Full name Felix Gelt 1996-1999 Calgary Callies Years Team | 1996-2000 UBC Thunderbirds Playing position Name Felix Gelt | |
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Date of birth (1978-07-25) 25 July 1978 (age 37) | ||
Felix M. Gelt is a retired Canadian association football player representing municipal, provincial, varsity, national, semi and professional teams.
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Biography
Felix was a center defender through most of his playing career and shifted to right back later in his career. He was best known for his leadership, tenacity and fierce competitive spirit to win!
During his youth, Felix grew up playing soccer in south west Calgary for Fish Creek Park followed by Foothills Football Club. During those early years, he led his team as the Captain to winning multiple municipal and provincial championships in Alberta, Canada. In 1990, Felix was the youngest player in Alberta history to make the U-15 provincial squad at the age of 12. He went on to become the Captain of the Alberta provincial team for several consecutive years growing through the U-15, U-17 and Youth programs. He competed at 5 consecutive National Championships winning several bronze medals. In 1997, Felix represented Team Alberta the at the Canadian Summer Games in Brandon, Manitoba.
Based on his provincial play at competitive competitions, Felix was invited to Canadian National team try-outs for the U-17 and U-21. Despite not making the squads, this experience was quintessential in his growth athletically and personally.
In 1996, Felix was recruited to join The University of British Columbia (UBC) to play for the Men's Varsity Soccer Team, which has the most victorious record of all Canadian Universities. Through his athletic and academic scholarships, Felix played 4 years at UBC winning 3 Canada West Championships and a silver at the 1999 Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) National Championships. During his Varsity career, Felix was a scholar off the field where he pursued a Bachelor of Commerce degree. He was recognized as an Academic All-Canadian, an award for student athletes who combine athletic excellence with strong academic performance.
Post Varsity, Felix joined the Vancouver Whitecaps training and reserve squad given their affiliation with UBC. In 2001, he moved to Toronto, Ontario to join the Canadian Maccabi Team and to play semi-professional in the Canadian Professional Soccer League (CPSL) with the North York Astros from 2001-2005.
Felix was Captain of the first outdoor men's soccer team that Maccabi Canada sent to the Maccabi Games in 2005. This experience culminated with beating the two time defending champions Argentina 1-0 in the opening game of the tournament. Despite not advancing past their group, their victory over Argentina took the 2 time defending champions out of the tournament and shocked the international Maccabi soccer scene with Team Canada's performance. Four years later in 2009, Team Canada managed to advance to the quarter-final stage with a heart breaking loss to Mexico. At that point, Felix tied up his laces and retired from International and competitive playing to focus on his professional career. Felix leveraged his sporting experiences and mentality to advance a career as a Management Consultant where he leads companies to greater profitability through unleashing performance.
Playing career
In 2005 and 2009, Gelt was named as Captain of the Canadian football squad competing at the 2005 Maccabiah Games and 2009 Maccabiah Games in Israel.