Full name Nicholas La Monaca Name Nicholas Monaca Years Team Height 1.88 m | 2009-2010 A.S.D. Miglianico 2010 Chieti | |
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Date of birth (1992-12-19) December 19, 1992 (age 23) Place of birth Montreal, Quebec, Canada | ||
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Nicholas La Monaca (born December 19, 1992 in Montreal, Quebec) is a former Italian-Canadian footballer who played as a goalkeeper.
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Club career
La Monaca began his career in Italy playing for the club A.S.D. Miglianico, After playing a little less than a year with the Serie D side, La Monaca was scouted by S.S. Chieti Calcio, a professional club playing in Lega Pro. Despite only remaining with Chieti for a short while, La Monaca was quickly looked into by Pescara Calcio, who at the time was coached by Zdenek Zeman, and had the likes of Marco Verratti, Ciro Immobile and Lorenzo Insigne. Impressed with La Monaca's showings in exhibition games throughout training camp and his continued work ethic along with his technical abilities, the club decided to extend his stay. At 19 years of age, Zeman and his technical staff agreed that La Monaca needed more experience and exposure, which resulted in putting him on loan with their twin-club Renato Curi Angolana. Returning to Serie D, La Monaca was being trained by ex-Pescara goalkeeper Paolo Bordoni. Shortly after, La Monaca suffered a serious shoulder injury, including other ligament and tendon damage which caused him to retire due to extent of the damage. After consulting various doctors it was determined that La Monaca would never again be able to perform at the professional level. Later that year, Pescara won the Serie B league and gained promotion into Italy's top tier of football, Serie A.
Return to Montreal
La Monaca returned to Montreal because his injury prevented him from performing at the professional level. In 2012 La Monaca trained with the semi-professional club Saint-Léonard FC of the newly created Première Ligue de Soccer du Québec. In that year, La Monaca suffered another shoulder injury and decided to end his footballing career. He is now part of the Technical Staff at Club de Soccer Les Étoiles de L'Est and also oversees the goalkeeping program for the club.
Personal life
Since his early retirement in 2012, La Monaca is also attending Concordia University, studying Political Science.
In 2015, La Monaca and his girlfriend, Sabrina Mercuri, a human resources worker living and working in Montreal, competed in the third season of The Amazing Race Canada. In legs 1-5, they placed in 2nd, 4th, 8th, 8th, and 6th. In leg 6, they placed 8th and were eliminated from the race.