Who says you can’t come home?

In the case of Fraser Aird, Jordan Hamilton, Brandon John and Daniel Cramarossa, the four Markham Soccer Club graduates made a return visit to their Markham roots to share their knowledge of the game before a group of budding youth players on the Markville Secondary School pitch, Sunday.

The gathering was part of a weekly academy session conducted by Dino Cramarossa, who once coached the four players and currently serves as the Markham Soccer Club’s technical development manager.

The reunion turned out to be a smashing success when over 70 boys, nine to 11 years old attended one of two sessions, which was comprised of skill training stations and mini games.

Not only did the youngsters have fun and acquire some nuances of the beautiful game.

At the same time, Cramarossa noted his former players were just as thrilled to lend a helping hand.

“It was well received. The kids were ecstatic,” he said of the sessions. “It’s about giving back to the club the guys were once with.”

In having some of former players return just for a day, Cramarossa said the idea to incorporate this concept had been on his mind for sometime.

But when Aird, who currently plays in Scotland as a midfielder with the Glasgow Rangers first team, and John, a centreback who plays professionally in Germany with FC Erzgebirge Aue and was recently with Canada’s under-20 national team, informed Cramarossa they would be in Markham for a brief time, they came to a mutual agreement to be a part of one of the weekly academy sessions before returning overseas.

Along with Aird and John, Hamilton toils as a striker with Toronto FC’s United Soccer League entry and was also a member of the national under-20 team while Cramarossa’s son Daniel, plays at the collegiate level as a left back with the University at Buffalo’s men’s team, came out to offer their support and expertise.