professional season.

“That will be the best moment of my career – playing for my hometown and getting the chance to represent FC Edmonton and help the team as best I can,” Shome told NASL.com. “It’s an honor to represent my hometown and hopefully get some minutes and play for the team that pretty much developed me as a player. Without them I wouldn’t be where I am today.”

Shome, 18, is the latest young Eddies player to make the jump from academy to first team following in the footsteps of current FC Edmonton players Allan Zebie, Mallan Roberts, Marko Aleksic and Sadi Jalali. While he spent a year away from the club to play in college, he was never too far away from FC Edmonton while at the University of Alberta.

“When I made that decision I talked to the gaffer [Colin Miller] and Jeff [Paulus],” Shome said. “It was an idea they were open to because it was about getting games. If I made the decision a year ago [to turn pro] I think I’d be less developed and with less game time, so it’d be harder to get into the first team right away.

“While I was playing, they could always keep an eye on me since it’s both in the same city. It was really easy for them to watch me.”

Shome excelled in his one year with the Golden Bears. He was named the Canada West Universities Athletic Association 2015 men’s Rookie of the Year, finished eighth in goals scored (6) overall during the Canada West regular season, and was also named a second team all-star after starting at midfield for all 12 of the Golden Bears’ conference games. He was called into Canada’s U-20 squad in November as the only player from the Canada Interuniversity Sport.

“I learned to keep working hard,” Shome said of his time in college. “Even coming from the academy into the university, working hard and staying determined to be the best I can has helped me become the best player I could be at university.

“I know have to apply myself the same way with the first team.”

Shome already has strong bond with his FC Edmonton teammates.

“Those guys are the most motivating and supportive,” he said. “They know what it’s like being the new guy from the academy as a younger player. I can look up to them because they are getting minutes, and I feel I can, too, when I reach the quality they are at.”

He added: “We have a really good bond among each other because we’ve come from the same spot and each of us knows what the other is going through. We just have that tight-knit group where we all understand each other and are supportive of each other. We’re the ones from the academy and playing for our hometown club.”

Shome, who signed with the Eddies last week, acknowledged the role that Paulus, the academy director, has played in helping him reach the professional ranks.

“He’s been one of the most influential in helping me develop as a player,” Shome said. “He’s the main one who oversaw everything and he really cares about the academy a lot. Based on all the work he’s done, that’s how the academy guys are getting first-team contracts.”

With similar principles from the academy to first team, Shome’s transition will be easier, although he noted he is still adjusting to the physicality and intensity of playing with professionals. Now, Shome can be the next role model for the next crop of first-team hopefuls in the FC Edmonton Academy, as he pushes to make his professional debut in 2016.

“I have to stay professional and stay hardworking and energetic and happy,” he said. “Letting them see how professional and determined I am, that will go down to them. They’ll watch based on that and work hard and be determined. There’s so many academy players that have made the first team so if they follow the same work ethic we all have, they’ll be able to do the same thing.”