F. Scott Fitzgerald famously said there are no second acts in American lives. But there certainly are in Canadian soccer, at least on the Island, and Jamar Dixon is enjoying his second chapter here as much as his first. The former Victoria Highlanders star midfielder in the amateur USL PDL was named captain Tuesday of Pacific FC of the Canadian Premier League.
“Victoria and the soccer community here welcomed me and took care of me when I was 19,” said Dixon.
The Ottawa native spring-boarded from his three seasons with the Highlanders from 2009-2011 to play pro with BW 90 IF in Sweden, FF Jaro in Finland’s Premiership Veikkausliiga and Ottawa Fury of the USL. Dixon earned three caps for Canada in a friendly against the U.S. in 2016 and in fourth-round CONCACAF qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup against El Salvador and Honduras.
Dixon was a student athlete with the St. Francis Xavier University X-Men of Nova Scotia when he went coast-to-coast to play summers with the Highlanders after the CIS (now called U Sports) seasons concluded. Now he’s 31, husband to wife Kezia and dad to one-year-old daughter Kaiya, and leader on the pitch entering his second season with PFC, following a goal in nine appearances last year in the pandemic-abbreviated CPL season held in a bubble in Prince Edward Island.
“The captainship of a football club is a lot of responsibility but I’m pleased to have it,” said Dixon.
“I want to share my experiences with the young players on our team. They all have dreams to go further in the pro game.”
There was no pro entry-level Canadian league like the CPL for Dixon to jump into from the Highlanders.
“Canadian soccer needed this step,” said Dixon.
“It’s a great opportunity for young Canadian players to get their feet wet at the pro level without having to go abroad.”
Dixon replaces former Bundesliga pro and 56-time Canada-capped Marcel de Jong, the inaugural captain in PFC franchise history, who retired from soccer after two seasons with the Island club.
The CPL will announce the format and start date for the 2021 season on Saturday.