Alesandro Comita holding ND Gorica jersey (Image Credit: Alesandro Comita)

By Sydney Chisholm

Alesandro Comita

Kamloops soccer star’s pro dreams become reality in Europe

Apr 2, 2024 | 6:30 PM

KAMLOOPS — It has been two years since Alesandro Comita’s legendary extra-time goal that helped secure the Thompson Rivers University Men’s Soccer team the U Sports National title victory.

That goal helped launch Comita’s lifelong dream of becoming a pro soccer player. Earlier this year, he signed with a second division team in Slovenia.

“It was pretty crazy to kind of just even play in Europe for me, because obviously being in Canada my whole life and playing soccer and whatnot just in Canada, it’s been pretty eye-opening so far,” said Comita. “It’s such a different culture around soccer, as they call it football here.”

It’s a big achievement for the Kamloops soccer player who started playing almost as soon as he could walk.

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“We have three boys who grew up playing soccer and Alesandro is the youngest, so he was always hanging out on the soccer fields,” explained Alesandro’s father, Domenic Comita. “He really didn’t have much choice but to be there with his brothers and kick a ball around.”

Comita’s first team was with the Kamloops Youth Soccer Association and it didn’t take long for other clubs to take notice of his skill.

“I knew at a very early age that Alesandro was going to be a quality player and had the opportunity,” said John Antolov, TRU men’s soccer head coach and family friend.

But it wasn’t just his natural talent that contributed to his success,

“He had that mindset, even when he was playing against the big boys and he’d get knocked to the ground and get right back up again,” Antulov recalled. “He always had that mentality and he always he loved the game and he had a passion for the game.”

Domenic said he remembered his son spending hours as a child, just kicking the ball on his own. He said their backyard was a soccer field in the summer and a hockey rink in the winter until Alesandro was about 12 years old. Alesandro asked his dad not to flood the lawn that winter.

“I go, ‘Well, what are we going to do in the winter?’ He goes, ‘Well, I just want to shovel it off so that I can kick the ball around,’” Domenic told CFJC News. “That was a time I thought, you know, maybe there’s something special here.”

Despite playing for teams in Vernon and Vancouver, Comita says his family and the Kamloops soccer community were the biggest influences in his soccer career.

“I’ve also been fortunate enough to work with [Antulov] and his coaching and everything like that, so that’s also been very helpful for me and obviously the teammates at TRU,” Comita said. “They’ve really pushed me and really helped me to kind of get where I am today.”

Comita says he intends to keep pushing in his career. He hopes to make his debut with the first team in Slovenia soon and one day wants to play for a team in Italy.

“I’ve always dreamed of playing in Italy and just being ingrained in the culture because that’s obviously my background. I’m Italian,” he said.

Domenic says it’s hard seeing his son move away, but is an incredibly proud father.

“I don’t really want to see my son overseas, but if it’s what he loves to do and he’s happy, then we got to support it. And you know, I guess the one benefit is our food bill is lower — a lot lower,” he said with a laugh.